03-Oct-2012 12:00 AM
2412
The contemporary times stand witness to a constant deterioration of meaning of art and manipulation of theoretical social and political concepts as well as their practical significance. Whether they are questions as serious as social and political concerns of human rights or social exclusion affecting a dignified human survival, or as sensitive as the waning of interest in classical art forms, they call for an urgent need to revisit and discuss the prevalent conceptions.
Art has its unique way of reviving our soul from deadening monotonous routines through its multiple intricate expressions. Forming a singular perception of art or attributing a definitive meaning to it often reduces art from its fascinating complexity and expressive charm. This reductive approach confines art to its modernist understanding, which then fails to take cognizance of the artistic abstraction expressed through different forms and styles.
The Raza Foundation through its series ‘Art Matters’ provides a platform for open discussion on such issues. It endeavors not only to release the true essence of art from the clutches of definitive modernist approach in order to grasp myriad ways of extolling art, but also to stir up debate on the changing meanings of social and political theoretical concepts like rights, justice, liberty, citizenship, etc. Well known, renowned scholars and practitioners from all the diverse fields of arts, dance, music, social science, poetry, and so on are invited for this purpose.
Here, we publish the sixth panel discussion of ‘Art Matters’, titled ‘Arts and The Media’ featuring Vinod Mehta, Jawahar Sircar, Om Thanvi and Debang.
Jawhar Sircar is a retired Indian civil servant, who has 42 years experience in Administration, who is equally well known as a Researcher, Publisher of articles, Author and a Public Speaker. He last served as CEO, Prasar Bharati from February, 2012 to October 2016. He resigned from the top statutory post of India and despite differences; the NDA Government gave him honours and acknowledged his services. He relocated to Kolkata in November, 2016 to take up his long pending Research and Publication work. He is associated with many Cultural & Academic Institutions, where he holds regular Talks or Preside over Events & Meetings. He has been unanimously elected as Chairman of the prestigious Centre for Studies in Social Science, Calcutta (CSSSC). CSSSC is a Premier Research institute that has hosted numerous Foreign and Indian Scholars of the highest order and undertaken path-breaking research & publication in important disciplines of Social Science. He served as Secretary of the Ministry of Culture, Government of India from late 2008 to February 2012, where he reported directly to the Prime Minister for most of his tenure. He resigned to take over his current position, for which he was chosen by an eminent panel led by the Vice President of India and Supreme Court Judge. As Culture Secretary, he initiated long-pending reforms and took up the modernization of museums, archives, and libraries for which he was awarded the British Museum Medal.
Om Thanvi born at Phalodi, Distt. Jodhpur, Rajasthan, India is a writer and editor. He grew-up in Bikaner and took his post graduation degree in Business Administration from Rajasthan University . He started journalism in his student days in 1977 contributing to weekly 'Marudeep', daily 'Yugpaksh' (Bikaner) and weekly 'Reviver' (Calcutta), joined mainstream Hindi journalism working with Rajasthan Patrika group in Jaipur. He edited Patrika group's weekly Itwari Patrika, then Bikaner edition of daily Rajasthan Patrika. In 1989 he joined Jansatta, a newspaper of Indian Express Group published from Delhi. He was Resident editor of the daily's Chandigarh edition (1989-1999). Then the editor of Jansatta in Delhi (1999-2015). At present he is Visiting Professor at the Centre for Media Studies, School of Social Sciences, Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU). He had been Secretary General of Editors Guild of India for two terms as well as Vice President of the South Asia Free Media Association (SAFMA). He was member of the National Integration Council, headed by Prime Minister of India and is on the Advisory Council of the India International Center (IIC), New Delhi.
Dibang is a senior news anchor formerly hosted daily prime-time show 'Jan Man' and weekly show 'Press Conference' on the Hindi news channel ABP News. A member of debate panels of the channel, he is rated among the best Hindi anchors in the industry today. He was the Managing Editor of NDTV India, a 24-hour Hindi news channel. As the Executive Editor, he was the launching face for NDTV India. Before joining NDTV, he worked for Aaj Tak, a 24-hour Hindi news channel. When Aaj Tak became a 24-hour channel, Dibang was the launching face. Before joining television news, Dibang was a correspondent with The Sunday Times of India in New Delhi. He started his career in journalism with The Illustrated Weekly of India. He anchored the first-ever hour-long Hindi debate show on television, Muqabla on NDTV India. At the Indian Television Academy Awards 2006, Muqabla won the Best Talk Show Award. This was the first time a Hindi chat show had won such an award in a category consisting mostly of English shows. Dibang has won many awards for his anchoring and documentaries. He also acted in an Italian film directed by Italo Spinelli. He has worked for several foreign television networks, including SBS and ABC of Australia, NHK of Japan and RAI.
The event was organised at the Indian International Centre on 10th of October 2012.