What is New in Rock Art?

Recently a twin programme of a Seminar and an Exhibition on Rock Art was organized by IGNCA under the aegis of UNESCO.

Seminar: ‘Global Conference on Rock Art’

IGNCA, 29 November – 7 December 1993

Primeval man’s unbridled creative urge manifested itself in the form of rock paintings, bruising and engravings, which are found scattered all over the world. Rather than categorizing these rock art sites as the cultural property of particular nations where they are found, these sites should be deemed as the collective heritage of humanity. In its programme of research and documentation, IGNCA has adopted a holistic approach on rock art, by inter-linking it with the living arts of India as well as those of other cultures. During the past five years, IGNCA has done wide documentation on rock art and in collaboration with the French experts is at present consolidating a fresh outlook on the subject.

With this dynamic and integral approach, IGNCA held a Global Conference on Rock Art, which attracted Rock Art specialists from all over the world, such as Argentina, Australia, Bolivia, Canada, China, Czech Republic, England, France, Germany, Italy, Kenya, Makedonija, Portugal, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Slovakia, Spain and USA. The insights generated by this crucial global meeting would help IGNCA in its conceptual plan of developing a gallery of primeval sight (Adi Drsya).

The plenary session of the seminar was held at National Museum on 29 November, and the concluding session on 7 December at IGNCA. The seminar was organized with two sessions running concurrently everyday. The major themes, grouped under nine sessions, were as follows:

  1. University in terms of act, themes and cosmological worldview;
  2. Descriptive country report from China, Egypt, India, Jordan, Makedonija, Saudi Arabia, Russia and Northern Asia;
  3. Cross-cultural comparison of rock art in India and China, comparison between rock art and painted pottery, and new approach in rock art through cross-cultural comparison;
  4. Geological problems and palaeoecology, conservation and management documentation;
  5. Classification, chronology and standardization of Chinese, French, Indian and African rock art;
  6. Conservation of contexts in the description, interpretation and recording of rock art, primitive art and virtual environments;
  7. Language of symbols – example from China, India, Libya and Spain; Religious themes – examples from Australia, Bolivia, China, India; Musical subjects – examples from Central Arabia, China, Czech Republic, India, Italy, Middle Asia and Slovakia; New ways of rock art studies, comparative morphometric analysis, and hermeneutical view point;
  8. Artificial Intelligence approach to dating rock art, holographic method, use of computer in documentation, object oriented approach in development of Expert System, contribution of rock art research to Artificial Intelligence – lessons from the IGNVA workshop;
  9. The world gallery of rock art.

A Glimpse into our Heritage”: Exhibition and a Seminar on Brhadisvara

 

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