Benjamin Van Hoeij Schilthouwer Pompe, Martyna Maria Pekala, and Ayan Saha at a community Durga Puja pandal.
| Photo Credit: Debasish Bhaduri
In an initiative that spans continents, two artists from the Netherlands are collaborating with their Indian counterparts in the installation of a Durga Puja pandal at Behala Natun Dal in south Kolkata. Martyna Maria Pekala and Benjamin Van Hoeij Schilthouwer Pompe started working on the idea in August this year and in September they arrived in Kolkata to take the work forward.
Describing the Durga Puja in Kolkata as a “spectacle”, the artists said they were amazed at the community participation in the festival. “This is very different from festivals in Europe where public spaces are rather vacant at Christmas,” Ms. Pekala said. Mr. Pompe said that while there is a lot of planning for any installation in Europe, Durga Puja in Kolkata involved a lot of improvisation.
The European artists are working on creating an animated video installation, which will be played at the pandal. They are bringing together their idea of the city through various social and cultural aspects including puchka, the popular street food.
Ayan Saha, the Indian artist who is part of the collaboration, said that an animated video installation is new to the city’s cultural sphere, and added that the coming together of Indian and Dutch artists is an attempt to create artistic expressions that transcend borders.
Behala Natun Dal is among the 24 community pujas which have been shortlisted for a Durga Puja Preview Art festival in Kolkata this year. Over five days, between October 11 and 15, 2023, the audience will be exposed to the best of temporary art installations that come up across the city during this season. The art show, which is in its second year, will be curated to meet the expectations of art aficionados from across the globe.
“This year the art festival will be bigger and better. We have opened the preview much before the festival starts, so visitors can see these pandals in advance,” said Dhrubajyoti Bose Suvo, from massArt, an organisation involved in organising and curating the exhibition.
Durga Puja in Kolkata is often referred to as the world’s biggest public art festival touching the lives of millions of people.