Dhaka Art Week in review
The weekend of February 6 to 9 saw Dhaka Art Week taking place at Shilpakala Academy. The event gained huge traction on social media with many aspiring artists approaching the organiser directly to submit their artworks for exhibition. On top of that, through an online form, artists from all across the country applied to be selected for what seemed to be a very prestigious art show. Interestingly, some big names and the experienced of the art industry were also included alongside emerging artistes.
Art Hawk, a youth initiative to promote the arts organised the event with this being its first show.
Dhaka Art Week also had an open mic night, which saw talented and eager young people performing their music and poetry to a modestly sized crowd. Adding to the unique flavour, a walk-in session, called "Art for All by All" was held for artists to come, paint and exhibit their artworks. This was open to all and allowed many people to come with their supplies, enjoy the show and leave the premises with their canvases hanging on the same galleries as some of the best in the country.
One of the positive aspects of the current Dhaka art scene is that it plays into the need and the desire for its citizens, especially the youth, to have avenues in which to express themselves and to have entertainment options to choose from, making it easy for different people to organise and put together shows and events as they see fit. This levels the platform for many up and coming artists and creative individuals, giving them an early push to start their careers and gain visibility.
The premises of the exhibition itself, Shilpokala, served as a validation of the standards of art that would be displayed. As mentioned, the playing field is virtually open for anyone with the resources, but it's not always that an Economics undergraduate student hosts an exhibition of more than 130 artists with upwards of 150 works. A group show demands a lot more than the mere display of quality art. It requires a theme, a message or at the very least, an underlying story that can thread the entire body of work together in a coherent manner. This was lacking in Dhaka Art Week. What was to be made of a Shahabuddin hanging in the same gallery as a watercolour painting of the rural landscape of Bangladesh by an amateur artist?
The exhibition's curation raises the question of whether opportunities to exhibit artworks alone are enough to cultivate a culturally and artistically stimulated group of young individuals. A certain level of responsibility must be maintained when it comes to showcasing and handpicking talent and bringing it to large audiences. Nonetheless, it is still promising to see such endeavours taken by the youth. If nothing else, the arts can be said to be much more accessible to the youth than it ever was before.