Kochi gets a new art gallery in David Hall that is 315 years young
Published September 2, 2010 | 
Kochi’s newest art gallery is the prestigious David hall, which was built around 315 years back! Bult in 1695, it was the residence of a Dutch commander Hendrik Adriaan Van Reede Tot Drakestein, who is also the author of renowned book “Horticus Malabaricus” before becoming the home of a Jewish business man, David Koder,after which it was named.
Located near the parade ground in Fort cochin, the artgallery is now run by Tby CGH who has leased out the building for 25 years.The restoration work that span over 2 decades was undertaken with utmost care to make sure that the original character and aesthetic beauty of the building is fully retained instead of adding new structures to mar its originality.David hall will be a showcase for paintings and performing
arts to be a complete cultural centre in Cochin. David hall will focus more on propagating and promoting little known art forms and will be the right arena for the upcoming artists to exhibit their works. With a mission to make art more affordable for common people, David Hall has set a new precedent that will surely influence many other art lovers.
By incorporating a cafe into this art gallery, David hall is paving way for interesting coffee table discussions on arts and culture and more public participation. Now that the well cherished dream of David Hall art gallery becoming a reality, the Kashi Art gallery will have a competitor nearby, which will only do more good for the arts and cultural richness of Kochi.
Villaveli: A Platform for western art forms in Kerala
Published January 14, 2008 | 
Jan 14:Kerala is renowned for its verdant natural landscape and a range of traditional art forms. These two qualities attract hoards of tourists from all over the world to the Gods own country. Kerala is not only leisurely destination its traditional art forms are capable of lingering in the mind for a lifetime of both domestic and international tourists.
Elena Koutoulidis is one such tourist who admires Kerala a lot for its uniqueness. She first visited Kerala in the year 2000 to learn Kathakali in Thiruvananthapuram with the scholarship provided by the French government that six months long stay allowed her to learn more about the Kerala history and tradition. Elena finds that there exists a void for western art forms in Kerala. As being a theatre artist herself she came back to Kerala two years ago and by the end of 2007 she gives shape to an artist residency named Villaveli in Fort Cochin.
Elena’s aim is to provide a platform for the artists from western countries to showcase the European art forms for the people in Kerala. Her film maker husband Jean Marie Carrel is extending a whole hearted support to move this earnest initiative forward.
While commenting on the functioning of Villaveli Elena said: “There are several cultural centres in Kerala that displays Indian art forms for Indian public, but there is not much centres that provide facilities for western artists to perform for Indian public. So our aim is to furnish that need. The French government is providing scholarship for artists who are keen to study the other art forms Villaveli will function as a base for them and they will be asked to perform and teach the minute aspects of the art form they are representing. It is an earnest attempt for cultural exchange.”
She further added that: “The period of hosting the western performers ranges from three weeks to three months. We are conducting workshops, crash courses and art film festivals to peoples representing various age groups. People are showing lots of interest in learning the art forms more than what we expected. In future Villaveli will present artists who represent French visual drama, street plays, circus, puppetry, multimedia arts, video and web.”
Now a circus artist named Julien Delime is staying in Villaveli and he is giving classes to the local students. The classes deals with juggling, object manipulation, body movement, acrobatics, clowns, gags and drama. These classes will help the students to gain the ability of energy control, concentration, group exercise and self confidence.
What ever may be the form of art! It has the inherent ability to overcome geographical and linguistic barriers. Villaveli thus sans borders and is upholding the value of arts.