Witness the diversity of Northeast at one place

The National Foundation for India (NFI) is collaborating with India International Centre (IIC) to present a three-day festival – ArtEast from February 1-3. Curated by Kishalay Bhattacharjee, ArtEast has been conceptualised as a multi-dimensional festival with talks, discussions, film screenings, performances, exhibitions and installations located in different venues at IIC. An underlying focus of the festival is to raise pertinent questions through Inter/Sections in art, livelihood, migration, social justice, climate change, communication, history – past and present, issues that have a far-reaching impact on everyday lives of people and of the nation. ArtEast 2018 is the second edition of the festival.

One of the highlights of the festival is an exhibition and a performative installation around bamboo called 'An Ode to Bamboo, a visual journey of how it connects all the states of India's Northeast and beyond through art, livelihood, architecture and everyday objects of use.

A 22-ft installation titled, 'An Unseen Tunnel Inside A Displaced Proletarian' will take the viewer through a tunnel which will unravel the crisis of ecological disorder and the un-sustained urban pressure.

The panel discussions are woven around World War II; Bengal Famine, the CBI campaign and the Great Game. Joining the panel on 'The Other Silk Route: Spookery, Trade and the Great Games' are writers and academics who have followed the Silk Route. In The Game of Thrones: China-Burma-India Campaign of WW-II journalists and researchers on the war will look at lesser known facts like the jungle queen Ursula Bower.

In the film section, three highly acclaimed films from the region will be screened - Ima Sabitri directed by Bobo Khuraijam; My Name is Eeooow directed by Oinam Doren on a practice called the Jyngwrai Iawbei in Meghalaya. The festival will open with the film Up, Down and Sideways directed by Anushka Meenakshi and Iswar Srikumar.

Furthermore, there are two workshops conducted by Rida Gathpoh and her team from Meghalaya on making of black clay pottery, and a lecture demonstration on folk music and traditional musical instruments. Mi Ku from Kathmandu will perform a concert on the final day of the festival.