NCR looks at an artsy week that opens with a flash mob

GURGAON: For those who have yet to get into the festive spirit, here’s something funky, quirky – and very artsy.
The fourth edition of the Contemporary Arts Week (October 15 to 22) got under way on Saturday in Delhi, and Gurgaon too will get a taste of the action in the coming week. The CAW is organised by Friends of Art, an NGO that endeavours to engage with artistes and audiences of all age groups.
The ‘Week’ features 55 events spread across 12 venues (outdoor and indoor), with more than 450 artistes — both established and emerging — showcasing their work in art forms such as dance, music, theatre, clowning, puppetry and mime, as well as photography, short films, slam poetry, stand-up, spoken word, mixed media, street plays and street art.
The Contemporary Arts Week is the vision of Shohini Dutta and Pankaj Bajaj, who were keen on providing a platform for artistes and like-minded folk to come together and celebrate the best – and the most exciting – of contemporary arts. “What’s new this year is more venues and art forms — for example, on the opening night, we’re having a silent flash mob,” Pankaj Bajaj, curator, Contemporary Arts Week, and director, Friends of Arts, told TOI. The festival, Bajaj added, is growing every year, both in terms of the number of events and the crowds.
Watch out for ‘A Straight Proposal’, a piece of theatre that casts an eye on the LGBT culture in India.
This play was nominated in six categories – including best play – at the 2015 Mahindra Theatre Awards. Also recommended is the excitingly multifaceted ‘Different Strokes’ (Epicentre, October 21), featuring Varoon P Anand (impromptu), Vaibhav Raj Gupta (mime), Ryan, Sanjay Khatri and Naomi (dance), and Sunit Tondon and Vidushi Mehra (theatre).
The CAW also has workshops for kids, an interactive corner where you can create your own art and street graffiti and come face to face with the artists.