For the creation of a performance themed around narratives of the hair. Titled ‘A Brief History of Your Hair’, the performance draws upon personal, historical, political and gender narratives of the hair and uses humour, playfulness and fantasy to unpack questions of identity, androgyny, gendered beauty and the way these ideas relate to each other across cultures. The performance is expected to premiere in March 2016. Grant funds will pay for professional fees, performance costs and production costs.
For a film, that will depict through a musical journey, the narrative of a community called the Savita Samaj whose story has remained untold in spite of being musicians of the Nadaswaram over centuries. Using the instrument as a visual metaphor, the film will explore the socio-economic issues that are influencing the sweeping changes in the lives of the community members and the agony of their loss of a great open-air musical school.
For research on one of the kshetra kalas – the Poothan Thira, a ritual and performance based art form of the Mannan community in North Kerala. Using an auto-ethnographic approach, the researcher will create biographies of ten objects deemed significant to the art form, gleaned from conversations with ten community members. The outcome of this project will be a photo-essay and a digital online exhibition.
For examining the differences between the performances of prasangas in Yakshagana that are presented in shorter durations and those that continue through the night. The project will study how this variation in time affects pedagogy, the training of Bhagavatas and actors, and the conceptual and aesthetic concerns of the form as it is performed and viewed. The outcome of this project will be a monograph.
For the installation of a structure similar to an old-fashioned telephone booth under the Yeshwantpur flyover that will function as a story-telling machine, which recaptures a rapidly transforming Malleswaram, through recorded interviews of its residents.
For the creation of a performance inspired by the life and works of theatre legend B V Karanth that will take place at Karanth’s house in Girinagar, where he spent the last years of his life. There will also be two other smaller performances as preludes to the final one.
For a group of artists and designers to make a series of multi-disciplinary artistic interventions, including performances and installations, in Chikpet’s 100-year old Mohan Building, through an engagement with the multi-layered narratives of the space and its inhabitants.
For a poetry performance, photo exhibition and installation tracing Bangalore's long history of coffee cafes and the collective intellectual and creative space it provided for citizens, on the site of one of city's old coffee shops, Kumara Bhavana, that is currently scheduled to be demolished.
For a dance and theatrical performance that engages with the psychological, sociological and political understandings of war and its diverse representations within the museum space. This performance will take place at the Government Museum, Bangalore.
For a multi-sensory artistic experience at one of Bangalore’s old restaurants, the Vidyarthi Bhavan, located in Gandhi Bazaar. This artistic intervention will involve theatre, music and visual installations that reflect on the history of Vidyarthi Bhavan, and attempt to make new meanings of the space in contemporary Bangalore.
