Bhubaneswar sparkles with art: Pippi lights (lights with Oriya appliqué art) on trees, jhotis or tribal prints on prominent façades, repurposed sculptures and thoughtful art in public spaces. As the Men’s Hockey World Cup 2023 is being held in Bhubaneswar and Rourkela (Odisha), the former has been converted into an open air art gallery.
Thanks to Stamp, or Street Art and Mural Project Development, a joint venture of the Bhubaneswar Development Authority (BDA) and the Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation (BMC), each work reflects colorful scenes from everyday life. STAMP was created in 2017 to enhance art and culture ahead of the World Asian Athletics Championships.
“The state government collaborated with the Lalit Kala Akademi of Odisha to facilitate the STAMP. Nine curators were involved to brainstorm and bring out the best of thematic art for the citizens, says Balwant Singh, IAS, Vice Chairman, Bhubaneswar Development Authority.
Balwant elaborates that 650 artists were associated with STAMP and adds that around 8 lakh square feet of walls are covered in the project funded by the Odisha Mining Corporation. The artists, who are of local, national and international origin, were selected by the Lalit Kala Akademi of Odisha.
As part of the symposium, 35 sculpture artists from Odisha – 7 work with terracotta, 6 with scrap metal, and 22 with stone sculptures, as well as 6 international artists from Italy, France, Korea, Egypt, and the US was invited to make sculptures. across the city to give the city a thematic dimension.
Pratyush Behera, an architect with the technical wing of the Bhubaneswar Development Authority, emphasizes that, “Each art work is colour-coded – there is an intention of differentiation. So when people pass, they see the blue color of the overbridge blending with the colors of the sky – giving it a vista-like dimension.
“Each art work is intended to interact with people, correlate and be contextually appropriate,” says transportation planner Vishal Jain. The flyover near Bhubaneswar fire junction, he says, has photographs of fire engines and fire personnel. Public spaces near Nandan Kanan Zoo have artworks depicting animals and birds, which not only add an aesthetic dimension to the city but also ease of navigating the streets.
Bhubaneswar calls itself “India’s best-kept secret”: the reason behind this tagline is the lesser known fact that the city was planned by German architect Otto Königsberger in 1948.
