Chennai: Cooum River to now feature an art festival

The Cooum River in Chennai is known for its stench and for being a breeding ground for mosquitoes. Now, it is set to get a makeover thanks to several groups getting together for an art festival.

The ‘Cooum Art Festival’ is set to be launched by organisations like Walk Along the River, Chennai Rivers Restoration Trust and Goethe Institut, reports The New Indian Express. PA Madhavan is the artist who is spearheading the festival plans.

The Cooum Art Festival will feature local, national and international artists and volunteers will clean up the river bank. A landscape architect is being brought in to design the space so that people can enjoy the river. The sustainable artwork will be moved to another location once the festival is over the report quoted Madhavan as saying. Helmut Schippert, director of Goethe Institut, told the daily that they were “happy to make Cooum a spectacular canvas for the art works.”

The dates finalised for the exhibition are between January 14-31, 2016. It will include installations, sculptures, murals, photographs, performative works, literature, music, dance and theatre performances. These will be held at the Cooum stretch along Chetpet Road.