An Initiative Became an Artwork at Unity Pavilion, Auroville

Some ideas arrive fully formed, others need time.

They begin as a question, a discomfort, a memory, or simply a feeling that something could be different. They remain unfinished for a while. They need conversation. They need listening. They need someone to ask: What if you followed this thought a little further?

It was in this spirit that VUCADI – Vidyashilp University Centre for Art, Design and Innovation, in collaboration with the Unity Pavilion in Auroville, brought together a group of participants for Initiative as Artwork, a two-day intensive workshop led by Mr. Vakhtang Wato Tsereteli, Director of VUCADI, Vidyashilp University.

The proposition was deceptively simple:

What if an initiative itself could be understood as an artwork?

Not an artwork as an object to be displayed, but as something that is lived, built, shared and brought into the world.

Giving an idea room to breathe

Wato Tsereteli is an artist, curator and author whose work has long explored what happens when artistic thinking moves beyond the studio and into social reality. As the founder of the Center of Contemporary Art Tbilisi and now the Director of VUCADI, he has created platforms where creativity becomes a way of engaging with people, places, institutions and possibilities.

At VUCADI, this thinking extends into a broader belief: that creativity is not confined to artistic practice. It can become a way of thinking, making, questioning and participating, connecting with social innovation, ecological awareness, research, and community engagement.

In Auroville, that idea found a natural setting.

The workshop did not begin with the pressure to produce something. Instead, participants were invited to look inward, to examine the ideas they had been carrying, and to allow them to meet the perspectives of others.

One participant arrived with what he described as a “fresh canvas” in his mind. There was already a small thought:

"There's something I really need to start. But it was not yet clear what that beginning might look like".

Over the two days, the thought grew.

Through conversations around creativity, art and the nature of beginning something new, that single thought became a larger picture. What was initially vague began to acquire shape.

This was one of the quiet transformations taking place in the room.

An idea was not being forced into a solution. It was being given space to become itself.

Participants shared their thoughts with us

Together, they quietly demonstrated something Wato said throughout the workshop : there is no single way to begin.

Some people begin with a project,  some with a conviction, and some with uncertainty.

And workshops like these create a space where it can all belong.

We continue to capture a few more beautiful stories.

Kashish (Works in the social sector & education).

His work in the social sector combined with ideas from collaborators at the event crystalised his new thoughts, which he was able to articulate clearly with others through posters of his initiative and he has Wato to thank for this.

“Wato helped us by bringing a perspective of art and creativity and that has been a very interesting angle for me”

Chetna

She was drawn to the structuring and alignment of the event and felt great things can come out of collaboration of like-minded and purpose-led individuals. ‘From me to we ‘ rightly described her experiences from the event.

“It’s very mindful of him to bring all the people together and align them in a certain way to choose their path”

The artwork is the becoming

This is perhaps where Initiative as Artwork becomes most interesting.

The artwork is not necessarily the final thing. It is the process of becoming.

It may be the relationships formed along the way, the people brought into a conversation, the questions that remain open, or the courage to begin before everything is known.

For a university like ours, this is a particularly interesting way of thinking about learning.

Education is often described in terms of what students know when they leave an institution. But there is another question worth asking: What are they able to begin with?

Vidyashilp University Centre for Arts, Design and Innovation (VUCADI)

VUCADI is an exciting place where artists, art collaborators and art-lovers come together, exchange of ideas, share progress and get inspired to continue their artistic journey. Vidyashilp University welcomes you all to connect with VUCADI, have conversations about our shared passion, nurture art and creativity, all while contributing to the world meaningfully.

Read more about VUCADI at https://vidyashilp.edu.in/vucadi/

It was not a goodbye but a hello to new relationships formed

By the end of the two days, some participants had clearer ideas, some had found collaborators and others had found greater confidence. 

Nothing needed to be complete, something only needed to begin.

Perhaps that is the quiet power of a workshop like this.

It does not tell people what to create, it creates the conditions in which they might discover what they want to begin.