For the creation of a contemporary soundtrack for a silent India film. The soundtrack will be performed live alongside the film at a gallery or an old cinema theatre in Bangalore, Chennai and Pune. While attracting a newer and wider audience for the film, the soundtrack will respect the original ‘silent’ pacing and mood of the film in order to preserve the feel of the pre-talkies era.
For the development of RELOCATE in which context, special arrangements, lights, sound, video and the body will be layered to blur the line between the visual arts and performance. Different media will be combined with elements of performance to reflect and contain the complex ways in which we experience the world today. By enabling spectators to locate their bodies and experience within the space of the installation, the artwork will interrogate the nature of the viewing experience.
For the development of a solo multi-media performance, She Said She Was a Dancer. Through a series of improvisations, a contemporary choreographer and dancer will explore her own journey as a dancer, ask questions about her artistic identity, and examine her relationship to contemporary dance as a mode of self-expression.
For collaboration between four young directors to devise a Marathi stage adaptation of Attempts on Her Life, a play by Martin Crimp. The production will use mobile scenic design and multimedia images to explore the social and psychological complexities of the central character and examine the crisis of identity in contemporary society in Maharashtra.
For research on the Kshetrayya padam, a form of Carnatic music set to seventeenth century love poetry. The research will lead to a film exploring the representation of the Kshetrayya padam over the last two centuries. The film will examine how the Kshetrayya padam has been transmitted in independent India and how social and historical factors, particularly its association with the Devadasi tradition, have determined the position it now occupies in Carnatic music and the manner in which it has come to be represented in Bharatnatyam performances.
For the replication of the seventeenth century Ramayana murals of the Chengam Venugopala Parthasarthy temple on other media, including Kalamkari and digital animation. As an exploration of alternative forms of mural conservation, reconstruction and restoration, the relationships between the visual arts and animation, artists and filmmakers, conservators and the lay public will also be examined. This process will be disseminated via a multimedia website.
For research on the evolution of the Indian documentary film. Focusing on major figures and phases of development from the 1920s to the present, the project will chart the chronologies of different types of documentary filmmaking practices in India. The connection of technology, politics, community building, funding and censorship to documentary filmmaking will also be investigated. The outcome of the project will be the manuscript of a book and two paper presentations at seminars.
For the study of the relationship between digital technology and the folk art forms, especially the resistance arts, which draw on the Bundeli tradition of the Narmada Valley region of Madhya Pradesh. The research will map the transformation in these folk art forms with the advent of technology, leading to the creation of ‘digital folk arts’. The research findings will be documented in a DVD and will be uploaded on the Jatan Trust website.
For a one-day symposium on 'Theatre Pedagogy for Children' and a ‘Teacher Training Initiative’, both intended to spark a long-term engagement of teachers with education through theatre. Ranga Shankara will organise these two-day activities under the umbrella of its first ever theatre festival for children. Some of the teachers from Kali-Kalisu workshops will also participate in the one-day training.
For a residency programme which nurtures collaboration and exchange among emerging Indian artists. Four artists from diverse cultural and artistic backgrounds will spend three months at the BAR1 studios in Bangalore, developing individual pieces of art work and interacting with fellow artists. The artists’ work in progress will be exhibited at the end of the residency.
For an innovative stage adaptation of Dharmvir Bharati’s modern Hindi novella, Suraj ka Satvaan Ghoda. Creating stage space using human bodies and experimenting with choreography and chorus, this play will weave a single narrative from the novella’s fragmented stories about seven characters. The psyche and perspective of each character will be explored through movements and soundscapes drawn from indigenous dance and musical forms.
For turning the performance script S*x, M*rality and Cens*rship, which was developed with the help of an earlier research grant from IFA, into a stage production. The script specifically looks at at the censorship battles fought over the play Sakharam Binder and the audience and critical responses to the production. Audio and video material secured during the research phase will be incorporated in the envisaged docudrama to recreate the cultural context of the 1970s.
For a residency that supports four emerging choreographers to explore and test their creative ideas, develop their choreographic skills and build a working methodology for dance creation. The resident artists will each be paired with a mentor who will help to stimulate their interpretive and creative processes. The residency will culminate with a public presentation of original solo or ensemble performances by the resident artists.
For an exploration of the body in pain through a re-visioning of Samuel Beckett’s play Act without Words I and Act Without Words II. An Argentinean story will be used to devise the plot and action, and introduce new meanings into Beckett’s plays. The production will also situate the experience of physical pain within the social context of the performers. A script in Malayalam will be developed and layered through games, and constant improvisations and experiments with actors.
For research and documentation of the Bhagait folk ballad tradition, popular among marginalised and Dalit castes from the Indo- Nepal region bordering Bihar and Uttar Pradesh. The project will investigate the additions, deletions and reinventions in this art form. The research will lead to two critical essays and audio-visual materials, which will be archived at the G.B. Pant Social Science Institute, Allahabad, and other print materials such as posters, pamphlets and articles, which will be uploaded on the Institute’s website.
