INTRODUCTION

Yamuna.Elbe

Last rays of sun casting a warm glow over  the Yamuna river.

Public Art and Ecology

Outreach and Awareness
Education
Starting -October 26th, 2011 – Hamburg
Starting -November 10th 2011 - Delhi

Children playing on the banks of the river Yamuna.

 
Background: The Yamuna. Elbe is a public art and outreach project. It will be held in the cities of Delhi and Hamburg between October 18th and November 25th partly in parallel.


The collaborative project is centered on the idea of creating ecological sustainable rivers in cities. Both the Elbe and the Yamuna are central to Hamburg and Delhi’s futures and there are various and very involved discussions around them, intensified by current challenges facing water issues. There is great public interest in the subject, even though the dialogues may be different in each place. 

A young lad who assists the boat man Ganesh after school and shares a special love for the river Yamuna.

Curators: Two curators, Ravi Agarwal from Delhi and Till Krause from Hamburg have been invited to co-curate the project. Ravi Agarwal is an artist, and is also a practicing environmentalist. Till Krause is a well know artist from Hamburg who also runs an art – space. 

One of the only motor boat in sight.

The Project. The key component of the project will be public art projects on the banks of the river Yamuna in Delhi and river Elbe in Hamburg. Indian and German artists have been invited to participate in producing art works, which will be on show for 2 weeks in each city. There will be an artistic exchange as well, including of ideas and collaborative projects.


The art works will consist of on-site installations, which will be multi media as well as interactive, besides performance art etc. They will deal with the discourse around the river. The artists are currently developing their works.


Outreach: There are several other components to the public art project, which include various forms of public outreach, public talks and discussions, film shows, student outreach initiatives. Several Delhi based organizations have been invited to participate in the outreach programs.  A list of the partners will be available soon. 

Ganesh, the boatmen enjoying the evening breeze at the banks of the Yamuna.

In December 2010, the Max Muller Bhavan in Delhi, along with Ravi Agarwal, held an international seminar with participants from government, urban planners, environmentalists and artists on the theme of the ‘river.’ The seminar, a unique event, was very well received and served as an opening event for the project. A website is under construction and also a publication is in the making.


Look out for this space for more updates, stories around the river bend, lives entwined with the river flow and interesting upcoming events...


Images by Divya Dugar