Where ghosts meet Krishna to spin some serious magic

A two-part culture carnival in the capital brings you face-to-face with fascinating phenomena caused by the beyond

A two-part culture carnival in the capital brings you face-to-face with fascinating phenomena caused by the beyond

When reality becomes dull, magic comes to the rescue. Magic Realism, which has been widely used in literature, art and film, is an artistic genre in which participants try to recreate magic in natural settings. And yes, it's unlikely you'll get a chance to witness it, except at the ongoing 'Lo Real Maravilloso' festival. Here's tapping some of their tricks.

Mysterious musings: Performing Art by GR Iranna

Writes of passage
Famous German art critic Franz Roh once defined Magic Realism as a form where "our real world re-emerges before our eyes, bathed in the clarity of a new day." If that sounds profoundly confusing, we have a simpler explanation of the underlying theme: mystical meets everyday to spin something surreal each hour. The show also draws inspiration from sources as diverse as Gabriel Garcia Marquez, Laura Esquivel, Salman Rushdie, Joanne Harrism, Mikhail Bulgakov, Milan Kundera and Louis de Bernieres. "Many Indian artists, knowingly or unknowingly, base their work around Magic Realism. So, we thought of a full-fledged feature", says Renu Modi, director of Gallery Espace, which is organising the do.

Bone collector: Some roots grow upwards, by Sonia Mehra	Jagannath Panda's The Invisible Man

Size 36
The show, which blurs the line between magic and realism is a convergence of video art, painting, photography, digital art, site-specific installations and sculpture. The participating artists' list stretches upto 36 domestic and international names, each of whom set out to discover a magical world in which the real and the imagined, the mythical and the metaphorical, fact and fantasy merge seamlessly. Some of the prominent names include Anila Rubiku from Albania, Sutapa Biswas from United Kingdom, Rina Banerjee from New York, Bharti Kher, Ranbir Kaleka, Chintan Upadhyay, Jagannath Panda and Shilpa Gupta.

Must-see
>>Waswo X Waswo's hand-made Krishna
>>Huge tree sculptures by Chintan Upadhyay
>>Manjunath Kamath's life-size fire glass
>>Artist Nikhil Chopra's ghost images
>>N Pushpamala's photographic exploration of horror films

Lo Real Maravilloso: Marvellous Reality
At: Lalit Kala Academy, Ferozshah Road
Timings: 10 am u2013 7 pm
When: December 9-18