Knowledge Dialogues --
A Convention on Knowledge in Society.
Kuvempu University, 20-22 Feb 2025
Art and the Knowledge Question
Working Group: Sushruti Santhanam (Convener), Avinash Jha, Sunil Sahasrabudhey, Rajeev Sangal
This session is to interrogate the territory of knowledge beyond the usual discourses of science, technology and social sciences, which have been left unexplored in the mainstream institutionalised academic spaces.
What is required is a conception of knowledge that can capture the paradigm of social life of ordinary human beings beyond production and consumption. Truth and meanings, collective visioning of life, reflection and contemplations of common people have all been better expressed through artistic intelligence.
In India there still exist several instances of such continuous social traditions in kalā, which help us work towards a more encompassing theory of knowledge that better represents the human condition. Historically this society made grand temples and complex lyrical compositions, iron and exquisite cloth as part of its engaged seeking of a sāmājik drsti.
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Session-7 Program
Art and the Knowledge question
A Panel Discussion
21st Feb 2025, Friday 4.00 – 7.00 PM
Art and the Knowledge Question - Schedule of Speakers
Working Group: Sushruthi Santhanam (Convener), A Sashikanth (Co-convener), Udayan Vajpeyi, Avinash Jha, Rajeev Sangal, Sunil Sahasrabudhey
The Speakers and Topics
Banatanwi Dasmahapatra, Shanthiniketan - The Role of Design and Aesthetics in the Creative Growth of Santiniketan as an Educational Institution Conceived by Rabindranath Tagore (tentative title)
Jeyachandran S , Hyderabad - A commentary on Natya Shastra - from talks and insights from conversations with late Prof Navjyoti Singh (Tentative title)
Udayan Vajpeyi, Bhopal - From Music to painting : The Strange yet not so strange Tales of the Pradhaans
Dakshinamoorthy Sthapati, Chennai - Visual Expressions and Experiences in the Sculptural Heritage of India -- an Introduction.
Annapurna Garimella -- (Title to be given)
Bahauddin Dagar -- On the Rudraveena - A conversation and a performance of Dhrupad.
Sashikant Ananthachari, Chennai - Villi Bharatham- Performance traditions in Mahabharata from Tamilnadu.
About the speakers:
Banatanwi is trained in Fine arts at Visva Bharati Santiniketan, and gained a Ph.D. at the Department of Exact Humanities, IIT Hyderabad. She is an associate Professor at Viswa Bharati with an active academic profile besides holding exhibitions and symposiums.
Bahauddin Dagar, a Sangeet Natak Akademi Awardee, comes in the hoary lineage of the Dagar Gharana of Dhrupad singing. The son of the inimitable Ustad Zia Moinuddin Dagar and later the disciple of his uncle the doyen, Ustad Fariduddin Dagar, Bahauddin has made the conversation with an ancient tradition of music, engaging and demanding at the same time.
Dakshinamoorthy Sthapati comes in a long lineage of traditional sculptors and builders (Sthapati). Besides heading the firm Vedic Architects and Sculptors, he is an author of many books and articles, a teacher, a public speaker on the subject of traditional architectural heritage and is part of committees on Heritage Arts Conservation for the Government of Tamilnadu.
Udayan Vajpeyi is an acclaimed writer, poet and translator. He is an interlocutor of folk traditions of storytelling and arts and is a Trustee of the Raza Foundation