Whitefield Art Collective showcases the future with eighth edition

The Whitefield Art Collective is back with an all-inclusive showcase of art and creativity

The eighth edition of the Whitefield Art Collective will begin this weekend at VR Bengaluru, Whitefield Main Road. This year, the month-long event themed ‘Future is Now,’ will feature over a 100 installations as well as exhibitions, collaborations and more.

According to Sumi Gupta, curator of the Whitefield Art Collective (WAC), the future is not a distant vision. “It is unfolding in front of us in real time. There has been a lot of innovation in technology with Artificial Intelligence, Augmented Reality, Virtual Reality, and much more. We wanted to see how art can embrace all these changes and still remain relevant, creating things that are pertinent to society,” says Sumi.

Sumi believes art and creativity can co-exist with technology. “When we first started using computers, everybody feared art would die out as it could be created with the aid of technology. But what happened was that original art forms remained and new expressions of art came about. A whole new genre of art was created and we need to embrace it.”

“We need both art and technology to shine a light on multiple topics that are important for the future, be it sustainability or climate change, inclusivity or identity or freedom of expression and speech. Art can be a catalyst for driving change and encouraging conversations,” she adds.

In a run-up to the festival, WAC in collaboration with the British Council presented Five Films for Freedom, a curated selection of LGBTQIA+-themed short films, that are being screened from March 23 to 30. The movies presented under Five Films for Freedom have been made by filmmakers around world, and have been globally screened as a set of five.

This year, Kalki Subramaniam, a LGBTQIA+ activist has painted the Kala Car, a flagship feature of WAC where its unveiling marks the inauguration of the event.

Apart from promoting inclusivity, this edition of WAC includes international collaborations with the likes of UNESCO, which will be presenting an exhibition called The Braided River, using photographs to showcase Indian women in science.