<\/p>\n
On Saturday evening, the Belgian Embassy in Chanakyapuri \u2014 Satish Gujral\u2019s celebrated brick masterpiece \u2014 opened its private terraces and corridors to the public. As part of Delhi Art Gallery (DAG)\u2019s \u201cCity as Museum\u201d series, choreographer Manju Sharma directed a site-specific performance that unfolded across window sills, terrace ledges and courtyards.<\/p>\n Dancers Parinay Mehra, Kunal Sood and Riya Mandal traced arcs of movement through Gujral\u2019s interlocking volumes, unveiling spaces within spaces through form and gesture.<\/p>\n Before the performance, Giles Tillotson, DAG\u2019s senior vice-president for exhibitions, introduced Gujral\u2019s multidisciplinary practice. Belgian ambassador Didier Vanderhasselt, whose official residence is part of the complex, told HT, \u201cWe wanted to open up our place to the public to strengthen India-Belgium ties and engage in soft diplomacy. Gujral\u2019s work should be known to all, not just architects or diplomats.\u201d<\/p>\n For many visitors, stepping into a functioning embassy and watching performers poised on its ledges was itself a rare event in Delhi\u2019s cultural calendar.<\/p>\n Earlier in the day, another DAG initiative, \u201cThe Fifth Circle: Institution, Memory, Resistance\u201d, unfolded at Triveni Kala Sangam in Mandi House. Conceived by theatre director Amitesh Grover, the programme examined how the neighbourhood\u2019s institutions, protests and architecture shaped Delhi\u2019s artistic identity.<\/p>\n Grover\u2019s guided audio walk, \u201cEcho Root\u201d, took participants past National School of Drama, Triveni Kala Sangam, Sriram Centre, Rabindra Bhavan and Doordarshan. \u201cThese streets have been my classroom, my stage, and my refuge,\u201d Grover said of his 25-year relationship with the area \u201cas a student, a director, a teacher, and an artist\u201d.<\/p>\n The afternoon panel brought together photographer-activist Ram Rahman, art historian Shukla Sawant, anthropologist Sarovar Zaidi and theatre director Zuleikha Chaudhari \u2014 a diverse group whose perspectives bridged activism, scholarship and performance.<\/p>\n Opening with an old map of Delhi, Rahman reminded the audience: \u201cThis whole area between Shahjahanabad and the old fort was filled with ruins of some major buildings like Firozabad, smaller masjids, smaller shrines.\u201d<\/p>\n He traced that layered history till the 1950s, when his father, architect Habib Rahman, designed Rabindra Bhavan. Reading from Habib Rahman\u2019s notes, he said: \u201cThis building belonged to India. Here I used traditional Indian elements such as chajjas, jalis and overhanging roofs. It was the first functional building that gave me aesthetic satisfaction\u2026 Maybe it was Rabindranath\u2019s artistic genius that inspired me.\u201d<\/p>\n Shukla Sawant highlighted newly surfaced archives about early planning for Delhi\u2019s art spaces. Quoting a 1959 government file, she noted: \u201cThe ground floor of the block has been kept at two levels to lend variety\u2026 The upper-level galleries can be reached by a freestanding spiral staircase\u2026 The shape and size of the galleries has been carefully worked out to avoid monotony and at the same time achieve maximum flexibility.\u201d She called the 1950s and 60s \u201cthe period of institutional building during the early Nehru years,\u201d and cited Maulana Abul Kalam Azad\u2019s words at the Lalit Kala Akademi\u2019s inauguration: \u201cIn the field of art the role of the government must be secondary…\u201d<\/p>\n Friday night\u2019s concert by Chaar Yaar at Triveni Amphitheatre, the second movement of The Fifth Circle, set the tone for the weekend. Led by Madan Gopal Singh, the band wove Kabir, Bulleh Shah, and Faiz with unexpected strains of the Beatles and Brecht. Their mix of folk, qawwali and protest song cut across genres, offering what attendees described as both playful and profound \u2014 an echo of the plural voices Mandi House has long nurtured.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n \u2018 The preceding article may include information circulated by third parties \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n \u2018 Some details of this article were extracted from the following source www.hindustantimes.com \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" On Saturday evening, the Belgian Embassy in Chanakyapuri \u2014 Satish Gujral\u2019s celebrated brick masterpiece \u2014 opened its private terraces and corridors to the public. As part of Delhi Art Gallery (DAG)\u2019s \u201cCity as Museum\u201d series, choreographer Manju Sharma directed a site-specific performance that unfolded across window sills, terrace ledges and courtyards. During the \u2019The Fifth […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2019875,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_social_meta":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[25179],"tags":[371023,371026,371024,371027,371025],"class_list":["post-2019874","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-music","tag-belgian-embassy","tag-city-as-museum","tag-delhi-art-gallery","tag-india-belgium-ties","tag-satish-gujral"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/History-music-and-dance-animate-Delhis-cultural-landmarks.jpeg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2019874","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2019874"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2019874\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2019875"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2019874"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2019874"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2019874"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}