St+art India Foundation (St+art) presents its Urban Art Festival – St+art Delhi 2019, supported by Asian Paints. This year, St+art Delhi 2019 has an expansion of the flagship project – Firstly, The Lodhi Art District with an addition of more than 20 new murals, Secondly, an immersive art exhibition – F(r)iction at KONA, representing the discourse on the changing nature of the relationship between Art, Nature and Technology at Jor Bagh, Thirdly, a special focus on increasing community participation at Lodhi Colony and surrounding areas. The festival has participation from over 30 creators including artists, musicians, chefs and performers.
This year, a special project will be realized with artists from Singapore, featuring visual arts, AR projects, music and F&B experiences at two locations. The Lodhi Art District will feature a special Singapore artist’s lane, and F(r )iction at KONA will feature art installations bringing to light the most cutting edge art expressions by Singapore artists. Amongst the most significant collaborations with foreign institutions, towards cultural exchanges and socially relevant projects this year St+art is working with the European Union (EU). Polish artist, Nespoon is going to create a large mural and conduct a skill-learning workshop with a group of unprivileged women, which will be inaugurated on 8th March in the presence of the artist, the EU ambassador and 28 European ambassadors.
Highlights of St+art Delhi 2019
Lodhi Art District: An additional 20 new murals have been planned this year. The artists will produce their interpretation of social causes such as, women empowerment, climate change, waste and upcycling and various other pertinent issues. The festival will be made experiential through a focus on interactive media art pieces, which will explore the use of public space with emerging technologies. Visitors are encouraged to participate in artist-led workshops and curated tours for children and adults, in order to champion accessibility, there will be specially curated tours for the differently-abled.
F(r)iction at KONA: An immersive walk-through multimedia artworks by national and international artists. The temporary exhibition will invite the public to dig into the complexities of our lives entangled in dichotomies and crosspollinations between technology, art and nature. Site-specific installations, videos, interactive multimedia pieces and murals transform the venue of Kona – in Jor Bagh Market – in a parallel universe of frictions and fictions. The exhibition brings together artists who dabble in various genres of art, technology and culture with installations, photography, videography and interactive models (with a special focus on augmented reality) that challenge the traditional cultural landscape of the art market. The exhibition kick-started with the Singaporean alternative art scene through its most prolific artists along with Atypical, Atypical is a travelling exhibition featuring works from 7 contemporary Singaporean artists.
Dates – 16th February – 10th march 2019
Community Outreach and engagement: This year, there has been overarching community outreach effort that began with reaching out over 7500 households, using the extensive newspaper delivery networks, to get feedback on their interests, and the stories of the Lodhi community. As a result of the outreach, free workshops, performances and curated tours, tailored to engage the communities have been scheduled, as a way of thanking them for their continued support. These efforts will culminate in a dedicated community wall – “saath saath”, and a talent showcase from the residents, to activate a sense of ownership and community pride for the Lodhi Art District residential community.
Jan – Mid March 2019, Different locations on Lodhi Road, New Delhi
