Just published in India Currents!
For over 15 years the
nonprofit Society for Art & Cultural Heritage of India has been recognized for
its partnerships with Bay Area arts institutions and local and international
artists and scholars. Kalpana Desai, SACHI President, talks with India Currents about the creative programming
that showcases the richness and diversity of the Indian artistic tradition.
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Artist Jitish Kallat
and Dr. Madhuvanti Ghose sitting on Kallat's installation Public
Notice 3 installed on the Woman’s Board Grand Staircase at the Art
Institute.
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How does SACHI connect to the current South Asian Bay
Area arts scene and the institutions that support that scene?
SACHI is a community driven organization. SACHI has carved a special niche
for generating rewarding learning experiences especially in the visual arts,
but also through film, theater, book discussions, conversations, textile
workshops and music and dance demonstrations. SACHI has a long standing relationship
with art institutions like the Asian Art Museum, the Palo Alto Art Center, the
Cantor Arts Center, the Mills College Art Museum, and the Berkeley Art Museum. In
addition, we share a strong affiliation with the Center for South Asia at
Stanford and the Center for South Asian Studies at UC Berkeley. Over 15 plus
years, SACHI has partnered with nearly 50 Bay Area and international
groups.
What does SACHI bring to Bay Area arts and culture
that is unique?
The South Asian visual arts space is one that has room for a wider reach
beyond artistic and academic circles. Performing arts often provide rich
context in elucidating and illuminating concepts explored in the visual arts.
We bring together different forms of artistic expression in creative ways
for a dynamic and multi-dimensional understanding of Indian culture. The
recent exhibition on yoga at the Asian Art Museum, for example, inspired
a children's yoga workshop. Similarly, a Thumri-Kathak
music and dance performing arts event in conjunction with the Maharaja exhibition
beautifully evoked an atmosphere of court entertainment.
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| Swami Vivekananda, Hindoo Monk of India, United States, 1893, Poster (color lithograph), copy of original from Goes Lithographing Company, Chicago, Vedanta Society of Northern California, courtesy of Asian Art Museum |
How does SACHI represent both classical and
contemporary arts?
Our close association with Bay Area museums and our connections in Chicago, Washington
D.C., New York, Los Angeles, San Diego, Seattle, London, Mumbai, and Delhi
enables SACHI to access both scholarship and living artists from a wide
geographical spectrum. Contemporary art is an area that interests SACHI in
many ways, because it intersects with current events. The SACHI team
stays connected to both the classical and contemporary realms, as
well as folk art traditions.
What are you most excited about in the May lineup
of SACHI events?
A highlight mid-May SACHI event is on May 18th. This event is exciting
because it brings together Swami Vivekananda as a reformist thinker and pairs
him with a contemporary Indian artist, Jitish Kallat, whose Public Notice 3 was installed on the 10th
anniversary of 9/11. This event will make a powerful statement about the
state of the world through Vivekananda's timeless message of universal
harmony and Kallat's creative transformation of this message. The Art
Institute of Chicago curator who worked closely with Kallat during the
installation, Dr. Madhuvanti Ghose, will be presenting the talk. On May 23rd,
SACHI is hosting a talk by Vedanta scholar Prasad Vepa, Trustee of the
California Institute of Integral Studies. “The Not-so-Hidden Secrets of Yoga in
the Bhagavad Gita” will provide a
philosophical exploration of the yoga exhibit.
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Public Notice 3, Site-specific text-based
light installation, Grand Staircase of the Art
Institute of Chicago,
Gift of the Artist, 2010.418
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SACHI started in 1997. How have you seen the
organization change and develop over the years?
SACHI has evolved organically over the years, and it continues to grow and
flourish with the changing composition of its talented and dedicated volunteer Board.
The scale and number of programs launched annually has perhaps doubled over
time. As a result, SACHI’s visibility in the art and culture world
has increased with a greater demand for program participation than it can
comfortably accommodate within its existing framework. That SACHI has
found a place in the program agenda of museum and university settings on a
consistent basis is something we are particularly proud of.
“Public Notice 3:
From Vivekananda to Kallat”
Dr. Madhuvanti Ghose
Sunday May 18th, 2pm
Samsung Hall, Asian Art Museum
200 Larkin Street, San Francisco
Free after museum admission
http://www.sachi.org/
“The Not-so-Hidden Secrets of Yoga in the Bhagavad
Gita”
Prasad Vepa
Friday May 23rd, 2pm
Education Classroom, Asian Art Museum
200 Larkin Street, San Francisco
$15.00, limited seating
http://www.sachi.org/
