This story is from January 29, 2018

Curiosity canvas & smashing stereotypes

A woman clad in a flowing white gown sits atop a table in the middle of a road at Hyderabad Public School.On top of her dress are platters of cut fruits.
Curiosity canvas & smashing stereotypes
ART ON THE MOVE: Katarina Rasic and (right) members of NRB at Hyd Literary Festival.
HYDERABAD: A woman clad in a flowing white gown sits atop a table in the middle of a road at Hyderabad Public School. On top of her dress are platters of cut fruits. If you get closer, you see the dress is more than just a piece of cloth; it's a canvas where people have written down their memories and messages. The woman is an art installation!
"The whole idea is to think more about what we eat.
We tend to eat just out of habit, but if we stop and think of the associations that a particular food brings to our mind, it enriches our experience," said Katarina Rasic, an artist from Belgrade, Serbia, who works and lives in Mumbai.
She encourages onlookers to take a bite and write down whatever pops into their head. By the number of messages scribbled on the dress, the curated exhibition, which was one of the many put up in collaboration with 'Artport_Good Food', was a hit.
Art exhibitions, installations, repair workshop, youngsters singing, dancing and making memes greeted participants outside the canopies where literary sessions and book talks were held.
At a corner was a group of youngsters dancing and singing as part of De-Chant, a tribute to AR Rahman. This was organized by The Nation's Rock Beat (NRB), a group of youngsters who have created a platform for photographers, musicians, and travel writers, among others, to explore their hobbies and showcase their work. "We have 17 departments, each catering to a particular art form or hobby," said Shriya Gupta, one of the group administrators in the city.

Other art exhibitions were 'After the Moment', a selection of photographs by Sumanaspati, and 'Nail Art' by Raghavender Rao, who creates artwork using his fingernails. Another unique exhibit was IRONic by Md Saaduddin, who uses scrap metal and bike parts to create sculptures.
A little further away was a smaller group with a tripod, camera and a mic. 'K Se Kavita' was encouraging people to record a rendition of any Hindi poem of their choice. An effort of Urdu Studio and Hindi Kavita, both YouTube channels, 'K Se Kavita' aims to bring back Hindi poetry in an age where English literature hogs the limelight.
"We have been working in Hyderabad for one-and-half years. Members meet on the first Saturday every month to read poems. Instead of a platform for poets, we are here to appreciate existing poetry," said Praveen Kumar, who takes time out of his job at Microsoft to pursue this passion.
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