MUMBAI: After the successful completion of the Mahatma Gandhi mural at Churchgate Station, St+art India Foundation is happy to announce the St+art Mumbai 2017 Urban Art Festival. Having previously organized six St+art festivals in Delhi, Mumbai, Bengaluru and Hyderabad creating iconic landmarks within all these cities, the St+art festival returns to Mumbai after the previous edition in 2014. With support from Asian Paints and associations with Mumbai Port Trust (MBPT), Western Railway, Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC), Singapore Tourism Board, Bonjour India, Institut Français and JSW Group among a host of other partnerships with cultural institutions and embassies, St+art Mumbai 2017 will bring to the city 40 Indian and international artists. 

Rooted around re-discovering the city through art and urban design interventions, St+art Mumbai 2017 will host five art projects between 18 October and 30 December 2017, which will reflect on the nature and DNA of the city of Mumbai by working in some of its most significant, yet historically and contextually different locations - Churchgate Station, Mahim (E), Sassoon Dock and Jindal Mansion.

The festival will mobilise artists to create murals, an experiential exhibition, performances, workshops, curated tours, screenings, talks and many more interventions, which will bring various creative communities together. The aim is to connect these areas of modern Mumbai, which seem so distant from one another, yet are part of a shared history and explore how integral these spaces have been to the cultural history and development of the city.

On the onset of St+art Mumbai 2017, Asian Paints Ltd Chief Operating Officer COO Amit Syngle said “Like every year, we yet again hope to add a bit of vibrance in the city and uplift the moods, spirits and lives of the Mumbaikars. We want to take art to the masses and make it accessible to a wider range of spectators. The idea is to open spaces to dialogues, conversations and culture creation through the lens of the city.”

St+art India Foundation Co-Founder and Festival Director Arjun Bahl said, “We are delighted to be back in Mumbai for the 7th edition of the St+art festival.  The curated projects will enable people to discover a different side of the Maximum City, spaces which are usually taken for granted. A project of this scale isn’t possible without a strong team and partners and I would like to thank Asian Paints, Mumbai Port Trust, Singapore Tourism Board, JSW, Bonjour India and our team for their continuous support to realize St+art India’s dream.”

Art projects at St+art Mumbai 2017

Churchgate Station

18 October -28 October

The Churchgate station, one of Mumbai’s busiest stations, got an artistic makeover with a tribute mural to the father of the nation - Mahatma Gandhi by legendary Brazilian street artist, Eduardo Kobra. 

Mahim (E) Art District

November-December

The creation of the Mahim (E) Art District - St+art India’s second public open-air art district will witness the coming together of Indian and international artists and urban designers regenerating several of Mahim (E)’s common spaces and transforming it into a vibrant walk through art gallery.

Sassoon Dock Art Project

11 November -30 December

Get reintroduced to Sassoon Dock through an experiential exhibition, which will see the creation of site-specific installations, murals, and audiovisual experiences which will delve deeper into the various layers of the space. The Singapore Weekender will be taking place at Sassoon Dock between 17-19 November.

Inside Out Project

11 November- 10 December

St+art urban art festival will bring to Mumbai iconic French artist JR’s global participatory project Inside Out Project whose large?format street paste-up project celebrates identity and amplifies untold stories. The project will celebrate the vibrant and diverse fishermen communities of Sassoon Dock through photo blowups of portraits.

Jindal Mansion

1 December – 15 December

The Jindal mansion on Pedder road is known to be a power centre - a pristine building embedded in the heritage of Mumbai. A massive installation at Jindal Mansion by one of India's top designers - Manish Arora will give passersby an opportunity to admire a work of art when they are travelling through one of the busiest roads in Mumbai.

St+art India Foundation Co-Founder - Content Director and Digital Head Akshat Nauriyal said, “Mumbai is a city of contrasts and several untold stories. Through the St+art Mumbai 2017 festival we hope to dig deeper into the fabric of the city and also reintroduce the people to some of its forgotten spaces. Hopefully by the end of the festival, there will be new art spots in Sassoon Dock and Mahim (E) for people across all sections of society to come visit and enjoy, in addition to the iconic Mahatma Gandhi mural at Churchgate Station.”

As part of the Sassoon Dock Art Project experiential exhibition, there will be special programming across all weekends through November and December, which will see workshops, talks, curated tours, screenings etc. With the intent of creative and cultural exchange between India and Singapore, St+art Mumbai 2017 will see the Singapore Weekender with several Singaporean artists in association with Singapore Tourism Board’s new brand Passion Made Possible. 

Between 17-19 November Sassoon Dock will see artworks by The Yok and Sheryo, Tan Zi Xi, a Zine festival and screen printing workshop with Knuckles and Notch - a design + risograph press based in Singapore, an exhibition by photographer Darren Soh and film screenings by Objectifs Centre for Film and Photography, performances by Turntablist and Producer DJ KoFlow, while Chef Bjorn Shen will make a special menu for Anti Social, Khar.

South Asia Middle-east and Africa, Singapore Tourism Board Regional Director GB Srithar said, “Singapore is popular as a family friendly destination. We are happy to partner with St+art India Foundation and Impresario Group, both players known to break boundaries in their own fields. Through this collaboration, we seek to present Singapore in a different light to the young adults and working millennial segments that travel for various pursuits. In showcasing Singaporean artistes’ work in line with our Passion Made Possible brand, we hope to entrench Singapore as an exciting lifestyle hot spot. Many travel interest triggers, like music, art and dining can be satiated in Singapore.”

Mumbai Port Trust Chairman Sanjay Bhatia said, “With its historic legacy, Mumbai Port is pleased to be a part of the art exhibition at Sassoon Dock, which is the oldest dock from where the port has evolved over the past 150 years. The port has been a standing testimony of Mumbai’s evolution and this initiative of wall painting and its exhibition is a step further in this direction. We welcome the artists, both international and Indian in their journey to revamp the Sassoon Dock with their murals and take it to global limelight.”

JSW Foundation Chairperson Sangita Jindal said, "We are delighted to support St+art's initiatives in Mumbai again. St+art has been executing strategic interventions across the nation for a while, and bringing an element of surprise and joy in the lives of people. At the JSW Group, we believe that art and culture has the power to transform cities and lives. 

We are excited by the interventions, which, have been planned at Sassoon Dock - one of the most significant spots in our island city. With this initiative, we look forward to getting a new generation of Mumbaikars to discover the docks, one of the hubs which have built the city.”