As part of its programme of disseminating art and aesthetics and bringing civil society together through art, India Habitat Centre presents ‘DRSTI: Experiencing Knowledge, Visually’ -- an international seminar.

Concept: While shruti or the oral word, is the supreme source of knowledge, Drsti or what is seen has its own unique place in the apprehension, experience and realisation of ultimate reality or atmajnana in the Indian tradition. Whether it is through motifs and metaphors, icons images represented on mud walls or temples, fabrics or manuscripts, the hasta mudras and abhinaya of dance, the narrative tradition of murals or scrolls, the visual poetry of miniature paintings, the subliminal messages of contemporary paintings, the suggestions arising from spaces sacred or secular, they all become sources of visual knowledge. Drsti by-passes the rational mode of knowledge such as language and appeals intuitively to the inner mind and leads to anubhava or an instant experience. While drsti leads to darshana, the contemplative and intuitive drsti leads to atmajnana.

Drsti is a two way process, the first is the optics which registers impressions on the eye from the outer world. However drsti requires the mind to perceive and infer these sensual impressions into a meaningful experience. It is the latter process of perception and inference that brings in subjectivity to the process of seeing. Thus this could bring in differences between the traditional and the modern in the modes of drsti. Drsti therefore is half seen and half perceived.

The seminar and workshop will explore various aspects of drsti in the Indian tradition, both traditional and modern and feature panel discussions, exhibitions and performances that will highlight drsti in its manifold aspects.

Academic Directors:
Dr Alka Pande
Consultant,
Art Advisor & Curator,
Visual Arts Gallery, India Habitat Centre
Email: pandealka@gmail.com / visualartsgallery@gmail.com

Dr Harsha Dehejia,
College of Humanities,
Carleton University, Ottawa, ON.,
Canada.
Email: harshadehejia@hotmail.com

Dates: January 6 & 7, 2007
Venue: Gulmohar Hall,
India Habitat Centre,
Lodhi Road,
New Delhi – 110033

Tentative Programme Schedule

January 5, 2007:

Opening of Digital Dreams - an exhibition of photographs and new media work organised by Satish Sharma, a well-known photographer who has been working on the subject of ‘perception’ for a long time. The exhibition will open at the Experimental Art Gallery setting the tone for the seminar that starts the next day.

January 6, 2007:

Inauguration with dance performance by Alarmel Valli
Seminar will include paper reading, presentations and panel discussions with breaks for lunch and tea

January 7, 2007:

Seminar will include paper reading, presentations and panel discussions with breaks for lunch and tea Closing function followed by dinner

For further details email: ihcseminar@gmail.com