For the implementation of a Foundation Project by IFA that will facilitate research towards production of a comprehensive illustrated catalogue for selected objects from the collection of Silver at Zapurza Museum of Art and Cultures (ZMAC) in Pune, Maharashtra. The research for the catalogue will anchor itself at the intersection of history of design, consumption and material culture. The outcomes of this project will be the draft of the illustrated catalogue along with workshops and plans and prototypes of public programming that will be executed during the course of the project and beyond that by the museum. The Project Coordinator’s final deliverables to IFA along with the final reports will be the draft of the illustrated catalogue, supplementary research outputs, the proceedings and audio-visual recordings of the workshop and the plans of the public programming. This is a collaboration with the Zapurza Museum of Art and Culture in Pune, Maharashtra. Project funds will pay for contract fees, travel and living, purchase of books, printing and workshop.
For the implementation of a Foundation Project by IFA under Explorations that will involve two women filmmakers to explore a Zubaan-published story on witchcraft titled Cast Out authored by Samhita Arni, by developing a distinct design vocabulary through a collaborative process of experimental storytelling. The outcome of the project will be the pre-production process of the animation film adaptation of the fictional piece. The Project Coordinator’s deliverables to IFA with the final report will be a pre-visualisation bible, (including the design aesthetic, visual script, soundscape) and a learning document, as a compendium of the artistic process in this interdisciplinary collaboration. Project funds will pay for contract fees, travel and living, materials, hire of equipment, and subscription of software services.
For the Foundation Project implemented by IFA which will facilitate research towards challenging the traditional museum catalogue to design one or more decks of 52 cards - a kind of ‘pocket museum’ - created as a game that would be a tool for curatorial reimagination of the collection at the regional gallery at the Bihar Museum, Patna. The outcomes of the project will be these decks of cards with possible interactive screens and QR codes to aid visitors to curate their own exhibitions digitally, a reference map, and a digital rendition of the game that can be played remotely. The Project Coordinator’s deliverables to IFA along with the final reports will be the set of physical cards, samples of visitor curated digital exhibitions, the reference map and the digital version of the game, along with recordings of workshops conducted for in-house curators and visitors. This is a collaboration with the Bihar Museum. Project funds will pay for contract fees, printing and pre-production.
For the implementation of a Foundation Project by IFA under Productions, which will explore the politics of hierarchies and erasures of languages through a study of five scripts namely Mahajani, Modi lipi, Tamil numerals, Devanagari and Kannada. Titled Degrees of Exclusion of Languages, this project will attempt to understand linguistic divide as a core dimension of the national education enterprise and a crucial axis of negotiation within our public domain and democracy. It will explore cultural dilemmas and strategies of survival that languages have struggled with. The outcomes from this project will be a set of three-dimensional physical and digital letterpress moveable types for all the five scripts, letterpress prints, lithographs on paper, and a booklet that catalogues all the letters in these scripts in the form that they have existed so far. The Project Coordinator's deliverables to IFA along with the final report will be the digital models, a set of physical letterpress types, copies of the lithographs, copies of the letterpress prints and the catalogue will be the deliverables from this project to IFA. Project funds will pay for materials, contract fees, studio hire, travel and living.
For the implementation of a Foundation Project by IFA under Explorations, which will examine how the trauma of seeing violent imagery online including on social media can be sublimated through drawing by hand. As a critique of the desensitisation caused by the incessant consumption of online images including those of violence, the project will explore how the aspects of materiality and time in drawing these images by hand transform their resonance and politics. The outcomes of the project will be a series of drawings and lecture performances. The Project Coordinator’s deliverables to IFA with the final report will be a documentation of the drawings and lecture performances, along with screen recordings and videos created during the process. Project funds will pay for materials, consumables, professional fees, software subscriptions and honorarium.
For research to explore and compile the personal stories of a tenacious group of women producers, directors, writers and film technicians working in Mollywood in Kerala, a film industry dominated by men. The project will construct vivid and contrasting accounts of the Women in Cinema Collective as they defiantly challenge rules of commercial cinema in the state. The outcome of this project will be a manuscript for a book and an installation. The Grantee’s deliverables to IFA with the final reports will be the manuscript and audiovisual documentation generated during the fieldwork. Grant funds will pay for honorarium, professional fees, travel, food and living costs, equipment rental, consumables and an accountant’s fee.
For a photography-based exploration of notions of nostalgia, temporality, hyperreality and alienation in the age of technology and the internet. Based on the itinerary for a seven-day tour to Japan that never happened due to the pandemic, the project uses multiple visual devices to photographically simulate the tour. The outcome of the project will be a set of still images. The Grantee’s deliverables to IFA with the final report will be these still images. Grant funds will pay for honorarium, printing and scanning, materials and equipment hire.
For the making of a short film exploring urban India’s engagement with online dating. Drawing from interviews with men and women across different Indian cities, online research and the grantee’s personal experiences, the project intends to weave together stories of four protagonists and their quests on dating apps. The outcome of this grant will be the short film. The Grantee’s deliverables to IFA along with the final report will also be the short film. Grant funds will pay for honorarium and professional fees.
For the making of a film-document based on the presence of seasonal migrant labourers in Mirya, a fishing village on the Konkan coast of Maharashtra. Since Mirya is the ancestral village of the filmmaker, it will also be a personal expression of an attempted dialogue, momentary friendships and precarious encounters through the camera, with the men who work as migrant labourers there. The outcome of the project will be the film-document. The Grantee’s deliverables to IFA with the final report will be a high-resolution copy of the film-document on a hard disk, along with the footage, production stills, film deck and publicity materials. Grant funds will pay for professional fees, honorarium, equipment hire and consumables, travel and living costs, communication and stationery, and an accountant’s fee.
For research towards a documentary film on the artistic legacy of the famous Gond Pradhan artist Jangarh Singh Shyam. The project will critically examine the artistic evolution that was spurred by Jangarh’s inventive artistic style, when the Gond Pradhan community moved from its traditional musical practices towards a modern, urban tradition of visual arts practice in Bhopal. Through an art-historical inquiry into the genesis and propagation of this shift, the project aims to explore the ‘urban’ fetish for the ‘tribal’ as the city continues to subsume a subaltern tribal identity into its cultural landscape. The outcome will be an audiovisual documentation of interviews with the artists and experts, a short video, and working drafts for the script for the documentary film. The Grantee’s deliverables to IFA with the final report will be the audiovisual documentation, video and working drafts of the script. Grant funds will pay for travel and living costs, equipment rental, professional fees, book purchase and an accountant’s fee.
