For its 24th biennial, Europalia International will bring India to the heart of Europe in the europalia.india festival in Brussels and the environs. A preliminary outline of the programme has been announced.

europalia.india will translate India’s immense cultural wealth into a multidisciplinary programme comprising exhibitions, concerts, dance and theatre performances, conferences, cinema and literature events and runs 4 October 2013 - 26 January 2014.

The general theme of the festival: encounters
Encounters between India and other great world civilisations or between the different peoples and cultures that constitute the sub-continent have shaped India and continue to do so. But these encounters have also benefited the rest of the world: an encounter is never unilateral and each party can benefit from the occasion to extract elements and integrate them in their own culture.

The encounter is also a fitting metaphor for India: it can be a shock, an exchange, assimilation, discovery, resistance, a source of progress or sorrow, and love. Who knows, it may be a little of all of these that inspire to discover this incredible country.

Clusters within the main theme
Again, it was in our attempt to decipher this multifaceted India that we identified seven sub-themes within the overall theme of encounters. These appeared to be enlightening and essential for anyone attempting to understand what India is. Each of these sub-themes, designed to facilitate a better reading of the programme, will be centralized as possible in one cultural venue or city. Each of the themes will feature all artistic disciplines: exhibitions, music, dance, theatre, literature, conferences and film.

1- The Body
2 - Indomania
3 - India Tomorrow
4 - Living Traditions
5 -Water
6 - Bollywood & beyond
7 - Diaspora

For full details, download the pdf. press release

Europalia is a major international arts festival held every two years in Brussels and the environs to celebrate one invited country’s cultural heritage. Since 1969, Europalia has organised some twenty-two festivals. Each has turned the spotlight on one culture in a comprehensive programme of music, fine arts, photography, cinema, theatre, dance, literature, architecture, design, fashion, gastronomy...

Image: from the Europalia.India Facebook page - INDOMANIACS photo contest