Osian's launches website on art and culture

Source Times of India by Meenakshi Sinha
From Hindi cinema to Indian modern art, from Asian antiquity to handmade crafts, a website, to be launched on Independence Day, promises plenty of information on many aspects of Indian art and culture. "The free online search-engine, theosianama.com, has been established to help transform the perceptions of Indian and Asian civilizations within the hearts and minds of the Indian and global public. To fall in love with our heritage once again is essential. Knowledge must also take up this responsibility to implement a vast outreach framework," says Nevile Tuli of Osian's.
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Want the arts to flourish? Get educated

Source Livemint by Shoba Narayan
Assume that the planet Mars is colonized; that humans have found a way to sustain life there. Who would we need to get society going? First on the list of people that we would put on the spaceship out to Mars would be the builders and architects of our spaces: city planners, sanitation engineers and urban developers. Next would be the professionals who provide important services: doctors, nurses, fire fighters, school and college teachers, bus and taxi drivers, and retail workers. With each successive spaceship, a new set of professionals would make their way to Mars, imbuing that society with efficiency, order and communication. The final spaceship would carry those people who would give this brave new world on Mars its soul: dancers, musicians, artists, poets, philosophers, thinkers and writers—people who have no obvious “use” in a society but are the bedrock of a civilized world. For many of us, living in a world without the arts is unthinkable. Listening to music helps us connect with our souls; watching and participating in dance gives joy to our spirit; good theatre holds up a mirror to our lives and thoughts; and the visual arts provoke our psyche while quieting it at the same time. Yet, how many Indians are engaged with the arts in a meaningful way? Very few. I reckon that if you ask the average Indian walking on the street whether Mars needs artists, he will scratch his head and say, “not really”. That is the fallacy that those passionate about the arts have to change.
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Indian art scene shows signs of recovery: Expert

Source Business Line by V. Sajeev Kumar
Vadehra says India’s contribution in the world art market has yet to grow to match its potential. “India contributes only 0.5 per cent of the global art market. Latest annual figures peg India’s art market turnover at $ 400 million, when the worldwide figure is $ 65 billion,” he said. This is when India’s GDP stood at 4 per cent of the global GDP. “Our country has to ensure that its art market contribution grows by a similar proportion,” he points out. “Close to 4 per cent of the world’s art market turnover should be from India. It will happen in the next two to five years,” he said. Vadehra, however, notes that lucre wasn’t exactly what prompted him to launch VAG more than a quarter century ago. “In rhose days, India did not have a booming art market. We launched the gallery basically for our love for art,” he recalls.
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Jitish Kallat - Galerie Daniel Templon

Source Artistik Rezo
La galerie Daniel Templon lance la saison en exposant pour la première fois en France le jeune artiste indien Jitish Kallat, l’un des plus prometteurs ayant émergé sur la scène contemporaine ces dernières années. Déjà célèbre pour sa ‘moto-squelette’ (Ignitaurus) ou son installation photographique de 22 000 lunes de pain rond indien (Epilogue), Jitish Kallat propose dans les deux espaces de la galeries Templon un parcours complexe à travers son univers mêlant peinture, sculpture, écriture, photographie et vidéo...
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Chandigarh, India, a city designed by Le Corbusier

Source Boston Globe by Anthony Flint
There’s a wonderful branding throughout Chandigarh that reflects the unity and coherence of a city planned all at once, and the promise of utopia. Tidy maps of the sectors appear near most of the rotaries that link the superblocks, complete with a “you are here” dot. The manhole covers are imprinted with the grid of the city — even the doorhandles are distinctive — prompting thieves to try to make off with both custom items to sell on eBay. One additional attraction that Le Corbusier didn’t plan is the Rock Garden, a labyrinth of pathways, ponds and waterfalls, and marvelous sculpture displays made of recycled ceramic, begun by a government worker, Nek Chand, who started creating the park in his spare time. The Rock Garden is a major destination for tourists and Indians alike; Westerners should not be surprised to be asked to pose for pictures, a coveted prize for a local family outing.
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