Odisha To Host India’s First Private Sector Triennial Of International Art

New Delhi: Odisha is going to be the venue for India’s first private sector Triennial, Odisha Triennial of International Art (OTIA), the brainchild of Artists Network for Promoting Indian Culture (ANPIC). This was announced at its Delhi Declaration on June 14.

OTIA was formally launched in Bhubaneswar in May 2018. The event will bring together the national and international art scene in three major cities of the state, Bhubaneswar, Puri and Konark, in December this year.

Jatin Das, Sudhir Patwardhan, Prabhakar Kolte, KS Radhakrishnan, Ravider Reddy, Jogen Chowdhury, Laxma Gowd will be among the 100 Indian artists expected to be a part of the  40-day-long mega art event. OTIA’s slogan will be ‘Conceive-Contemplate-Communicate’ (3Cs).

There will be seven interesting categories –  ‘When East met West’, ‘It’s Indian, by the way’, ‘Turning the Wheel’, ‘Gods of the Earth’, ‘Sapiens’, ‘In This Great Future’ and ‘Along the Way.’ All these would bring in Indian contemporary artists, modernists, international contemporary artists, Odisha folk and tribal artists, India’s contemporary experimental artists and the graffiti and performance artists.

There will also be a series of seminars involving experts and scholars from the fields of films, theatre, art, music, performance and new media art. The work on display at OTIA will be catalogued and published.

Speaking on the occasion, chief guest MP Pinaki Misra said, “Odisha is a culturally rich state with all the potential to host a mega event like OTIA and we are also well equipped to host guests from all over the world. This event will give a natural boost to the tourism and cultural infrastructure development.’’

The MP went on to laud the activities of ANPIC and said, ‘’I have been observing the activities of ANPIC in promoting Indian culture. Their work, based out of the crafts village of Raghurajpur in Odisha, is commendable.”

Founder director of OTIA Sashanka Mohapatra said, “OTIA is a platform where international and national artists, particularly those from Odisha, could exhibit together. Odisha has produced several prodigies in art and culture.’’

‘’ANPIC also plans to conduct annual national-level exhibitions in the state integrating the temples, cities, folk and tribal spaces exclusively for national artists’’, Mohapatra informed.

 Minister, Counselor of Public Affairs US Embassy, New Delhi, Jeffrey Sexton was the guest of honour on the occasion.