Round Table on

“Creative Sustainability

:

As Artistes see it”

22nd January 2017

BackdropSustainability is in its third decade of existence as a concept as well as a dream. Yet it has failed on both counts. As a non-realized ideal, sustainability runs the serious risk of deteriorating into an irritating cliché. True, laws, regulations and economic instruments have been introduced to regulate unbridled exploitation of natural resources, these initiatives have not transformed social thinking in favour of nature and its conservation. It is increasingly obvious that the problem with unsustainability is its ‘civilizational’ character. It is about the stubbornness of resource wasting lifestyles to yield ground. The idea of creative sustainability appears to be the only logical course. It would seek to approach the ideal of sustainability as a civilizational problem – as a matter that calls for the involvement of artists and creators of art in the quest of a civilizational awakening. The real issue is how to achieve this goal.

The idea of notable art forms, approaching the most pressing needs of society dates back to the early 20th century when functional and non-functional art forms made their advent. A spate of art forms, including films, dance forms and paintings arose, which illustrated the problems of poverty, hunger, economic and social exploitation, war and pestilence either in graphic ways or in magnified or abstracted ways.

Visual art forms have approached nature and its destruction from various angles, by portraying nature in its essence - either as plain reality or as an exaggerated reflection of the former. The past informs us that an issue hits its spectators when its negative effects are portrayed by art forms brilliantly. Drama Theatres have been in the forefront of the struggle to articulate the problems posed by unsustainable life forms. The SMART program of the Indian Foundation for Arts has given pride of place to sustainability as an ideal.

In the preceding few years, there have been spate of films on global warming , commencing with Al Gore’s ‘Inconvenient Truth’ (on a documentary mode) and moving through movies like ‘Chasing Ice’. Great environmental disasters have also been the subject matter of some films. Two outstanding examples are the ‘Bhopal Express’ and the ‘Chernobyl Heart’. However, given their narrow scope and their ‘episodic’ focus, film documentaries are not able to transform attitudes and approaches that can address the problem of sustainability in a civilizational problem. Part of the problem lies in these works not been able to draw in a wider community of spectators.

In reality, mainstream films have a great potential in addressing the civilizational issues related to unsustainable approaches to nature and natural resources. But their record has been not good in the past. David Lean changed the face of the landscape of rural Spain to create the Russian ‘snowy winter’ effect for his epic film, Dr Zhivago. Lean created an ‘Ural Mountain effect’ out of dry Mediterranean coastal rural areas in Franco’s Spain!

In recent years, there has been a great emphasis on the ideal of sustainability in the production of arts. But the big cinema production houses remains unaffected. The expensive sets of the blockbuster film ‘Bahubali’ is another face of resource profligacy in distant India. But the biodiversity loss and carbon footprint of this film would have been decisively low on account of 3D printing and computer aided visuals. The real issue of Bahubali is not its environmental trail but its environmental message – the conquest of nature by the hero, something that a minimalist movie would not have suggested. When contrasted with movies rooted in ‘minimalism’ as in Satyajit Ray and Adoor Gopalakrishnan, these movies with their superhuman theme, stand miles away from the celebration of ordinary lives (as well as on the limits on human endeavour imposed by nature) in minimalist films.

Likewise both classical and folk dances have a huge impact on sustainability as many of them portray highly aesthetic elements of human-nature interactions as well as on the negative effects of human actions on nature. Bharathanatyam, Kathakali, Manipuri, Odissi and Kathak are laced with nature as their prominent backdrop, though these elements lie embedded in the basic storyline of the choreograph. Neo-classical dance forms in India that celebrate the ‘Panchabhootas’ are those that are driven by nature as the basic narrative. It may be worth exploring whether by modulating the existing repertoire and introducing new choreographs that articulate the different manifestations of nature, it is possible to develop creative approaches to sustainability. Unlike Western dance forms, India’s dance forms (both classical and folk) have also been minimalist in nature. They are enacted in small stages with modest backdrops: their costumes are modest in terms of their embellishments: the décor is minimal and yet with all these run down features, they succeed in capturing the minds of its spectators in the direction of simple living that is in harmony with nature. By their very minimalist nature, these films are ‘lean’ and ‘green’.

Nevertheless there are many non-minimalist movies and dance choreographs that demand greater embellishments and more dazzling décor, that can have powerful ‘nature’ based messages sent across as far as sustainability is concerned. A case in point is the Hollywood ‘Vertical Limit’ in relation to Kanchenjunga. An action movie, it nevertheless brings us closer to the issue of avalanches and land use problems in mountain ranges. Other examples are Roland Emmerich’s ‘The Day After Tomorrow’, James Cameron’s 3D saga ‘Avatar’. and Daniel Boyle’s non minimalist film ‘The Life of Pi’. Closer home is the Bollywood film ‘Swades’. One could doubt the green-ness of the production processes adopted for all the these movies. Nevertheless they leave an indelible mark on a viewer’s mind on the necessity to do more for nature. Equally important is the role of innovatively structured creative organizations in promoting interesting approaches to sustainability. India has some outstanding examples of such organizations to talk about.

FocusThe key issue that will be deliberated in this workshop is how films and other visual arts that include classical performing arts can contribute to the idea of creative sustainability. The Workshop will discuss:

· The idea of Creative Sustainability as artistes see it· Perspectives of Directors and Artistes on nature and sustainability in performing arts and Cinema( both minimalist

and non minimalist)· The role of Minimalism in realizing the goal of ‘Creative Sustainability’· Does a Synthesis of both strands promise a more decisive move towards Creative Sustainability?· How can innovative creative organizations make a transformative difference?

Resource Persons The Workshop proposes to bring together film Directors, leading performing artistes, actors and other thought leaders who have provoked a major re-thinking on accepted norms of social and community existence.

*Conceived, developed and communicated under the auspices of Saandralaya®

PROGRAMMEVenue: MDC Conference Hall

9.00 hrs to 9.30 hrs : Registration9.30 hrs to 10.00 hrs : Inaugural10.00 hrs to 10.15 hrs : Coffee Break10.15 hrs to 13.15 hrs : Musings on Creative Approaches to Sustainability

Adoor Gopalakrishnan Girish Kasaravalli Alarmel ValliZasha ColahSanjna Kapoor

Anmol Vellani

Sharon Lowen Pawan Kumar

Vipin Vijay

Theme Presenter and Moderator 13.15 hrs to 14.15 hrs

14.15 hrs to 16.00 hrs

16.00 hrs to 16.15 hrs

16.15 hrs to 17.15 hrs

17.45 hrs to 18.45 hrs

18.45 hrs to 19.00 hrs

: A. Damodaran

: Lunch Break

: ‘Door to Adoor’ Documentary Movie by Girish Kasaravalli

: Coffee Break

: ‘Spinning Creative Ventures: The Junoon Saga’ - Sanjna Kapoor

: Kathakali by Margi (Auditorium IIMB)

: Conclusion/ Vote of Thanks

This Round table is also supported by DIPP-IPR Chair at IIM Bangalore