By: Arnav Singh & Saanvi Thapa
By: Arnav Singh & Saanvi Thapa
The Kathmandu Triennale is an event organized by the Government of Nepal, the Ministries of Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation, Siddhartha Arts Foundation, and Nepal Art Council, to promote art in Nepal. Several award-winning artists from all over Nepal and other countries of the world participated in it. It is currently being hosted at 5 different venues which are:
· Taragaon Museum
· Patan Museum
· Siddhartha Art Gallery
· Nepal Art Council
· Bahadur Shah Baithak
Premier International School also participated in the Art Triennale by taking its students to the exhibition venues at Siddhartha Art Gallery and Nepal Art Council. The first group of students that went to the art exhibitions was from the 9th grade, then they were followed by the 6th and 7th graders. 6 yellow and 7 blue paid a visit on Monday, 15th March 2022 while 7 yellow and 6 blue paid a visit on 16th March 2022.
The Siddhartha Art Gallery located inside Baber Mahal was established in 1987 AD. The students were taken through the extravagant courtyards of the old Rana palace. They were divided into 2 groups for crowd control. The theme of this exhibition was ‘Catastrophe,’ the students were allowed to take a look at the artwork that was displayed followed by a group discussion about their perspective on the artwork. The art pieces displayed were parts of a Newari household like traditional windows, doors, roofs, and lights. The artist was a Newar whose house was destroyed by the 2015 Earthquake. The students were also taken to the second floor to watch a video in which the Vietnam famine and the effect it had on the people were displayed. The video showed different perspectives and used various visual effects and methods to convey the message.
The second venue attended by the student was the Nepal Art Council established in 1962 and located in Madan Bhandari Road. The art pieces at the Nepal art council were based on the theme of Feminism. The floors had art projects including women using transportation, feminism, spiritual arts which were all related to gender equality, posters related to harassment, womb-room, silent protest body outlines, politics and constitution, social media censorship, communications through figures and artworks drawn from other countries of the world.
The Art Triennale allowed the students to view art from the perspective of the artist and theirs, and also avail them the opportunity to view and appreciate artworks from other countries. It gave the students the ability to see art from the perspective of others, and also understand the meaning behind the artwork displayed. The tour guards present helped the students to know and get more knowledge about the meaning of the pieces of art on display, as they were abstract and one would need to know the context and different perspectives of the artist to fully understand and appreciate the art.
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