BHUBANESWAR: If the ‘Tunnel’ intrigued, enticed and consumed visitors and participants alike in 2014, India Surf Festival (ISF) 2015 is ready to lay a more fascinating canvas of art and music on the golden sands of Ramchandi beach from February 6 to 8.
Building on the rave response to the tunnel-shaped spiraling bamboo installation that led to the sea front in the preceding year, the festival will unveil a series of installations under the name ‘Soul flowers’. It will feature two abstract circular installations signifying a bloom .
Conceived and created by visual artist and festival curator Vinay Pateel, around 20 identical installations including the lead and a series of miniature ones would be spread across the festival expanse, driving the theme and identity of this edition of ISF - of communion with nature as well as liberation of one’s self by overcoming fears and anxieties.
“The moment you get in touch with water, catch the first wave on your board, something within you comes abloom. The fears and apprehensions wash away and you soak in your own liberated self. We have sought to give expression to the very feelings and experience spiraling the installation this year,” Pateel says.
The uniqueness of the artwork would also lie in its synthesis of nature and modern technology. The structures would be made of natural materials like bamboo, cotton cloth, jute, coconut ropes and paste on which motion sensing light systems would be fitted. The end-product would be an interactive installation, moving and dancing to the gestures of the admirer, Pateel explains.
The ISF will also feature art exhibitions by Portugal-based artist Lizzy and Bhubaneswar’s Nikkie Gargie. Live painting sessions by Sachin Shetty from Mumbai and Krilly from Australia will be conducted while Bhubaneswar-based Galang Gabaan and Living Arts Lifestyle will display their fashion lines.
The festival for the first time will host video-mapping, a new craze in visual arts that employs projection technique, to churn out mesmerising virtual reality displays. Photographers will also be provided a platform through Hungry Lens to capture the activities and digitally exhibit them on site.
The evenings would be lit up by musical performance by artists drawn from across the globe and India. One of the highlights would be Thalavattam that creates music using waste and scrap materials from plastics to automobile discards to junk.
“The arts and music scene would also be in harmony with our theme of Girl Power for this year. We have given prominence to women artists and performers,” ISF founder Sanjay Samantray said.