Concept Note

Sarsuna Theke Jana is an arts, ecology, and community program that asks people to map the aesthetics, culture, and biodiversity of their local neighborhood. Working in collaboration with artists, participants are brought together in an exploration of people and place. The program aims to increase dialogue within and between communities about the impacts of cultural differences, migration, climate chaos, biodiversity loss, and the destruction of habitat, to break down negative cultural stereotypes and strengthen intercultural understanding.

The communities share history, culture, and a common language as well as a relative ease of basic subsistence that permits one to move beyond the question of political identity as a point of departure in the development of art interventions. The aim of this project is to stimulate the local and wider audience to consider how they can integrate questions of cultural identity, community, natural resources, ecology, and a "DIY approach" into their own practices while also exposing the regional population to outside ideas and information.

Part of Chander Haat’s second residency program in 2016, this artwork spanned a radius of 4kms and would require complex transportation between venues.

Participating Artist

Tarun Dey, TAXI, Susanta Mandal, Supriyo Sen, Sukanta Majumdar and Moushumi Bhowmik, Sujit Das, Sujay Mukherjee, Sisir Thapa, Reetu Sattar, Rathin Barman, Ranu Ghosh, Raju Sarkar, Pravat Mishra, Prasun Ghosh, Pradip Das, Piyal Adhikari, Pintu Sikdar, Performers Independent, Open to Sky Architects, Nirmal Mullick, Molla Sagar, Manju Rajak, Manas Acharya, Mallika Das Sutar, Mahbubur Rahman, Gigi Scaria, Gabriel Belanger-Oyarzun, Dhruba Dutta, Dipyaman Kar, Debasish Barui, Bhabatosh Sutar, Bani Abidi & Anuradha Pathak