The organisers of the 2016 edition of Hyderabad Literary Festival (HLF) promise that the fest will be bigger and better. Among the art and cultural line-up for the festival, a few events will focus on life in Hyderabad, to coincide with 425 years of the city. ‘Art Street’ curated by Amita Desai, Naini Arora, Tanmay Santra and Koeli Mukherjee will bring together a cross section of artists who will display their creations.
Interactive installation : Imagine watching an installation grow with materials handed over by visitors over the three days of the fest. Architect Takbir Fatima will work with recycled material to create an interactive installation at the venue.
Dawat-e-Hyderabad : A photography pavilion ‘Dawat-e-Hyderabad’, curated by Prashant Manchikanti, will highlight the history of the city over the last 400 years. Visitors can view archival photographs in a digital medium. “The idea is allow people to view images on a digital platform, where there is no space constraint to exhibit innumerable photographs of the city. The images will highlight the heritage, culture, life in the urban space and touch upon old and new Hyderabad,” says Amita Desai, one of the directors of HLF.
Rocks and the city: Architect Srinivas Murthy, founding member and president of Architecture and Design Society of India, recently conducted a two-day workshop where 28 amateur photographers who include advocates, doctors, students of architecture and others participated. “We wanted to do something special to coincide with 20 years of Society to Save Rocks. The society has been raising awareness about rocks that date back to millions of years and why they need to be protected. We wanted to gauge the common man’s perception of rocks and show how some of the rocks have been protected,” explains G. Srinivas Murthy.
The participants were mentored in photography by Sumanspati Reddy, Amita Talwar, Ashoka Kandimalla and Madhu Reddy. As Amita Talwar puts it, “Rather than capturing images of beautiful rock formations in the outskirts of the city, we felt we should focus on rocks in our neighbourhood — jutting out of compound walls, as part of temples, in a street corner or even as part of someone’s drawing room.”
Of the images submitted by the participants, 24 have been selected to be displayed at HLF.
Rocked City installation: Also a part of HLF will be an installation ‘Rocked City’ by Avani Rao Gandra depicting the fast vanishing rockscapes of the city.
Home away from home: Moving beyond the city’s architecture and urban planning, the HLF also looks to explore the mindsets of migrants who’ve blended into the fabric of the city. ‘Memories’, a public art project will highlight memories of those who’ve made Hyderabad their home. The installation has memories and impressions shared by individuals, especially second generation of the migrants. Conceptualised by Tanmay Santra and with contributions from Tapasi Nath, Sumana Som, Palakshi Dass and Goutam Pal, Memories will look at the mind maps of people across the spectrum, from IT professionals to artists, teachers to doctors, and engineers to construction labourers who’ve settled in Hyderabad.
(Hyderabad Literary Festival will be held from January 7 to 10 at Hyderabad Public School. For a detailed schedule, check hydlitfest.org)
