The Kala Ghoda Art Festival is an annual street festival celebrating visual arts, street, dance, food, music, theatre, cinema, literature, lectures, seminars and workshops, heritage walks, film, theatre, craft bazzar, special events for children for a duration of usually nine days held in late January or early February, in the Kala Ghoda area of South Mumbai. Kala Ghoda has something for everyone.The Festival has grown in stature and popularity since its beginning in 1999, attracting visitors and participants from other parts of the country, and the world. Its popularity has been soaring amongst art lovers. The best part of the Kala Ghoda Festival is it carries a social message .This is a festival attended by people of all ages, different economic and social background, all with smiles on their faces. The Kala Ghoda festival is also a medium for the revival of arts across Mumbai. The entire area is decorated into a pedestrian plaza.
This is very different and very much artistic festival. The entire atmosphere is artistic with different types of installations. The NGO’s participating with so much of enthusiasm. Kala Ghoda is a crowd-puller for creative talent. People with Creative bent of mind from all round the country participate and showcase their talent.
One of the most interesting aspects of Kala Ghoda is the installation art. The visual art installations at the festival , spread across the length of Kala Ghoda maidan, presented a pleasant walk through some very colorful displays of public art. Created under the central theme of “Let There Be Light” this year, all the installations dwelt on social and cultural issues relevant to contemporary Indian society – health eco-consciousness, political corruption, materialism and so on.
Apart from the black horse created from scrap metal, tyres and plastic as an ode to Kala Ghoda, the rest depict the shades of reality. Some of installation art at the festival were
Noise Pollution
Living in a city like Mumbai, you can barely escape the constant noise. Peace and Silent Noise explains the increasing noise pollution where you can see a carving of an ear trying to block the noise generated as another one sits in a mediating position.
Smoking Is Injurious To Health
Smoking is injurious to health, aims at spreading the consequences of constant smoking. The thought provoking installation has bones covered with blood surrounding a bunch of cigarette buts.
Big Catch
Big Catch was a symbolic gesture of the fact of how garbage is being dumped into the sea leading to the extinction of many species of fishes. The installation has nets in the shape of fishes dumped with the junk thrown in the water.
Apart from these, the other installations that draw your attention is A CRY To Nourish by the NGO CRY where more than 500 spoons form a large chime. If the installation does not catch your attention, the sound of the spoons created by the breeze surely will. Beautifully done, it is an interactive installation which tries to spread the message of the condition of under nourishment in the country and how we can fight it by just contributing a little.
Some of the glimpses of Kala Ghoda Festival.
Images : Personal Album
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