Art Forums and Auditoria in Goa

The Goan Art Forum

The Goan Art Forum is an artist collective, constituting of artists, art educators and art theoreticians. The Goan Art Forum was instituted in 1991 with the dedicated ideals and beliefs of promoting and contributing to the world of visual art, presenting in itself a broad visual landscape of the art and life around.

From its inception, The Goan Art Forum has organised fourteen art exhibitions, both solo and group, in Goa, Kerala and Bombay, independently and in collaboration with organisations like the Alliance Francaise de Goa and Consulado Geral de Portugal in Goa. The Forum has also presented two national exhibitions in Goa, wherein artistes from Goa and India had participated on invitation. Through these exhibitions prominent and outstanding young artists from Goa and India have been presented, helping people understand contemporary art its best. A sculptors workshop of artist from Baroda and Bangalore was also presented at the Chaze Centre for the Arts and Crafts in Margao, Goa.

Future activities other than exhibitions and workshops, include artist exchange programs, seminars, international exhibitions, publication of a primer on art and art terms and an art appreciation course titled "Insight" for the general public. The Goan Art Forum invites like minded bodies from around the world into a exchange of ideas and practice, in establishing an insight, an insight of the cross cultural experiences and renewed beliefs of understanding.

Address: The Goan Art Forum,
Central Hotel,
Campal,
Panaji, Goa
Phone: 223 411 / 226 704

Auditorium

The Kala Academy - An imposing structure

The Kala Academy Complex is a unique piece of architecture. Situated on a sprawling scenic site along the Mondovi river in Panaji, this centre for the performing arts surrounded by beautifully laid out landscape gardens houses a 1000-seat auditorium, named after Master Dinanath Mangeshkar, the veteran singer and father of Lata and Asha.

Commissioned by Rajiv Gandhi, the then Prime Minister, the auditorium allows for a varity of acoustical conditions ranging from speech and plays to sitar recitals and orchestral arrangements. The transparent false-ceiling allows acoustic changes to be made by manipulating absorbent materials placed with in inner compartments hidden from view above this ceiling. The walls of the auditorium are painted illusions of an old Goan theatre, complete with boxes, done by the renowned Goan -- Mario Miranda.

At the start of a show, the auditorium, which is fully air-conditioned, dims gradually with the illuminated painted figures in the balconies fading last of all. At the interval, the process is reversed, and at the end of a performance, spot lights illuminate the painted ceiling inside the compartment to reveal a jungle scene of Goa -- a reminder of illusion and reality.

All in all, this a unique piece of architecture, to be seen by any tourist who visits Goa, especially if he is artistically inclined.