In between cultures

KATHMANDU:

Sometimes finding a new concept in the ordinary requires a fresh way of thinking and a fresh way of looking at it. But if you are lucky, you might get help from new minds. Twenty art students

from the Netherlands and their partners from Kathmandu University were lucky enough to have that opportunity.

Each Dutch student was paired with an art student from KU to come up with cross-culturally produced artworks called In Between and the result was exhibited at the Nepal Art Council Gallery on March 14 and 15.

“I was really surprised at how the coupled students reacted to each others concepts,” said Matthias Keller, an art professor at Gerrit Rietveld Academie in Amsterdam, who accompanied his students here. “It’s more about getting conceptual than the material you use.”

Portraying the concept was the main challenge for these students. They weren’t just students with paint and brush in hand. They are from different fields of art like design, textile, ceramic, and photography. The exhibition included videos, flipbooks, installments, sculptures, performances, paintings, jewelry and many others forms.

The idea of the programme was started by Erna Anema, in collaboration with Siddharta Art Gallery. Anema is a frequent visitor to Nepal and wanted to introduce the two cultures to each other. She said despite the cultural differences, “art needs no words, only eyes”.

This is only phase one of the project, Netherlands in Nepal. In September 5, Nepali students will go to Netherlands for a similar exchange.