BANGALORE: In a city teeming with technologists and corporates, the ‘Project Humanities’, an initiative by the Bangalore Ideas Forum (BIF) comes as a breath of fresh air. This project aims to spread awareness about humanities and liberal arts in the city. As part of this, BIF has organised a Lecture Series which will be delivered by Amit Chaudhuri on the topic ‘The Origins of Dislike : A Genealogy of Writerly Discontent’. The event will take place on April 15 at the National Gallery of Modern Art (NGMA) at 11 am. Amit, an award winning author is also a composer and musician with several albums to his credit.
In his own words, the lecture “is a long confession of discomfiture — with historicism, naturalism, renaissance painting, and the historical novel — indeed, with the idea of continuous lines and traditions from the past, leading up to ourselves. It is a reflection on the importance, therefore, of understanding where one’s dislikes come from, and how they reflect the constant battles and contestations through which one shapes oneself, and affiliates oneself to one branch of literature or historical imagination rather than another.”
The lecture Series will address five key areas that the initiative wishes to emphasise. The Journey of Civilisation deals with the history of people, art, scientific research and economic theories. Philosophy and religion, Ideologies and Movements of Ideas constitute the Evolution of Thinking. Human expressions which includes literature, visual and aural art forms and mythology will also be addressed. Relationships and accumulated human equity like aesthetics, ethics, charity and social structures are the other two aspects. “These lectures have been arranged to provide an opportunity to the policy makers and the student community to experience art firsthand,” said Ranjon Ghoshal, the coordinator for the event. The ultimate focus of BIF is on the introduction of humanities and liberal arts as specialised fields of study in the undergraduate curricula.