Sculpture park to be new attraction

Sculpture park to be new attraction
Deccan Herald

The culture and literary hue around Town Hall and Ravindra Kalakshetra, on JC Road in the city, is all set to turn brighter, come Independence day. A ‘contemporary, landscaped sculpture park’ is being readied on the two-acre space between the two structures.

The culture and literary hue around Town Hall and Ravindra Kalakshetra, on JC Road in the city, is all set to turn brighter, come Independence day. A ‘contemporary, landscaped sculpture park’ is being readied on the two-acre space between the two structures.

The project is being handled by the Department of Kannada and Culture and the Karnataka Shilpakala Academy, as a Suvarna Karnataka year effort. About Rs 20 crore is being spent on the project.

Addressing press persons on Thursday, Mr K S Niranjan, Commissioner, Department of Kannada and Culture said that an all-new bookshop, run by the Kannada Book Authority, and a cafeteria would be located in the vicinity.

They will replace the existing canteen and the unkempt bookshop located to the east of Ravindra Kalakshetra, he said noting that the park, the bookshop and the cafeteria will be become one integrated whole in about a few months time.

The project is partly funded (Rs 8 lakh) by the Canara Bank, whose head office is located opposite the Town Hall.

About Rs 1.5 lakh is understood to have been spent on sourcing select sculpture material - soapstone, from H D Kote in Mysore.

A 15-day camp for some 15 top sculptors in the State was held by the Shilpakala Academy.

Landscaping work is in progress on the site. Mr Niranjan said that the park would be open for public free of cost. Maintenance is likely to be outsourced to Canara Bank itself, he said.

Raj statue

The landscaped sculpture park is also likely to house the statue of cine star late Rajkumar as the Bangalore Mahanagara Palike has proposed to install a statue of the actor at the Town Hall junction.

Karnataka Shilpakala Academy President Venkatachalapathi opined that the aesthetics of a sculpture park and a statue may not gel, but suitable solutions like shifting the location of the statue to a better and alternative place can be worked out, he said.