ART@IITGN, a journey of one year (June 2022-23)

Everything is possible with a purpose, a vision, a beginning and the shoulders of the trusted ones. I’m thankful for the opportunity and the trust bestowed on me and initiating art activities in a technology focused institute. My experience with the institute in the past year is immeasurable and I will always cherish it in my future endeavors. My sincere gratitude to IIT Gandhinagar and Prof. Jaison Manjaly for having a greater vision of exposing the IITGN community in arts and creating opportunities to experience and explore on which the ART@IITGN is ideated and be established. - Avani Varia

P u b l i s h e d - J u n e 2 0 2 3 - Av a n i Va r i a , A r t C u r a t o r, I n d i a n I n s t i t u t e o f Te c h n o l o g y G a n d h i n a g a r w w w. a r t . i i t g n . a c . i n | a v a n i . v @ i i t g n . a c . i n

© art@iitgn - all the photographs are from of Arts Initiative.

“Wherever you stand be the Soul of that Place”

First Art Festival of IITGN As much as ART@IITGN believes in expression and exploration, competition has never been part of the agenda. The intention is to take arts to each and every possible soul in the campus and let them find their voice over time. “Art should comfort the disturbed and disturb the comfortable'' these are the words of Artist Banksy which is a truth stood by the ever changing society. ART@IITGN has provided some landmark activities for the community to have a taste of various art forms and the first ever week long Art Festival at IIT Gandhinagar was organized in the month of August 2022. The festival was lined up with various events like Phad performance, Samvaad with Artists, documentary screening, Phad painting workshop with mural painting, Kachhi-Ghodi & Kathputali performances, theater workshop, puppet making workshop and Chendamelam performance.

Eminent artist Shri Kalyan Joshi did a workshop on Phad painting and also created a mural in Academic block 7 along with the participants. Human dexterity and cognition states the importance of using hands in increasingly sophisticated ways to feel, explore, grasp, and manipulate objects. Understanding a core scientific concept, activities like wood block printing on textile and puppet making workshops were part of the festival. Students and the community members made their own designs with the help of the artists and have taken their samples as souvenirs. The participants were very happy and had their first experience of seeing traditional art performances.

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IITGN Comic Conclave Comic Conclave hosted by IITGN during the month of January 2023 was a prototypical and pivotal event in the ART@IITGN journey.

Comic Conclave gave a fresh perspective about the possibilities of introducing a different approach to scientific communication because Comics are always perceived to be used as a medium for moral high ground or children story telling.

ART@IITGN alongside Argha Manna, the artist in residence in the HSS department, brought together top comic artists of India to disseminate the usage of comics as a language for social and scientific communication.

The Conclave consisted of several panel discussions, presentations by comic artists and an exhibition of works of comic artists and their students. The exhibition also featured prints of original sketch works of the legendary film director Satyajit Ray at the exhibition titled “Low Art”.The grand Comic Conclave concluded with a celebration at the art spaces with a vibrant musical evening performed and driven by the artists from the campus and outside. Merchandise from ART@IITGN like postcards and mugs were rolled out for sales along with the books created by the authors of Comic Conclave. The Conclave was attended by participants from across India.

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Graffiti Overnight Graffiti Overnight is a grandeur art concept of free-flowing & unrestricted expressions envisioned by ART@IITGN. The IITGN Community was encouraged to come up with their own concepts & ideas and further facilitated by the creative resource team from the campus. The premiere of Graffiti overnight featuring the community and students was an overnight event for 2 nights during the month of November 2022 was a celebration with painting, music and dancing.

The event also accommodated walk-in participants and we found that on the spot participation was higher in the overnight art exploration. The concepts for the Graffiti Overnight varied from interpretation of human emotions to Vincent Van Gogh inspired flowers. These walls were painted by a bunch of people who had never painted before and the entire process was facilitated and curated by ART@IITGN.

Graffiti overnight 6 images

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Art & Uncomfortable Ideas Art and Uncomfortable Ideas was the exhibition curated to understand the comfort and the discomfort of the viewers. The exhibition displayed prints of artworks from Graffiti Overnight and photographs by Palani K u m a r. S t u d e n t s c o n v e y e d t h e i r emotions connected with the Graffiti Art which they had created and felt heard seeing the exhibition ‘Art & Uncomfortable Ideas’. They were very happy to see their work preserved digitally and also urged to have an open dialogue about the decision to clear the graffiti without the artists and curators' concern. Printed Postcard set were created of the painted wall art of the graffiti overnight participants and kept as a part of the merchandise.

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IITGN Theatre & Performing Art Festival A month-long Theatre & Performing Art Festival (TaPAF) was organized by ART@IITGN during February 2023 with the focus on theater and performances. Various artists and groups performed their mesmerizing work which includes street play, street opera, Kathak, one person act, drama and more. The IITGN community was soaked with the various aspects of theater art and few students were part of it. Prof. Jaison Manjaly concluded TaPAF with a talk titled “Artificial Intelligence and Future of Art”

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Bhaumya - threshold, the tribal art exhibition ART@IITGN had its first collaboration with IGNCA (Indira Gandhi National Centre for the Arts) regional center Vadodara for exhibiting the paintings of Padma awardee women tribal artists.

50 original Bhil and Gond paintings, one of the oldest tribal visual art forms of Madhya Pradesh, were bought out of the Madhya Pradesh tribal museum from Bhopal for the first time. When contemporary visual art was understood and appreciated, this exhibition gave a fresh air for the IITGN community about the organic sketches of the unconventional. The tribal art form was introduced and well received by everyone and alongside the exhibition, postcard painting was done by visitors taking inspiration from the displayed paintings.

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Internal collaborations Apart from independent art events and activities, internally ART@IITGN have collaborated with several associates of IITGN and some of them are the Center for Creative Learning (CCL), Nyasa, NEEV, directors office, guest house, Design and Innovation Center (DIC) a n d t h e L i b r a r y. A R T @ I I T G N o n several occasions have worked with them to ideate and conduct art activities to their teammates, members, visitors and the public.

NEEV has acquired assistance from the Curator to get clarity about traditional Indian textiles, and get connected with local textile artisans and suppliers. CCL invited the curator as a panelist for the discussion titled “21st century education in school”.

Along with the artworks created in art studios, the guest house's interior and exterior decor was curated by ART@IITGN with the handmade terracotta horses made by traditional potters of Poshina and Panchmahal, from Gujarat.

Blithcron’23 is an annual cultural festival organized by students and this year ART@IITGN have sponsored and facilitated the event Aerosol.

Foundation Programs are more of a festival season for ART@IITGN. It’s been a year and 2 batches of first year students are introduced to several art forms like block printing, traditional Kalamkari - Mata-ni-Pachhedi, primal body movements, Cyanotype print making and basics of clay handling.

Academic block 7 has a mural of Matani-Pachhedi as a part of Foundation Program 2022.

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External collaborations ART@IITGN had started making its presence pretty loud from day one and no wonder we have made some amazing collaborations with the other organizations. IGNCA is the first institute to officially collaborate with ART@IITGN and we have successfully completed four programs in terms of exhibition, artist interaction, film screening and more. IGNCA invited the Art Curator for a Studio Takeover at Raja Ravi Varma studio in Vadodara for extensive art residency in pottery. We are expecting more planned and regular collaborative activities in future. And also the possibilities of artist exchange programs are anticipated. In continuation with the Comic Conclave and other activities like exhibitions and open workshops we have observed several other institutes like NID, CEPT, PDPU, NIFT G a n d h i n a g a r, N I P E R , I I P H a n d Ahmedabad University participating actively and institutes like NID Ahmedabad/Gandhinagar and NIFT Gandhinagar are in the forefront to work with ART@IITGN in terms of student and knowledge exchange programs. Spic Macay is our constant collaborator and there is an opportunity to work towards regular art performances on the campus by Artists. In the years to come we look forward to working with diverse communities, individuals and organizations as a part of a long term vision. The Curator is in communication with the Saptak School of Music, a major classical music and performing arts education institution in Ahmedabad; there is a possibility for IITGN to become their Gandhinagar chapter and more collaborative programs in future. There is also a dialogue ongoing with The Maharaja Sayajirao University of Baroda department of Fine Arts and Performing Arts for collaborations.

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Kids and the community ART@IITGN has always been inclusive of all age groups and people from all walks of life. We have hosted several sections of the community to enhance their living experience on the campus. Kids only clay events, festival special activities, origami, movements and many more to name some of the special events exclusively for young ones in the campus. Events like open studios, clay workshops and public events for the senior community which made art studios as their happy leisure place and time to interact with others.

Many Students & housing inhabitants use performing art studios frequently for their regular practices. Students have explored clay and visual art studios at their convenience to experiment different visual art mediums. Recently cognitive science students prepared a bunch of 30 gifting cards using cyanotype printing for their seniors.

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Creative Circle, Moving Pictures & Movements So me o f th e a cti vi ti e s w h i ch a re regularly done under the ART@IITGN framework are Creative circle, Moving pictures and Movements. ‘Creative Circle’ attempts to create a space for students across the campus to engage in experimental and exploratory artistic processes. We believe in building a sense of community amongst the students as they breach the boundaries necessitated by structured f o r m s o f a r t , t o g e t h e r. “ M o v i n g pictures” is the section where films, animations and documentaries are screened. ‘Movements’ as a part of ART@IITGN is to explore the inner self with the help of music and body movements. The session includes, basic stretching of the body for relaxing, breathing exercises, interactive session about the self and the journey and guided movement session. These activities have explored various art forms like calligraphy, chrome value, the art of making graphic novels, collage making, various film screenings, yoga documentaries, animal and bird expressions and many more. Every activity under this belt is precisely designed by the curator for the community to have the flavor of different art horizons. It helped so many to bring their art expressions to different mediums. Elderly participants have been very happy to find a space on campus where they can walk-in, interact with others, explore their art as well as share the knowledge of art in their time. Among these Public Art and Open Space were the most interesting and silent curations of the year. It allowed the students and rest of the community to confront the inner self and extract their heart out with visual as well as in performance format. Easels with drawing sheets and markers are kept in several prime locations in the campus and where everyone is allowed

to pour out their hearts. More than expecting professional portraits and motivational quotes, the experiment was a reflection of the inhabitants and several series of exhibitions were done with these art works. As a part of a regular activity, a series of interactions with several artists under the name ‘Samvaad’ allowed the students to indulge in interaction with professional artists.

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Visits & Experience Apart from the IITGN community we have regular visitors to our studio spaces on several occasions. Eminent artists like actor Rahul Bose, social worker Anurag Chauhan, journalist and a u t h o r P. S a i n a t h t o n a m e s o m e .

Students from Eklavya School – Muni Seva Ashram Goraj, in Waghodia, Vadodara (Gujarat) have visited the art studio and immersed themselves with sketching and a movement session with the team. Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan's GIPCL Academy also has brought their students for a campus visit and the team have facilitated them with several art activities. Students from both the schools are from the tribal community of Gujarat and it was our pleasure to host young bright minds.

Ingersoll rand India company team with family and the Shri GB Gelot family, the philanthropists visited the campus and we facilitated them with activities in the clay studio and art studio.

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Art & Awareness

ART@IITGN is probably the best thing that's happened at college this academic year. As a BTech student, I have seen my batch mates and juniors retreat into the atmosphere of Gloom and competition ever more serious about their career. ART@IITGN brought the atmosphere of light-heartedness at the institute. The joyful moments and wondrous events that happened during the last year had not happened before. The art festivals were probably the only ones in the college where competition was completely and absolutely replaced by collaboration. - Ekansh Somani, Student, IITGN

The aim of this week-long event was to engage a wide range of people with the cultural enrichment that art has to offer through one anchoring subject of Birds / Sparrow. At the same time, Art & Awareness aimed to raise awareness among a broad audience about the relevant contemporary natural issues.

We took an opportunity to appreciate the nature which this campus encapsulated and we have celebrated ‘World Sparrow Day’. World Sparrow Day was a weeklong celebration of this intriguing tiny bird which included a c t i v i t i e s l i k e , ‘ S PA R R O W ’ , a n exhibition of terracotta clay art, documentation of Birds, Sounds & Gestures, Art Installation workshop, clay Bird Making demonstration and Reading of a Sanskrit Text- birds of Panchatantra. People were mesmerized by the terracotta work of Mahesh Vataliya an eminent artist and ceramic designer and also took several terracotta bird feeders manufactured by him. During the talk, documentation of birds by Bharti Malwi, several raised questions about the drying of the mirror lake, further bird conservation requirements and possible contributions and involvement of the campus community in a social cause.

Panchantantra was a storytelling session around the mentions of bird stories in the Sanskrit script. Students explored the art of storytelling and awareness together. In collaboration with CCL we have also created a portrait of Salim Ali with push pins; who is famously known as the bird of India on this

I am have an amazing experience with all the activity which I have attended or participated.

Specifically, I liked garba workshop and art festival. - Pavan Adroja, PhD Scholar, IITGN Arts at IITGN presented, and created a world class selection, cultivation and curation of all art forms encouraging students to explore their human skills beyond the technical to boost their appreciation of the arts and expanding their moral imagination - Brian Brophy, Scholar-in-Residence, IITGN Art@IITGN assisted my research in theatre studies with their Studio space and outreach to the community. The theatre festival, workshops, and regular performances were quite encouraging to build a creative ecosystem and support local artists. - Rahul Bishnoi, Student, IITGN Congratulations on completing one year of the Art Studio! Your dedication to fostering creativity and providing a space for students to explore their artistic talents is truly commendable. Thank you for being a source of inspiration and for contributing to the vibrant artistic community on campus. Kusum, Student, IITGN The Art team at IIT Gandhinagar is incredibly talented and hardworking. I am happy to have volunteered for ART@IITGN. All the best for future events. Cheers! - Vannsh Jani, Btech Student, IITGN ART@IITGN should continue its monthly activities. I learnt a lot of art forms which I didn't know earlier through these monthly sessions. It was fun and increased one's creativity. - Valli Divya , PhD Student, IITGN Art and science are the wings of knowledge. - Srinivas Reddy, Visiting Faculty, IITGN

It has always been amazing. As a professional, there can be some food pop up shows. - Priyam Sharma Khanna, Clinical Dietitian, IITGN I had lost the art side in me, since i began working. Art @ iitgn provided a space where I could explore many things and i could reconnect with the artist me. I might not be a regular participants of the programs, but i have started regularly doing my art. It makes me happy. 26 27

Murals on campus

I believe ART@IITGN has been and will be an important part of overall growth of our student community. It is an absolutely necessary component for students because it gives them a chance to simply explore and produce. It is important because it gives them a chance to fully immerse in activities without being worried about outcomes, unlike academic activities where everything is done with one eye on grades as well.

On several occasions, along with the actual program, ART@IITGN team has urged to create an artistic mark on the campus walls with the Murals. During the first ever Art Festival in IIT Gandhinagar (IITGN), ‘Phad’ inspired contemporary mural was painted in AB-7. Eminent artist Kalyan Joshi took the lead in painting that wall accompanied by the participants of the Phad painting workshop. The Foundation Program (FP) of the November 2022 batch was involved in several artworks like movements, cyanotype printing and block printing. Accompanied by Artist Vikram Chitara a wall in AB-7 was painted with 'Mata Ni Pachedi’ style painting. Conceptualized by the curator under the theme ‘tree of life’, the wall was painted by students from FP and also from several passing by curious souls. ART@IITGN hosted its first ever visiting artist program and Eminent artist Suman Choudury graced our campus with his presence during the month of March 2023. As Artist-on-campus at IITGN, he painted a mural highlighting a chapter from Indian Science-History and he was assisted by Argha Manna, artist in residence at IITGN and other walk-in participants. During painting all these 3 murals, the community was encouraged to participate and gave them hands-on experience to paint the wall mural.

Various art workshops and exhibitions conducted by ART@IITGN have been very informative and refreshing for us (Me, Rohini, and Gowri). We especially appreciate the opportunity to know more about the processes that go into producing art as opposed to just seeing the finished works. It is also a wonderful experience to be able to talk to artists and know what they think. Gowri has also managed to learn and enjoy during various workshops and open sessions (clay modeling, sparrow workshop, painting, block printing, puppet making, music sessions). Our thanks to Jaison, Avani, Kanmani, Manasi, Anisha and many others who are making this happen at IITGN. We are eagerly looking forward to what you would come up with in the upcoming years! Balagopal, Art observer Heyyy Art@IITGN fam, I hope you're arting and breathing waves of air artistically. I left the place for months now, sadly, but what I miss the most is joying around the campus with colors, plates, posters and vibe! Art has changed my life, and you guys have made me devoted to art! Thank you for getting me out of the words, and thank you for bringing up something which I thought I would never be able to find within me.

Love. Light. Peace. - Yug Pandya, IITGN Scientists and engineers need to be creative! What better way to train one's imagination and skills than to expose oneself to arts and try some out? IITGN offers many possibilities to enjoy art. It strikes a delicate balance between humility and enthusiasm. All those responsible for this program should be praised, the visionaries who put it in place as well as the steadfast participants who insure its sustainability. Long live ART@IITGN ! - Jean Philippe, Visiting Scholar, IITGN Wonderful and joyful experience with the collaborated activities. Looking forward for more such art experiences. - Nyasa, IITGNt I had the most enjoyable and enlightening exchanges at IITGN when I attended the Comics Conclave in January this year. It was a pleasure meeting and interacting with professors and students from different disciplines, both within the formal spaces of the conclave, as well as outside them - at chai sessions and meal times. The event organization was superb, and the self-evident enthusiasm of the student volunteers was special! Thank you all for the memorable days I got to spend in a lively and hospitable campus atmosphere! - Orijit Sen, Graphic Artist 28 29

ART LABS - suggestive

Art Spaces “Your sacred space is where you can find yourself again and again” and that’s what the Curator’s vision of enlarging different art forms in the campus has done. Starting from utilizing the existing clay studio to creating more spaces like art studio, exhibition hall, office & meeting space, ART@IITGN has flourished immensely in reaching out to the community to practice, learn and commune about various art forms.

Apart from dedicated building spaces, other spaces like ‘Koodam’ and 'Open Space' have been activated for live theater and music performances. Koodam is the patch of grass land behind AB 6 and open space is another garden space between central arcade and sports complex which has been active for public performances.Clay studio have been used by students and others in the campus at their convenience and we started bringing more ceramic and terracotta artists to hone their skills.

Utility products like flower vase, mugs and trays are in production phase and glazed ceramic jewelry making is in experimental phase which the team is looking forward to as a great opportunity and palpable progress. Community members using the art studio for creating personalized gifts and also to explore new mediums have tremendously increased in recent months. This motivates the team to bring in more diversified art forms to campus for exploration. Apart from the art exploration, the spaces have been put into use for academic purposes too. The Archaeology department is in discussion with ART@IITGN for creating models which replicates the artifacts from

excavation sites and also to curate a museum inside the campus. The Humanities and Social Science department wants to bring in an internship program to do research on the aspect of art in conservation and studying the native people and their culture. Design department has already collaborated with ART@IITGN for their classroom projects and is looking forward to curating more design and art based classes on a semester basis with a credit system. Students from the mechanical engineering and other departments have taken the c u r a t o r ’s g u i d a n c e f o r v a r i o u s project works. Palette club, Nyasa and CCL also been using the spaces for organizing various camps and group art activities The observation in this one year journey is that we see a lot of scope for academics to collaborate with ART@IITGN and bring in more fruitful outcomes and that leads to the vision of having ‘ART LABS’ in our campus. Vision of ART LABS are discussed in detail in further sections.

As the year 2022 progressed from July, an independent space requirement for practicing various arts was also increasing and we observed that the community is having a scope to engage in different art spaces. Students have started giving their final thesis and mini projects via utilizing different art mediums too. Artists from the campus and outside regularly interacting with the other institutions require art spaces to engage and work. Hence we are envisioning more active spaces relevant to the art form and named combinedly as ‘ART LAB’. The envisioned spaces are, • Visual art studio • Music studio • Performing art studio • Working studio space • Ceramic/Clay studio • Textile studio • Photography & film making studio • Exhibition hall • Art gallery (Shop/ art café) • Storage of art works and materials - dedicated spaces with light and temperature control.

ART LAB will serve as a creative working space with all possible materials, tools, & equipment. It is envisioned to be used for prototype and actual model/prototype making, product designing, skill teaching and interdisciplinary experimentations. The vision of having ART LAB will facilitate all the academic departments to conduct their studies and research efficiently. Ground work documentation, editing and creating video information, alternate ways for depicting their work, hands-on model making experience, training in soft skills like presentation & poster making, in depth design concepts for engineering benefits and many more can be added to this vision.

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Tangible/ Intangible outcomes Creating a Product line / Merchandise through ART@IITGN was not part of the initial objective, but when the idea of possibility was envisaged the team didn’t shy away from taking the challenge. Starting from clay studio, various products like decorative wall hanging, pots, terracotta tray, flower vase, cups, and ceramic ornaments are some among the many. Postcards from Graffiti overnight were almost walking the memory lane for many students.

The wall painting of several students during Graffiti overnight was printed as postcards and kept for public access.

Coffee mugs with the ART@IITGN print work are also available for sale. An installation of handmade Poshina horses was done by ART@IITGN at the Guest house. The curation to installation was facilitated by the Art Curator and the team. Apart from the horses, the guest house also stands as a place where wall murals and other art products from ART@IITGN stands.

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Core Team, Volunteers and Interns ART@IITGN was conceptualized by Prof. Jaison Manjaly to create a space for the IITGN Community to practice, participate and experiment with creative art forms.

The idea was reinforced by Ms. Avani Varia who was invited to be the Art Curator and the idea of ART@IITGN was incubated and thus the core team was formed.

Being people of poles apart and passionate about Art and Exploration brought a 360 degree perspective to ideate, execute and curate all the events / activities around the year. The team was further built with the volunteers, interns and artists of the IITGN community.

Volunteering with ART@IITGN was an opportunity to gain hands-on experience in art event and activity planning and execution with flexible working hours. This opportunity encouraged students, amateurs, or professionals from any field, to join the art journey. Several Interested individuals have taken up different roles as per their interests and skill sets, and availability of their time. The volunteers ranged from kids, students, staff, professors and their family members.

On the other hand, the internship program was designed to build a core team. The internship consists of 18 hours a week with a planned set of tasks to be completed and the responsibilities were given on the basis of individual choices. They also have an opportunity to learn new art forms under the guidance of the curator or pursue the art form of their choice. Being part of the core team, helps an intern to grow themselves not only as an artist but also an exemplary team player. The unknown horizons of an individual were stretched and see what are the other skills s/he can acquire as a professional.

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IITGN provides a unique creative atmosphere with great opportunities for cross pollination of ideas and a place where art and science converge and produce new meanings and languages. - Sarnath Banerjee, Comics writer

ARTISTS of IITGN We envision forming a strong Network of Creative Practitioners at IIT Gandhinagar to interact with each other as well as contribute to the overall vision of ART@IITGN. Encouraging Artists of the IITGN community who are practicing any form of ART (selftaught, formally trained, amateur, professional) was one of our priorities. We have started profiling Artists on our website creating their professional online presence. Focused efforts are made to meet and discuss to support artists' requirements and further, collaborations with them will enhance the art scenarios on campus. This symbiotic relationship will ensure i n d i v i d u a l a r t i s t s g r o w t h a n d c o m m u n i t y d e v e l o p m e n t . A s a p a r t o f Ta PA F musicians,dancers and poets from the campus were lined up and gave an amazing performance the whole evening. Movements- Indian Classical Dance Performances was a showcase of classical dance forms like Kathak, Bharathanatyam, Odissi and Manipuri by the members of the community. Recently we have also hosted another musical evening titled ‘Swar Sangam’- Instrumental Performances by artists of IITGN led by teaching faculties and students.Self learnt artist, Harvansh Dandelia a PhD student from mechanical Engg. Dept., has successfully initiated formal teaching string instruments and he has shown willingness to do more classes on a regular basis.

It was a great experience working with Art at IITGN team. The team has always given their best efforts to provide a platform to everyone and accommodate as many people as possible. It was very nice to be organised with the team and plan and also perform.

Looking forward to learning and working together more! - Tanisha Bhadury, PhD Scholar, IITGN I would like to provide feedback on my experience with the Art Studio at IITGN. It has been an incredibly enriching and enjoyable journey for me, and I have thoroughly cherished my participation and observation of various activities within the studio.

Overall, my experience with the Art Studio at IITGN has been truly remarkable. The diverse range of activities offered by the studio, including the workshop by Kalyan Joshi and the creation of the Mata ni pachedi mural, have contributed to my artistic growth and provided immense enjoyment. I am grateful for the opportunity to be involved with such a creative and inspiring community. I eagerly look forward to future events and activities organized by the Art Studio, as I continue to explore and develop my artistic abilities. - Dr. Monal K.Desai, Teaching Associate, IITGN Art@IITGN is a breath of fresh air in the campus. It gives such varied creative opportunities to the community. The curator Ms. Varia has been able to bring out the artistic side of the campus very nicely. - Amit Arora, Associate Professor, IITGN My heartfelt gratitude for the exceptional experiences I have had at guitar classes, painting and clay studios. It has provided wonderful experience, learning and a space to explore. - Saumil Shah, CDS, IITGN The arts enliven the IITGN campus with inspired conversations, outdoor performances, interactive art making, creative interactions. The arts round out the educational experience and provide community and a place for exploration. - Cynthia Campoy Brophy I attended only one event organised by Art@IITGN. It was a superbly organised Classical Dance programme and I enjoyed myself immensely. Hope there are more such events in the future. - Madhumita Sengupta, Assistant Professor, IITGN Art studio helped us with our concept of fluid art keychains during spring carnations :) Great job promoting art and culture on campus people. Very much appreciated Ruthvik, Student, IITGN Would love to participate in music instruments workshop if arranged by art@iitgn. Prasad Pawar, PhD Physics, IITGN 36 37

Art Associations

Reflection of the first year's journey

Humans comprehend the world and assign meaning to it by employing art.

Associations of production, administration, ideology, scientific and cultural impression, and senses, the identity of a society is shaped in the Art of t h a t s o c i e t y. I I T G a n d h i n a g a r a wholesome technology institute has always invested in creating a student force with the practice of bridging technology gap with human association, a responsible global citizen, ownership in multitude level and being true to their thoughts. Art associations with the student community have given that space to explore their ideas and expression.

Beyond paint and pens, ART@IITGN have been associated with students for their dissertation, classroom projects and more. Some of them are, Anisha Mohanty, a MA student from HSS who delivered her final thesis with the series of her artworks, Harsh Mandalia a Bachelor’s student from Mechanical Engg. Dept. have used the forum to get connected with traditional Kathputli artists to understand the design aspects of the traditional toy mechanism to optimize a mechanical machine and Anjali Singh a MA student from HSS explored photo documentation & cyanotype print making. She is currently working in a Museum and recently created prints for a professional photographer’s full-fledged exhibition with cyanotype.

Rahul Bishnoi, a current MA student is experimenting with theater for his master’s thesis. Students from first year of bachelor's completed their prototype making of a Coconut Cutter as a part of the Design, Innovation and prototyping (ES 115) course, utilizing the art studio facilities. Students often utilized the facility for creating souvenirs for their personal use and also have taken advice for creating clay products as a part of their design course.

From naming the initiative as ART@IITGN to curating the events and activities, every small thing is done with meticulous attention. From June 2022, ART@IITGN had the only aim to explore different forms of arts and its compatibility with the IITGN community requirement; alongside it was also trying to understand the soft / art skills required by the academia of the institute. Tabulation of the primary mission has been done and presented in this report. With the core team of 2 passionate individuals, we were able to pull off as many as possible happenings in the campus with a minimal expenditure. One of the founding pillars of IITGN Professor Sudhir K Jain in his interview with Achal Mishra has mentioned that “The university enterprise needs all kinds of people, and therefore, we brought people here with somewhat unconventional specialities”. A true visionary of his time and we see how important it is to have a team and with all distinctive qualities. Over 120 activities within a year reaching out to more than 6000 people as participants, seems insurmountable but it came true because of the continual support of a very sincere team consisting of volunteers, interns, supporting technical and administrative departments along with the core team of 2 members. We envision doing more qualitative art related activities on the campus with a bigger and diversified core team. As much as the art and related activities can be out of box imagination and creativity, we urge to form a more structured administration to manage this independent body called as ‘ART@IITGN’ / ‘ART LABS - suggestive’. Responses from the IITGN community towards this Arts Initiative have stumbled us all the time and that’s what has motivated us to envision for the future. The vision is to create ‘ART LABS’ as an independent body as well as interdisciplinary supportive limb to the community and its welfare; nevertheless we wanted to support our students and academic fraternity to reach new heights.

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© art@iitgn - all the photographs are from of Arts Initiative.

A R T a t I n d i a n I n s t i t u t e o f Te c h n o l o g y G a n d h i n a g a r w w w. a r t . i i t g n . a c . i n | a r t @ i i t g n . a c . i n