Pune, a city known for its rich history and cultural heritage is hosting a ten-day long art festival ‘Pune Biennale 2013‘ around the theme ‘Celebrating hills of Pune”. This is the first time that the city of Pune will experience an art event as large as the Pune Biennale. The movement that aims at promoting and showcasing creative talent from various disciplines of arts, design and architecture, seeks to create active engagement between artists and public, as well as position the city on the map of art world.
The ten-day event beginning today will see installations in public spaces and shows in galleries and halls. Besides exhibiting artworks across a variety of mediums including film, installation, painting, sculpture, new media and performance art, local artists will also promote appreciation of arts through dialogue with audience. Also on offer will be a diverse programme of talks, seminars, screenings, music, workshops and educational activities for one and all.
Social media presence
Pune Biennale has been promoting the creative extravaganza through a series of social media channels like Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr, Pinterest, YouTube and Flickr, quite well in advance. Though I stumbled upon the festival through a painting shared by a member of the art community I follow on Google Plus!
The Facebook page is not only a delight for an art connoisseur in the city, but also serves well to the public at large. Content is in keeping with bringing art closer to the people. Beginning with creating a dialogue about a ‘biennale’ and what it means, the content then progressed towards the event with more information about the participating artists, the venues, and how one could get more involved in the biennale. As part of ‘The Pune Street Art Project’ conducted last month, artworks that made canvases out of the walls in Pune, have been shared on the wall. It is fascinating to watch the images while in the process of being painted.
In addition, there have been video updates with the participating artists talking about the event, and information about art and photography contests.
The Twitter page – as the medium demands – is conversational apart from sharing informative content about the biennale. Tweets are a regular stream with an extra dose of hashtags, in case anyone is tracking art related events in the city.
The YouTube page has a collection of 7 interesting videos, about the making of the street art, junk sculpture, etc. and a video featuring prominent people behind the festival talking about it.
With 9 boards comprising of Arts, Painting, Sculpture, Design, and rest about the festival, the Pinterest page is a visual delight. The Flickr photostream is more about the street art project, while a Tumblr blog has been regularly sharing similar content in the form of pictures and videos.
I’d say the ‘Mohor Pune Biennale 2013′ is an ambitious and artistic endeavour to save the hills of Pune, that give the city its distinct geographical identity. And, coupled with a vibrant social media presence, the biennale is all set to create a meaningful dialogue within the online community, getting more crowds to the event as well.
However, it remains to be seen how the dialogues will shape up, once the event is over.