TopicClub

Topic’s management team works on important deals for the Tolosa Puppet Centre in India.

A mask exhibition and the acquisition of valuable pieces for the museum are just some of their goals

Topic’s managers, Miguel Arreche and Idoya Otegui are on a trip to India until the 13th of February. During their trip they will be guests at the Ishara Puppet Festival. They will also have meetings with artists and institutions on the Indian puppet scene.

As a result of this trip, Topic’s visitors might have the opportunity to enjoy an exhibition of Indian puppets in the near future, as well as the incorporation of new and important pieces in the museum’s collection.
Their attendance at the festival results from: “their close relationship with the festival director, Dadi Pudumjee. It is quite usual for him to seek out our advice when choosing European companies”. Another reason for this trip is their participation in a panel discussion at the Festival: “where Titirijai and Topic will be presented to guests from all over the world”.

One of this trip’s main objectives is “to make contact with the Indira Ghandi Internationl Centre for the Arts”. Topic is trying to bring about an exhibition of Indian masks or masks and puppets. It would probably be one of the temporary exhibitions for 2013 or 2014. “It’s about a very traditional type of Indian puppet that is also hard to get hold of. Thanks to Dadi Pudumjee we found them. We are going to see them and will probably bring them back with us for our museum” Miguel Arreche says.

It’s not the first time the managers of Topic have travelled to India, a country they are very keen on. “It’s true we have travelled to India several times. We visited India for the first time when we had to organize the Festival’s ‘Window to’ section dedicated to India. That time we had help from Indian institutions like the Sanget Natak Academy and the Indira Ghandi International Centre for the Arts”. As a result of this collaboration, “the Indian Government invited the Hodeiertz Choir from Tolosa for a concert tour in three towns. We were invited to travel along with them”.

Later in 2008, with the help of Seacex (Sociedad Estatal para la Acción Cultural Exterior), they took the exhibition of the “Window to Spain and Portugal” festival section to Delhi. Thanks to this partnership three Indian Ambassadors in Spain visited Tolosa. “It’s been a very intense and satisfactory relationship and we hope it will continue like this because India’s puppet tradition is very important”, adds Idoya Otegui.

Travelling abroad, to foreign countries is very important, according to Topic’s managers “as it is an opportunity for institutions with an international vocation, like ours, to be known all over the world and also to keep updated about what’s going on in the artistic field. It is absolutely necessary for the development and activity of the Centre”.

Topic is very active in the field of international relations, as per Miguel Arreche: “At the next UNIMA Conference (Unión Internacional de la Marioneta) in China, in May, we will announce Donostia-Tolosa’s application to host the UNIMA Conference in 2016. So on this trip we are also trying to get those Indian councilors who have the right to vote in China, to support our project”.