Jean Monnet Project

Art & Culture in Everyday Life : An Interface of Indian & European Values (ACE)

Europe and India are hotbeds of cultural diversity and multifaceted art forms, be it painting, textiles, pottery, handicrafts, theater, music, and architecture, inter alia. For instance, the EU and India have 23 and 22 official languages, respectively. Underlining this diversity, the proposed project aims to explore art and culture in Europe and India. The core agenda of the project is the cross-cultural exchange of art and culture between the EU and India, in particular, focusing on the visual arts. Over the years, the EU has identified multiple themes of priority, art and culture are one of them. The overarching aim of the proposed project is the exchange of art and culture by co-relating them with issues of contemporary relevance as acknowledged by the EU and India. Therefore, facilitating the exchange of information, methodology, and awareness between the EU and Indian scholars, academia, artists, critics, writers, and young aspirants.

Having ratified the 2005 UNESCO Convention on the Protection and Promotion of the Diversity of Cultural Expressions highlights and espouses the EU and India’s principal values, including human rights, gender equality, democracy, freedom of expression, and the rule of law, along with cultural and linguistic diversity. However, whenever the two sides come up with any joint statement, the themes of art and culture take a back seat. The matters of trade, technology, terrorism, cybersecurity, and energy, among others, eclipses the ‘soft issues’ of art and culture. To foreground the importance of art and culture between the EU and India, so that it also becomes the discussion agenda, it is pertinent to spread awareness, knowledge, and information. Moreover, in the past few years, the EU has focused on strategising its foreign policy of Cultural Diplomacy. The EU and India have not fully exploited the power of their culture and arts to further strengthen their ties. There is an urgent need for a better EU and India balance in international cultural platforms and networks.