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Known as one of the most prestigious events in Dhaka, The Dhaka Art Summit has been an ongoing phenomenon since 2012. The DAS was inaugurated by the Samdani Art Foundation in the year 2012 and this has been continued and will be continued for the years to come. This year’s Art Summit was titled “Seismic Movements”. This year’s summit focuses on the movements that are generated by the power from pressure, be it geologically, socially and politically. To shake up our understanding of the present and past, DAS has worked at their utmost best to create opportunities for everyone from around the world to come together and create art history on a monumental scale.
The Dhaka Art Summit is a platform to stimulate rich context research and artistic production in the future by empowering artists and the public through its exhibition and public programmes. The summit conjures the audience to think outside of the box and reconsider movement and borders and history through the form of art. Art lovers were provided with a rare opportunity,that comes once a year, to experience the art forms around the world under one roof!
Over 40+ collectives and collaborative platforms from around the world such as Asia, Africa, Central & South America and Oceania were present at the DAS this wonderful year. The Core Team of the Summit consists of Nadia Samdani, Rajeeb Samdani and Dianna Campbell Betancourt amongst many others who have brought this project to life.
One of the many amazing exhibits at the Summit consisted of an entire floor dedicated to Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, the Father of the Nation. This was marking his 100th birth anniversary and was titled “Lighting the Fire of Freedom, Sheikh Mujibur Rahman”. The exhibit was a timeline of Sheikh Mujib’s life, starting from his early life to the time he brought justice to Bangladesh and united the people till his last breath. The timeline was in a dark room illuminated by golden and red lights, giving a very charismatic look and a powerful image to glorify Sheikh Mujibur Rahman.
Biswajit Goswami was the conservator of the installation called “Shekor” or “Roots”, which was for the Bangladeshi artists and the artists who had immense contribution to the uprising of art education in Bangladesh. Amongst many, there was Zainul Abedin, Mustafa Monwar and Rashid Chowdhury. They have been critical of building art history in Bangladesh. “Roots” displayed the artists’ best works and allowed the audience to appreciate the culture of art in our homeland. Starting from the 7th of February 2020 till the 15th of February 2020, each day the summit was packed by people from near and far to bask in the aesthetics that were on display.
