Team Herald
PANJIM: Artists in the State are up in arms over the proposed Rs 8.92 crore ‘Waste to Art Park’ at the existing Bhagwan Mahavir Balvihar Art Park at Campal, Panjim.
The Goa Waste Management Corporation (GWMC) has floated a tender worth Rs 8,92,90,798 for Design, Engineering and Development of ‘Waste to Art Park’. Although, perhaps for the first time in the history of liberated Goa a huge amount of money will be available to the artists to create art, however, some of artists are not happy the way the tender has been designed.
The artists bidding will have to deposit earnest money deposit (EMD) of Rs 17,85,816, which they feel that most Goan artists will not be able to afford and therefore apply for this tender. There is also no mention of a curator for indepth understanding and study of art history and exposure to various genres of artistic creations world over.
The tender contains the description of the art works which are to be created by the artists. The ‘Waste to Art Park’ will have replicas of the existing monuments like the Eiffel Tower, Tower of Pisa, a Pyramid, Colosseum, Christ The Redeemer, Statue of Liberty and Taj Mahal.
Renowned artist Subodh Kerkar said, “I feel that the way the tender is designed, it is sheer mockery of art and hence defeats the whole purpose of it.” He suggested that the GWMC should appoint a curatorial team headed by an experienced curator for the project.
“If I were appointed a curator, I would make an open call to artists working in Goa to submit ideas for sculpture to be created out of scrap materials. The selection of the artists would be done purely on merit. The price of the work can be decided by the artist and the curator,” he added.
Kerkar has convened a meeting of artists at Museum of Goa (MOG) Pilerne, at 5 pm on Saturday, to lodge an official protest and to request the government to withdraw the tender in order to stop the damage, and “establish a new way of acquiring art for the Waste to Art Park”.
Maendra Alvares of Ancestral Goa and The Big Foot Museum, Loutolim, said, “The tender amount is quite high and the artists will have to sell their work at a premium rate to earn revenue. Personally, I wouldn’t feel like participating in this project. Besides the finance, the artist will also have the challenge of creating huge structures with wealth out of waste. I have created statues to beautify spaces and invested my own amount. I won’t be joining the protest.”
Victor Hugo Gomes, the proprietor of Goa Chitra, Benaulim, said, “I feel Goans should be included in the project to showcase their creativity. Secondly, instead of creating world structures which have no relevance to Goa, the project should focus on Goa’s lost architectural heritage like the Clock Tower which was based near Bread and More, in Panjim. I won’t be joining the protest as I have not been involved with art for over a decade.”
Leader of the Opposition Yuri Alemao said that the proposed art park is a “Monument of Corruption and it is to facilitate Aya Ram Gaya Ram in the BJP”. He demanded to know who had prepared the tender documents without taking a curator on board. While stating that the valuation of scrape material is also not done and there was no clarity, Alemao urged the government to keep the tender on hold and to take local artisans into confidence.
When contacted, GWMC managing director Levinson Martins said that the artists registered with the Ministry of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSME) need not pay any fees. There will be no fee for tender documents and EMD for registered artists bidding. He further said that bidders can ask their querries or any issues during the pre-bid meeting convened on October 17.
Waste Management Minister Babush Monserrate said that the issue has been blown out of proportion. He said that the tender document is as per the Government of India guidelines and the EMD of unsuccessful bidder will be refunded. “We are putting up Wonders of the World out of scrap material and the amount is also huge,” said Monserrate.
