ISSA India \ Sculpture in Baroda, Ancient City of Two Thousand Years

International Sculpture symposium 2025, VADODARA,INDIA, as well as ISSA India took place in Vadodara India, 

an ancient city with 2000 years of history. 

9 Artists from different parts of the world participated and came together to create an interesting body of work,

 including two female artists from Ukraine and Russia. Other sculptors came from Georgia, Bulgaria and Zimbabwe.

 The symposium took place from January 24, 2025 to February 22, 2025. It was great to see artists from different 

parts of the world as it gave artists an opportunity to participate in a sculpture symposium.

Gopinath subbanna, director of the sculpture symposium , said, “Stone to me, is a very interesting medium to 

work with. It’s a very ancient media, but still a sculpture in stone creates such a positive impact that none other 

medias can challenge it. Nowadays, Stone sculpting as a studio practice is reducing dramatically because of rising 

costs in materials, labor, space… Etc. And, creating monumental sculpture in these circumstances is a huge 

challenge especially in the context of India. This has been a similar pattern in most of the countries now. In 

this situation, sculpture symposiums and workshops are the only places which an artist/ sculptor can rely on 

support.

“Organizing a sculpture symposium of such a large scale was not a simple task, the organizers team, of 

this sculpture symposium have succeeded in their effort, and I appreciate the amount of hard work and 

tremendous effort from Uttarayan team put in to make the symposium to function very smoothly and efficiently.

“Another reason for the effective functioning of the symposium was the venue it was held in. Like Uttarayan 

has a dedicated studio for each medium we provide with the best of the facility for tools, Assistants and technical 

support. as, many technical facilities were available at the spot. Studios are very well planned/ built and has 

got a huge array of infrastructure, and, it has all the facilities a sculptor could dream of. The assistants were 

also very skilled and used technology to its limits. There were specialized personnel for different process/ jobs. 

That is one thing I observed in the symposium, the effective use of technology not only saves time, but also gives 

more options during the process of planning and finishing.   

“Assistant were technically sound and very much focused. Some had language barrier and used to 

communicate using signs with Artist from Abroad, and it was a funny experience for both Artist and Assistant.

“Though we used to meet many of them only during breakfast, coffee time ,lunchor dinner, there was 

somehow enough time to get to know them, see each other’s works, and discuss during Free time. All the 

9 participating artists worked well as one single team, and finished the sculptures within time.

“Uttarayan team took care of all the participating artists’ very well. The quality of accommodation was 

very good, and was arranged very close to the worksite. It was amazed at the variety of food served each day. 

The food was very healthy and was of excellent quality. Everything was organized to such details that many times 

we felt a bit pampered. I must appreciate the Vadodara team effort to have taken care of the artists in such a nice

 way. All the efforts were made by the team to give afeel like home and removed the outsider feeling from Artist.

“I am glad that this type of exchanges in culture and art practice is happening, as, it pays way for a healthy 

system where one can understand the ways of the world much better. I would like to thank foundation to have 

given me the opportunity to participate and also Curate this unique symposium. A symposium such as these gives

 a big boost to sculptural art practice. I hope, in future this symposium will give inspirations and support to many upcoming artists and sculptors. 

“I would like to use this platform to thank the All the Invited Artist for Making Beautiful sculpture for the 

Foundation and for being a part of this sculpture symposium, and for an enriching experience during their 

stay in India.”

Materials Provider: ISSA India Member Gopinath subbanna

Chief Editor: Liu Qin

English Version Editor: Sun Ya’nan

Legal Advisor: Tao Ranting