What to expect at the third edition of Sunaparanta's art festival, Sensorium

Memories of a Metamorphosis by Sachin George SebastianPICONE SCHOOL GOA ALL PHOTOGRAPHS COURTESY SUNAPARANTA 2018We are standing in Gallery 5 at Sunaparanta under a shadow cast by a daring yet delicate mobile by Julien Segard The chandelierlike installation is composed of bits and pieces that the artist of French origin has scavenged from streets beaches and a scrap yard in Panjim Metallic objects fallen leaves and sundry vestiges of plastic mdash possibly mementoes cast away by the sea mdash come together to form As He Takes From You I Engraft You NewIf the afterlife of debris is art then Segard captures it best and Sensorium showcases it well The restrained beauty of this sitespecific piece and the spectral shadow it casts draw gasps from all who walk into the gallery We are gazing at Segards work to the soulful tunes of Omar Khayyam performed live in Persian in the courtyard outside I was drawn to the shadows mdash I often think about the Tibetan idea of Bardo the existence intermediate between two lives on earth The shadows cast by his work allowed me to think of that space where nothing is certain says Siddharth Dhanvant ShanghviShanghvi now a familiar face in Goa is honorary director of Sunaparanta an arts initiative instituted by industrialist Dattaraj V Salgaocar The centre situated on the perch of the elite hillside neighbourhood of Altinho which overlooks Panjim is known for the exhibitions and events that it hosts through the year Among these is its showcase art festival Sensorium the third edition of which opened on Friday with the theme The End is Only The Beginning The festival curated by Shanghvi and produced by Salgaocar features 28 artists Indian and internationalMy Fathers Balcony by Riyas KomuPICSIDDESH MAYENKARKarma artIf Sensoriums theme sounds cyclical then the architecture of Sunaparanta conveys it too The central courtyard hosts Polaroidformat paintings by Desmond Lazaro and abstract cityscapes by Jacob Fellaumlnder and more This courtyard opens up into eight galleries As you tour the place and possibly end where you begin there is a sense of ritual something karmic about the experience All the works address this fundamental theme Belgiumborn Sri Lankan artist Saskia Pintelons Faces rework old wedding photographs and studio portraits Through her contemporary interventions here is marital bliss and its antithesis marital discord Photographer Munem Wasif explores the blurred boundaries between Bangaldesh and India and the sense of identity in his series Land of Undefined TerritoryOn the lawns Riyas Komus installation in recycled wood My Fathers Balcony draws the unbridled fancy of children attending the opening night The young art enthusiasts turn Komus installation into their playground perhaps a fitting response to the boatlike structure meant as homage to the artists father The old and the young have met hereAs He Takes From You I Engraft You New by Julien SegardPICONE SCHOOL GOAAt Sunaparantas entrance is an installation that sets the tone for Sensorium as many visitors would agree Memories of a Metamorphosis by Sachin George Sebastian derives from the changing architecture of New Delhi both during the Mughal era and modern times The structure rooted under a tree in the lawns is made of metal but has the diaphanous quality of a spiders web By night its hardly there and risks visitors walking right through it Its semivisibility is a state that the artist sought hard to achieve as he tells us and indicative of transienceAn intimate festivalSensorium debuted in 2014 with an encore in 2015 themed Edition Love This edition of Sensorium is loyal to previous editions and to the idea of small but serious I find it vulgar that people broadcast festivals as largest and biggest mdash as if scale might undermine content says Shanghvi Besides he doesnt like small talk he saysOn the opening night nearly 300 people have landed on this centuryold heritage property Huddling in the rooms there is the warmth of intimacy stretching on the lawns there is the ease of familiarity Art openings at Sunaparanta seem to have a different flavour to them The guests linger around for long with an informal air and generous camaraderie When we conjure Goa in our minds there is the sense of escape possibly from the harrowing demands of urban life Here at Sensoriums third edition visitors can observe that after death and divorce it is not damnation and despair but hope The idea is to confront and contemplate and we have cuttingedge contemporary art to guide us along The escapist in us will always have the states sunny beaches