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Nek Chand shows the Way
Nek Chand started his project with no ambition or vision to build a Rock Garden.
He had a fascination for natural rocks and their shapes. “I like stones very much. In every stone there is a human being or just a God, Goddess and so on”.
In 1958 he began collecting stones of various shapes and sizes. He remembered as a child he had been stirred by his mother’s tales of Kings and queens. `He had spent hours on the bed of a small stream near his home building castles and forts and shaping figures from clay. With the Chandigarh development by Courbousier with its Modernist hard-edged design, he wondered why he couldn’t build a little ‘kingdom’ of his own.
Tons of materials of various kinds where used in the construction of the Rock Garden. He collected these over seven years from the Shivalik hills and the debris from twenty-six villages bulldozed to make room for the new city.
He launched his project in 1965.
In May 1997 Nek Chand arrived from India to visit Britain and collaborate with four regional artists, Usha Mahenthralingam, Said Adrus, Krishna Alageswaran and Anuradha Patel.
During a weeklong collaborative workshop, Nek Chand introduced his philosophy and art practice to the four artists. Under the guidance of Nek Chand, the artists produced four individual sculptures and one collaborative piece from waste/recycled materials. The artists brought their own artistic practice and understanding of environmental issues to interpret Nek Chand's unique vision and appropriately named their collection of sculptures – “The Nek Generation”. The sculptures where commissioned within the beautiful grounds of Wollaton Park in May during Nottingham City council’s centenary celebration outdoor festival-‘Fest 100’. They where then situated at the prestigious grounds of Nottingham Castle Museum and Art gallery.
The project also included a touring exhibition of sculptures and photographs from the Rock gardens of Chandigarh at the Midland Art Centre in Birmingham and the Waterman’s Art Centre in London. The four artists also presented lectures and practical workshops at various schools and community settings in Nottingham, Birmingham and London.
For more information contact Apna Arts
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EMPAF has a new website which is to be launched in September. Based on the social networking model it will enable users and members to put up profiles for individuals, projects and organisations. There is also an option to link to other profiles, send comments and update with news, events, opportunities as well as engage in debates around current issues affecting the community and participatory arts.
In addition to putting up information and resources EMPAF will also be promoting future CPD events and development opportunities.
The website is aimed at creating a vibrant and engaging online community so please get involved and make use of this site as much as possible.
The site itself in final testing but live and will transfer to the www.empaf.com address at the end of the beginning of next month. To join now please go to http://beta.empaf.com/ (note there is no www) and anything you add now will remain live during the transfer. We welcome any feedback on how to make it even more user friendly, so please email jane@empaf.com with this or any questions.
A free event for artists; arts practitioners; organisations and community groups working in, or interested in working in community and participatory arts.
The day is designed to give plenty of opportunity to network, discuss your work, ask questions, share experiences and find out more information about a range of subjects and issues affecting everyone working in participatory arts.
Including an in-depth session devoted to professional and project development subjects such as negotiating contracts, rates of pay and how to set up and run an event will be covered.
There is also be an facilitated open space session based around working in and across different arts forms, a presentation and open sharing session on International working and a presentation outlining current key trends and influences such as reforms in Public Sector funding, the Cultural Offer and Cultural Olympiad. Plus, this is your chance to influence future EMPAF work and events as each of the sessions is designed to bring out issues that are most relevant to you.
Registration and networking begins at 9.45am for 10.30am start. Lunch is provided and there is lots of time given to networking and finding out more about EMPAF, Cultivate and a wide range of other resources and sources of further information.
Taking place at St James Centre, Derby places are available on a first come first served basis. To book email Jane@empaf.com or call 07984199477 giving your name and a daytime contact number. For more details click on the title above.
EMPAF has been working to support an Arts Council England East Midlands initiative to help demystify recent developments in Local Area Agreements. ACE are running a series of mini events around the region for artists, arts practitioners and local authority arts officers to look at recent changes in terms of how they offer opportunities for arts and creative projects. The first event took place in Leicester at the beginning of June and EMPAF is publishing copies of presentation notes, supporting information and case studies used as part of all the events in the resources / essential publications section of this website (click on the title of this news item to go directly there). The next event will take place in Nottingham on 3rd July. Email info@empaf.com for more details.
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