Secret society in Ukraine creates art under occupation; art conservators knew early on about climate change; and more from the news

A SUMMARY OF THE MOST EXCITING ART NEWS FROM AROUND THE GLOBE

While we focus on Indian art, we can’t obviously function in a vacuum. It’s a small world and everything is connected, especially on the web. So, let’s train our spotlight across the world map to see what’s going on — from art trends to socio-political issues to everything that affects the great aesthetic global consciousness. Or, let’s just travel the world and have some fun!

Life under Russian occupation: Secret art society produces its searing visions

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Under the threat of imprisonment, interrogation and the constant pressure of searches by Russian soldiers, six artists secretly met in a basement studio in the occupied Ukrainian city of Kherson. In the months after their homes were taken over by Putin’s forces, the artists formed a residency during which they created dozens of works, including drawings, paintings, video, photography, diary entries and stage plays. The results, which they have named \’Residency in Occupation\’, offer a harrowing insight into the horrors endured by millions of Ukrainians living under the Russian invasion. Images show agonising embraces at train stations, families sheltering in basements – death looming behind them – houses on fire and figures dancing, human skeletons underfoot. When it became too dangerous to meet in person, the artists continued to work individually. Some have since escaped the city, but others remain, risking their lives. The group wants to exhibit its works, but to do so in Kherson, which has been occupied since February, is impossible. The residency’s curator, Yuliia Manukian, who is now in Odesa having fled Kherson, said art could act as a powerful act of resistance. The Guardian has the details.

‘Art conservators knew about climate change before scientists’

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Italian architect and restoration curator Chiara Rostagno led the preservation project of Leonardo da Vinci’s \’The Last Supper\’ between 2016 and 2018 as the then Director of Museo Nazionale del Cenacolo Vinciano, popularly called The Last Supper Museum, in Milan. An internationally renowned art conservator, Rostagno was in India early this year to deliver lectures in Delhi and Mumbai on the 200th death anniversary of the great neoclassical sculptor Antonio Canova. In a wide-ranging interview, Rostagno, currently an architect with the Italian Ministry of Culture, spoke about the grave danger posed by climate change on works of art and the importance of addressing the critical problem collectively by governments, industry, universities, cultural institutions, conservators and scientists around the world. She also said art conservators had the opportunity to understand the effects of climate change on artworks before many others. Read more at Money Control.

Reviving traditional Kaavi art in Karnataka

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For centuries, temples in coastal Karnataka and Goa had been decorated by an ancient painting style called Kaavi art, and the reddish-brown colour murals can be seen even today in some of the old temples in Goa, Dakshina Kannada, and Uttara Kannada districts of Karnataka. With time, traditional Kaavi paint makers, who belong to a particular family, have moved on to other professions, leaving the art in the lurch. When old temples were being renovated to suit the idea of a modern structure, the art form began gradually vanishing from the coastal region of the state. But now, a group of artistes from Gokarna has revived interest in the art form, which has started garnering attention again. In the past few years, a group of youth led by Gokarna artist Ravi Gunaga, has painted Kaavi art on temples, houses and walls. Several government departments, including the DC’s office in Karwar, now have murals made in Kaavi art. The New Indian Express explores.

E-waste and art: New generation of environmental artists brings them together

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As a member of the independent curatorial collective Radicants, French curator Nicolas Bourriaud has set out to illustrate his point in a series of three exhibitions at the Palazzo Bollani, coinciding with the Venice Biennale — that the sublime is not obsolete, and remains just as vital to understanding how the grandeur of nature is being laid to waste today. The series of exhibitions, running from April through November, is collectively called Planet B. For instance, Hicham Berrada’s series shows aquariums filled with otherworldly structures, organic in appearance, grown from the dissolution and crystallization of exotic metals sourced from electronic waste. More than any environmental message that might be deduced from Berrada’s use of electronic waste, this refusal has political implications that are potentially transformational. Forbes tells you more.

Over 200 years of art fetes 75 years of Independence

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This weekend, Kolkata witnessed the opening of a nearly two-month-long exhibition that will mark 75 years of India’s Independence by showcasing artworks spanning over 200 years. Titled \’March to Freedom\’, the show held in collaboration with the Delhi Art Gallery (DAG) opened at Indian Museum on Saturday and will remain on view till September 18. The exhibition intends to reinterpret the story of the Indian freedom struggle and anti-colonial movement through art, seldom-seen photographs, historical maps, and posters. It will consist of 160 works — representing close to 70 celebrated artists and photographers — chosen from DAG’s collection, ranging from European paintings and prints to unknown works by Indian artists as well as several iconic pieces by renowned modern artists. The Hindu encapsulates the event.