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Journalism of Courage
Kolkata gets an intimate,fully-equipped studio for artistic experimentations
The concept of site-specific theatre was consummately explored by Ramanjit Kaur in her 2006 play Once Upon a Yarn. Using the confines of a lifestyle storeits counters,its racks and even the products on display the director presented a few intertwining tales of urban alienation. The play effectively used physical constraints and characteristics of the site to put forward these stories. And in doing so,Kaur demonstrated the fundamental advantage of site-specific theatre by staging its action in appropriate real-world settings rather than in emulations of those settings within traditional theatre spaces,it invests its performances with greater authenticity and audience engagement. Kaur carries this very thought forward in her latest endeavour,The Creatice Arts Studio. The studio is an intimate space. Its more like an apartment with a kitchen. While staging plays here,we will encourage intermingling of the audience and performers. We want the audience to take part in the process, says Kaur.
Spread over 800 square feet,the studio has a performance area of just about 300 square feet. Will that not make things a little cramped? On the day we launched our studio,we had an audience of over fifty people and they faced no problems whatsoever. They freely moved around the apartment,the mood was very informal, says Kaur.
The Creative Arts Studio will not only host theatre performances. In todays world,when artists are looking for various mediums of expression,they are also searching different sites to represent those expressions of Art. Visual artists are moving on to other avenues,rather than an Art Gallery,while performing artists are exploring venues ranging from extremely intimate spaces to huge outdoor arenas. While we have many art galleries and auditoriums,there arent any venues where such experimental stuff can be pursued. Our studio hopes to bridge that gap, says Kaur. The studio is a gift to the city of Kolkata,an intimate fully equipped space for artists who are exploring new ways of expression. The Studio is complete with lighting grid,sound equipment et al,for art projects. Through this Initiative,we open doors to regional,national and international collaborations, research projects,residency projects and workshops in the fields of all art forms like theatre,films,photography,visual art and other allied art forms, sums up Kaur.
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