Nokia — connecting to the cause of art

Ruchi Sud

Last week Nokia felicitated the national winners of the Nokia Arts Awards—Asia Pacific 2001 competition in the capital.
The Nokia Arts Awards was officially launched on May 11, 2001, and covers 14 countries—India, Australia, China, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Japan, Korea, Malaysia, New Zealand, the Philippines, Singapore, Taiwan, Thailand and Vietnam. These awards are a region-wide celebration of innovation, artistic vision and the creative human spirit. The objective is to promote art among the youth of today, according to Sanjeev Sharma, managing director, Nokia mobile phones.

He added: “There is a lot of creative talent in India and art is the universal form of communication, so we thought of encouraging the young artists by starting the Nokia Arts Awards in 1999.”

This year’s competition was based on the theme Eye on the World. The idea was to encourage participants to visualise the ever-changing vast and fascinating world we live in, according to the organisers. “The theme of the competition was justified by the creative imagination of young artists from 14 different countries in the Asia-Pacific region, each communicating his/ her perspective of the world we live in through art,” said Mr Sharma. The themes for last two Nokia arts awards, held in 1999 and 2000, were ‘Vision of your Future’ and ‘Playground of your imagination’.

The third Nokia Arts Awards 2001 competition was open to all students aged between 17 and 25 years and focussed on two-dimensional contemporary art.

The Nokia awards provided the young artists an opportunity to make personal statements, amplify their thoughts and express their sentiments.

An eminent panel of judges comprising distinguished personalities like Santosh Jain, head of the department of arts in Delhi Public School; Hariram Hiranandani, acting chairman of AIFACS, and Paramjeet Singh, officiating principal, College of Art, New Delhi, selected 84 entries for participation at the exhibition from among over 300 entries. Three national winners, D Jiaur Rehman, Sanjiv Kishor Goutam and Baljeet Singh, were selected to receive a trophy and Rs 40,000 each in prizes.

The national winners will participate at the Asia Pacific regional competition in Bangkok. The winner at the regional level would be awarded with an international educational grant plus $8,000 in cash and a Nokia art awards trophy. The two runners-up would be awarded with cash prizes, a Nokia product and a trophy.