surat contemporary art has been invested into mapping of aesthetics of delight within stress that globalization has forced on our understanding of land and city an exhibition that sought to bring out this thinkingviewing trajectory to surat and invoke dialogue was held at tapi utsav by independent curator karishma shah paintings video sound and installation art of renowned artists like gulam mohammed shiekh jyoti bhatt and shibu natesan which were showcased in surat for the first time on the theme of scapes cityland generated immense response from the people surat is a city poised between tradition and contemporaneity recent years have seen a dramatic change in the cityscape of surat as well as in the natural open spaces and water bodies within it at one level what is happening at surat is a part of much larger concretion of landscape and changing aesthetics of contemporary architecture at another level it is a part of very local history of change and transformation said shah an applied arts graduate from the faculty of fine arts msu vadodara the theme of the exhibit concentrated on the social and cultural aspect of the city scapes cityland seeks to explore the relationship between the geographical physical cultural and social we live in times of rapid development running parallel to destruction of nature this coexistence and tension is highlighted in the fast expanding city of surat and the heavily polluted and encroached tapi river explained karishma lecturer at fine arts vnsgu