Acclaimed Artist Riyas Komu to Launch ‘URU Art Harbour’

KOCHI:
Aiming to foster cultural engagements between the artists and local community and create a robust platform for mirroring the multi-cultural values of port-city of Kochi, internationally acclaimed artist and Kochi Biennale Foundation (KBF) Secretary Riyas Komu is all set to launch ‘URU Art Harbour’ at Kochangady in Mattanchery.
The centre, which will shape up as a vibrant, meaningful and interactive hub for arts, culture, literature, cinema, and philosophy, will be inaugurated on November 12 (Saturday) at 4 pm.
“URU seeks to be a space, and create ways, in which cultural production, artistic practices and creative forms constitute and manifest the nexus between the aesthetic, the metaphysical, the political, the economic, the moral and the ethical, intended in their widest senses,” said Riyas, a Mumbai–based artist.
“We can list ‘N’ number of talented people from Kerala who are pursuing their passion for art and culture. However, they are not able to return to their homeland and settle down with their activities. My effort with ‘URU Art Harbour’ is to provide a platform for cultural dialogues for artists as well as local community,” said the artist. “It is a dream project of mine; I am elated that it is finally coming to fruition.”
The centre’s activities will include book publishing, artist residencies, workshops, film screenings and seminars. Also, art exhibitions, music performances, theater, and other cultural interventions will be part of its activities.
“URU, anchored in Kochi, is rooted to the cosmopolitan and multi-cultural values that the city has celebrated and been a living embodiment of over several centuries,” he said.
“Kerala artists have the capacity to convert their intense life experience to art form. However, they fail to elevate themselves to national or international level artists. URU will be a platform for them. Any creative stuff, including financial and political interventions, will be encouraged at ‘URU’,” noted the artist.
Poet Kalpetta Narayanan and CPI (M) Polit Bureau member M.A. Baby will jointly release a volume on the philosophy of Sree Narayana Guru, “Guruchinthana-Oru Mukhavura” during the inaugural ceremony.
A preview of K L Leon’s painting and a musical concert by ‘Olam’ will be held as part of the inaugural event on November 12. This will be followed by a film screening ‘Kesari’ directed by K R Manoj and a discussion panelled by M V Narayanan, Sunil Ilayidam and C S Venkiteswaran. Kochi Muziris Biennale 2016 curator Sudarshan Shetty will also speak.
The venue will host an art exhibition by URU Residency artist K P Reji and sculpture exhibition by K.P. Raghunath on the inaugural day. N S Madhavan, J Devika and Anitha Thampy are the dignitaries participating at launch of URU Art Centre.
Komu is a multimedia artist and activist working towards developing India’s art infrastructure. His critically-acclaimed political works have been exhibited extensively in India and abroad, including several key works on Kerala’s political and cultural history.