20-day Dumas Art Project to showcase students’ exhibits

Surat: The 11th edition of the Dumas Art Project was launched on Sunday at VR Surat with the theme ‘The Future is Now'. The 20-day festival will showcase 160 installations, sculptures, paintings and photographs by students from four institutes — JJ School of Art, Mumbai; The Maharaja Sayajirao University of Baroda, Vadodara; Veer Narmad South Gujarat University and Anant National University, Ahmedabad.Sumi Gupta, curator of the Dumas Art Project, said the initiative remains the only sustained, non-profit platform in Surat aimed at making art accessible while providing students an opportunity to showcase their work. "Over the past 10 years, around 40 lakh people have visited the project. This year, we have also collaborated with an international automotive company for ‘Kala Car', where a car will be publicly showcased for the first time, marking an intersection of technology, sustainability and art," she said.The edition will also feature ‘Pockets of Hope', a photography exhibition organized in partnership with Unesco. Other activities planned during the festival include Art Bazaar, Young Artists Programme, theatre performances, and workshops on Madhubani, Lippan and Bandhej art forms. The festival will continue until Feb 28.