TODAY EXPRESS NEWS ( Ajay verma )New Delhi:: The state of Odisha/Orissa will have India’s first private sector Triennial titled ‘OTIA’ (Odisha Triennial of International Art) and this will also take place in the three major cities of Odisha namely Bhubaneswar, Puri and Konark. It is initiative by Sahank Mahptra; Founder of ANPIC and OTIA. OTIA was formally launched in Bhubaneswar on May 2018 and OTIA made its national announcement called Delhi Declaration of OTIA at the National Gallery of Modern Art, New Delhi on 14th June 2018 at 5.30 pm. The Chief Guest of the evening was Shri.Pinaki Misra, Hon.MP (Lok-Sabha) and Mr.Jeffrey Sexton, Minister Counselor of Public Affairs and the US Embassy, New Delhi was the Guest of Honour. On this occasion Pinaki Misra, Hon.MP (Lok-Sabha) said “Odisha is a culturally rich state and it has all the potential to host a mega event like OTIA. It has been observed that the activities of Anpic is promoting Indian culture and their work based out of the crafts village of Raghuraj Pur in Odisha has been commendable. The state of Odisha is well equipped to receive the great personalities of Indian as well as international art. OTIA will give a natural boost to the Tourism and cultural infrastructure development of the state.” Sashanka Mohapatra, the Founder Director of OTIA says, “Odisha has created several geniuses in art and culture. Each year Anpic will conduct national level exhibitions in the state integrating the temple cities and the folk and tribal spaces. While these state exhibitions are exclusively for national artists, OTIA is an international platform where the international artists could exhibit along with the national artists of India and the artists from the Odisha state in particular.” Curatorial Director of OTIA is JohnyML and Rajendra Patil is the Mentor of OTIA. In this 40 days long mega art event, first of its kind ever in any Indian states, will have around hundred top most Indian artists representing various sections of art. Major artists namely Jatin Das, Sudhir Patwardhan, Prabhakar Kolte, K.S.Radhakrishnan, Ravider Reddy, Jogen Chowdhury, Laxma Gowd and so on are expected to be a part of OTIA. JohnyML said “OTIA is a great challenge given to me and I am going to make it one of the worth memorable experiences in the Indian art scene,” the Curatorial Director designate of OTIA.“Most of the international events are generally high-browistic. They look down upon the local tastes and local aesthetics. I have envisioned an international Triennial in which the local aesthetics will find a chance to stand shoulder to shoulder with the international art. My idea is to create a ‘glocal’ feeling about art and culture through the OTIA platform by integrating art, music, dance, theatre, film, craft and literature”. Odisha which is culturally rich in art, dance and music, it’s the first time that it is getting a platform to showcase itself on national and international level. The evening was also witnessed by the presence of famous personalities like Anand Moy Banerji, Kanchan Chandra, Pratul Dash, Artist Sidharth, Raghu Rai, Jatin Das and many more.
