Latest news with #DAG
Khaleej Times
2 days ago
- Science
- Khaleej Times
Fact check: Will UAE see the longest total solar eclipse of the century on August 2?
Social media has been abuzz lately with news of a stunning solar eclipse to occur on August 2. While the claim is not false, there is an important detail to note: the astronomical event will take place two years later on August 2, 2027— not next month. The total solar eclipse will be the "longest of this century," lasting over 6 minutes and 23 seconds in the path of totality," and will begin at 1.25pm according to Khadija Al Hariri, Operations Manager at Dubai Astronomy Group (DAG). It is the longest since 1991 and until 2114. While the solar eclipse is a total one, in the UAE, only a partial eclipse will be visible. This is also the case in countries like Oman, Jordan, Iraq, and parts of India. In Dubai, the moon will cover around 53 per cent of the Sun creating a crescent-shaped sun at the peak of the eclipse; other emirates will see between 50 and 57 per cent coverage, Khadija added. According to DAG, the path of totality stretches across southern Spain, Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, Libya, Egypt, southern Saudi Arabia, and Yemen. These regions will see the sun completely blocked out, revealing a spectacular solar corona in the sky. What's special about the solar eclipse? Other than the longest duration of the century, it is a once-in-a-lifetime event for many in the region. The last partial solar eclipse visible from the UAE was on October 25, 2022; the next one after 2027 will be on June 1, 2030. Residents will have to wait over 50 years for the next total solar eclipse visible in the country, which will be on September 3, 2081, Khadija said. In addition, a spectacular total lunar eclipse will be visible on September 7, 2025. The 2027 event will allow millions to witness it, with major cities being on or near the path of totality, giving it rare visibility in most parts of the world. While solar eclipses happen around two to five times each year around the world, they vary in type. Partial eclipses are relatively common; however, total solar eclipses are very rare events, often separated by many decades or even centuries. Precautions during the eclipse While the sight will be a stunning one to behold, viewers must never look directly at it. DAG shared some important precautions to take during the event: Never look directly at the sun without proper eye protection. Even a brief glance can cause permanent eye damage. Always use ISO 12312-2 certified solar viewing glasses; regular sunglasses, no matter how dark, are not safe. If using binoculars, cameras, or telescopes, ensure they are fitted with solar filters over the front lens. Using optical equipment without proper filters can concentrate sunlight and cause instant eye damage. For indirect viewing, consider using pinhole projectors or solar projection methods, which allow you to observe the eclipse safely without looking at the Sun. Live stream With UAE residents anticipating this rare celestial phenomenon, the Dubai Astronomy Group will host a public viewing event in the UAE.
India Today
6 days ago
- Entertainment
- India Today
Madhvi Parekh's art
Madhvi Parekh's acrylic-on-canvas painting 'Travelling Circus in My Village' (80 x 240 inches, 2024) is one of those large-scale works that simply have to be seen in the flesh. The pixels on your screen cannot come close to reproducing its ambition, its grandeur, its irresistible strangeness. A messianic figure lies at the centre of the triptych, holding a snake aloft like a canopy above his head, the faithful gathering around him slowly. An array of human-animal hybrids fills every corner, the chimeras ranging from a biped cow to a snake with a human head, to a horse that has a human face nestled close to its heart. All the while, a determined-looking man carries a temple on his back. Like the triptychs of Dutch painter Hieronymus Bosch, 'Travelling Circus in My Village' tells a story sequentially, and it seems to acquire new details with every fresh glance. The work is part of Madhvi Parekh: Remembered Tales, a solo exhibition at DAG, Delhi, that started on July 11 and shall conclude on August 23. Photo: Bandeep Singh
Time of India
17-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Time of India
Alipore Museum to exhibit Satyajit Ray photographs by Nemai Ghosh
The Alipore Museum, in collaboration with DAG, is set to host an exhibition showcasing photographer Nemai Ghosh's extensive documentation of Satyajit Ray KOLKATA: The Alipore Museum, in collaboration with DAG, will host photographer Nemai Ghosh 's decades-long documentation of the esteemed filmmaker Satyajit Ray , featuring both black-and-white and previously unseen colour photographs starting Friday. The exhibition, titled 'Light and Shadow: Satyajit Ray through Nemai Ghosh's Lens', will be open to the public until September 13, 2025. It will present a detailed portrayal of Ray, one of India's most celebrated filmmakers, and offer insights into his life and creative process through numerous iconic and rare images. These photographs include actors, scenes, sets, and locations from Ray's films, as well as the director at work. While primarily recognized for documenting Ray's films and the filmmaker himself, the exhibition also highlights Ray's extensive documentation of his cinema that is less widely known. This collection serves as a tribute to Ray, showcasing Ghosh's photographs as a testament to Ray's extraordinary life and his storytelling through the lens. You Can Also Check: Kolkata AQI | Weather in Kolkata | Bank Holidays in Kolkata | Public Holidays in Kolkata 'Ray's dedication to his craft led Ghosh to follow him like a shadow and conditioned him to the exacting demands of the maestro. by Taboola by Taboola Sponsored Links Sponsored Links Promoted Links Promoted Links You May Like Is it legal? How to get Internet without paying a subscription? Techno Mag Learn More Undo Over the course of a 25-year association that began on the sets of Goopy Gyne Bagha Byne, Ghosh remained steadfast in upholding the values that defined Ray's artistic vision. In Ray, Ghosh found not just a filmmaker but a mentor and friend; no other director's set quite measured up. With Ray's encouragement, what began as a passion evolved into a profession, and Ghosh was eventually credited as 'Unit Stills Photographer'," said DAG chief executive officer and managing director Ashish Anand. Nemai Ghosh's photography extended beyond Ray's film sets into his personal life. Ghosh frequently visited Ray's home and often captured him playing the piano, working at his drawing board, or conversing quietly with friends and family. He photographed Ray in moments of deep reflection, whether at home, in his studio, or on location, portraying him akin to a meditative yogi. Through solitary walks, lighter moments during shoots, and silent contemplation in open fields, Ghosh created a nuanced and human portrait of the filmmaker. These candid images form a significant part of Ghosh's visual biography of a man he viewed as both extraordinary and grounded. Ghosh's photography explored Ray's multifaceted talent in every aspect of filmmaking, including scriptwriting, set and costume design, camera operation, editing, music composition, and directing. Ray was known for crafting psychologically complex stories, favouring naturalistic dialogue and often casting non-professional actors. His direction emphasized spontaneity and subtle emotional depth, frequently requiring minimal takes while maintaining a meticulous artistic vision, influenced by his painterly background from Santiniketan to create visually and emotionally resonant films. Deeply influenced by neo-realism, particularly De Sica's Bicycle Thieves, and Jean Renoir's humanistic storytelling, Ray's cinema exhibits a lyrical quality that transcends time and place. The photographs not only document Ray's cinema but also reflect the profound understanding between Ghosh and Ray, enabling Ghosh to place his camera precisely yet unobtrusively within the action.
New Indian Express
16-07-2025
- Entertainment
- New Indian Express
'Remembered Tales' at DAG revisits Madhvi Parekh's visual language since the 1960s
Whimsical and dreamlike, veteran artist Madhvi Parekh's paintings carry a childlike wonder—with birds, animals, mythical creatures, Ferris wheels, and mountains with faces and arms—coexisting in harmony with humans figures scattered throughout her canvases. The ongoing exhibition 'Madhvi Parekh: Remembered Tales' at DAG showcases over 20 new works created between 2020 and 2025—each one a portal into her playful and reflective world. The show is her way of looking back—revisiting themes and stories shaped by a lifelong habit of sketching, based on the notebooks she kept between 1978 and 2018. Though she's lived away from her village for most of her life, Parekh's work often blends memories of her childhood in Sanjaya, a small village in Gujarat, with folk motifs and fantastical elements—scenes filled with deities, creatures, women, children, and glimpses of rural life. In 'Bathing in the Pond' (2020), she paints a village scene centred around a waterbody, with shrines and houses nestled around it. In 'Flower Vase in My Family' (2024), she reimagines a family tree as a blooming plant—its vase shaped like an elder, sprouting into younger members as buds and flowers.
Hindustan Times
13-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Hindustan Times
India's tryst with Cubism
MUMBAI: The Poet is unlike any Rabindranath Tagore sculpture there is. It has hollowed eyes, sunken cheeks, a lifeless beard and an excavated, hollowed brain. The composition is fragmented, distorted, yet vaguely familiar. In the work, sculptor Ramkinkar Baij (1906-1980) has rendered the Nobel Laureate in Cubist style. India's tryst with Cubism Pioneered by French artists Pablo Picasso and Georges Braque, Cubism was influenced by the industrialization of the 1900s, when machines, factories, trains, buildings and geometric and structured shapes mushroomed rapidly and everywhere. Like Baij, many Indian artists, especially the modernists, experimented with the art form. They broke away from traditional Indian styles and created new ways to express Indian identity by experimenting with western styles. They, however, introduced Indian motifs, subjects and philosophies, to create their art, which resonated with the nationalist sentiment of the time, and yet was modern. About hundred such works, by 40 artists, produced from the 1920s until about 1960s, are on display at Colaba's DAG gallery, in an exhibition titled Deconstructed Realms: India's Tryst with Cubism. These include the works of Gaganendranath Tagore, Nandalal Bose, Laxman Pai, Jyoti Bhatt, George Keyt and others. 'Artists have always examined any art movement—whether in India or abroad—to see if it suits their particular needs, and assimilated those that help them compose in ways that are meaningful for their audiences,' says Ashish Anand, CEO and managing director, DAG. Accordingly, Baij in his work tries to examine Tagore's inner world. Not as a poet, composer and a scholar but a man weighed down by personal and professional anxieties, grief and the burdens of the world. 'The most interesting aspect of Cubism in India is its gentle lyricism that imbues it with an Indian aesthetic… it was its flowing lines and poetic pace that set it apart from the harshness or anxiety reflected in Western art,' adds Anand. The exhibition traces the introduction of Cubism among Bengal artists, its refinement by those who studied or moved abroad, the blending of Cubism with regional motifs post-Independence, and the evolution of Cubist abstraction in Indian modernism. It also highlights the art style's influence on Indian modernists and how it transcended the canvas, extending into materials such as metal, wood, lacquer and cement. Gaganendranath Tagore (1867–1938) was at the forefront of this movement. He started experimenting with Cubist techniques around 1922, after an exhibition from Germany's art school Bauhaus in Calcutta. He created several ink and wash drawings and monochrome watercolours by creating fragmented, angular forms, layering planes and geometric shapes with Indian imagery, including Indian houses and temples and everyday scenes from Bengali life. His works influenced his student Prosanto Roy, as well as Nandalal Bose, who collectively helped shape the evolution of Cubism in India. One of the most striking works of the exhibition is Gaganendranath's black and white painting. It shows four ghost-like figures on a staircase surrounded by crammed buildings. The composition of this painting and other similar works are inspired by his experience in theatre design. He created stage-like compositions with contrasting light and dark areas populated by flat, ethereal figures. Another noteworthy work is GR Santosh's Aspiration. Set in Kashmir, it depicts a group of women against a backdrop dotted with village huts. Their clothes and jewellery are reminiscent in their sketchy details even though the landscape is far from what one associates with the Valley. Santosh's deliberate use of non-realist colours and his rendering of the figures and landscapes in panels reflect his brief tryst with cubism. Then there is the untitled 1952 painting by Paritosh Sen, a profile of a flautist, which was made sometime after Sen met Picasso while living in Europe. The works he produced there were simple, averse as he was to anything extraneous or superfluous, to which his interest in cubism greatly contributed. Using lines to divide the structure of the composition's subject into linear grids, Sen was mindful of his Indian heritage. The exhibition shows how Indian artists adapted Cubism, experimented with it and used the visual style to create a new vocabulary over the years to express Indian ideas. Where: DAG gallery, inside Taj Mahal Palace hotel, Colaba When: On till September 6, 11am to 7 pm. Closed on Sunday Entry is free
