Unique street art for Lodi Colony, Jor Bagh in this public arts festival

As part of an ongoing street art festival, Delhi's Lodhi Art District will soon witness addition of new murals on social issues like women empowerment, climate change, and waste upcycling, among others, by muralists and creators from over 15 countries.

The "Urban Art Festival: St+art Delhi 2019" by St+art India Foundation, an organisation that works on art projects in public spaces, includes an expansion of their flagship project at the Lodhi Art District, a pioneering open-air art district of India, with an addition of over 20 murals.

An immersive art exhibition, "F(r)iction" at Kona (Jor Bagh market), represents the discourse on the changing relationship between art, nature and technology.

"Four murals have been completed in the past few days, by artists Sam Kulavoor (India), Adele Renault (Belgium), Georgia Hill (Australia), David Leitner (Austria)," the organisers told IANS.

As per the Foundation, the festival's focus is on experiences through a focus on interactive media art pieces, which explore the use of public spaces with emerging technologies. Artist-led workshops, curated tours for children, adults and the differently-abled form part of the weekend activities of the festival.

A temporary exhibition of site-specific installations, videos, interactive multimedia pieces and murals, in a parallel universe of frictions and fictions, is also set to take place in Jor Bagh market, and encourage the public to dig into the complexities of technology, art and nature.

This exhibition will take place from February 16 to March 10 here.

A collaboration with Singapore Tourism Board, will also have the festival featuring a Singapore artists' lane in the Art District. Artists from Singapore will also contribute to the the Jor Bagh location, which will house the popular Singapore artists' collective ATYPICAL, as part of a special Singapore Weekender from February 15-17.

As part of a collaboration with European Union, Polish artist Nespoon will create a large mural and conduct a skill-learning workshop with a group of unprivileged women, which will be inaugurated on March 8.

The festival also includes artists from Austria, Australia, Belgium, Germany, Italy, Japan, Nepal, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Portugal, Spain, Switzerland, the UK, the US, and Indian cities of Bengaluru, Delhi and Mumbai.

The festival, which began in January with community outreach activities, will complete all murals by mid-March, as told to IANS.

Outreach effort involved over 7,500 households for getting feedback on their interests and 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," the Foundation said.

The festival, supported by Asian Paints, will conclude on March 15.

--IANS

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