Panorama Punjab going places, from Patiala fort to Europe
PATIALA: The inaugural edition of Punjab Panorama held in the heart of the erstwhile princely state of Patiala, inside Qila Mubarak, this March, which was described as an international forum for art and culture, is on the threshold of travelling to Europe. Filmmaker Sarah Singh, founder director of this ongoing cultural initiative, has been invited by the Victoria Albert Museum, London, to make an audio-visual presentation on the concept and events of the March medley, on May 31.
Soon after, she has an invitation from Switzerland to visit museums and discuss future collaborations for Punjab. She will be visiting Zurich and Geneva in June. The invitation for this has come from Akshay Pathak, who heads the Swiss Arts Council. Pathak was a speaker at the March event where he introduced an architectural session on ‘The Art of the Palace’.
Sarah, who traces lineage to the Patiala royals, says she always cherished her Punjab connection although she grew up and primarily lived in the US since 1974. “The Qila Mubarak, first built as a mud fortress by Baba Ala Singh (founder of Patiala royalty) in 1763, fascinated me, and I wanted it to be the site to regenerate a creative dialogue”. With the government agreeing to give her this venue for the event — chief minister Capt Amarinder Singh is the head of the royal family at present — an enthusiastic Sarah set about the task of building the event in seven months by raising a contingent of institutional and individual sponsors, both at home and abroad.
She managed to get participation of curators of five major museums of the world besides a number of diplomatic ambassadors to India. “My intent is to keep Patiala as the centre for the Panorama, and take the culture of Punjab as well as the contemporary engagement with the arts abroad, especially where Punjabis are. A number of suggestions have come forth but the beginning is being made in London.”
Looking back at the first edition, Sarah says: “What was lacking was a larger audience to watch the presentations, but one hopes to improve it in the next edition. We made it a point to project some films on the outer walls and take some performing artists on the bazaar street outside; and people took great interest in the activity. What touched me most was a woman’s remark to another, that, ‘Where would we have got a chance to see this!’ The Odissi dance by Masaka Ono had people pouring in.”
Some of the finer touches at the show included tributes to actor Om Puri as well as businesswoman and philanthropist Parmeshwar Godrej. Filmmaker Sudhir Mishra was there to talk about his Patiala days where he lived as a schoolboy in the 1960s. Sarah is now involved in planning the second edition which she hopes will have more audience and more by way of cultural fare.
My intent is to keep Patiala as the centre for the Panorama, and take the culture of Punjab as well as the contemporary engagement with the arts abroad.
SARAH SINGH, founder director of Punjab Panorama