For constructing and animating three children’s playhouses to function as centres of alternative education, and for developing public spaces around three community hand-pumps. An urban visual artist and three wood sculptors from Bastar will involve the community in the design and construction.
For photographic documentation of the folk theatre form Tamasha in rural and small-town Maharashtra. The project will generate a ‘cultural biography’ of Tamasha and a visual record of its entire repertoire, as well as a series of photographic exhibitions in Maharashtra.
For research into the life and art of folk musician Mahender Misir and his peers and predecessors. Through them the project will explore the cultural history of the Bhojpuri-speaking region of Bihar and eastern Uttar Pradesh during the last century, and will result in books as well as a musical play on the life of Mahender Misir.
For a sound/video installation, by filmmaker and a sound composer, that explores creative and unconventional ‘sound’ possibilities. The collaborators will create multiple soundtracks for the installation, which will have multiple starting points that provide different ‘spatial’ experiences of sound and image.
For four ceramic artists to investigate the role of art in public spaces. They will explore the relationship between the environment and ceramic art practice and examine notions of space and cultural specificity, finally creating a joint installation at a chosen site.
For two musicians to collaborate on The Indica Project, which aims to create new music based on Indian musical heritage with the inclusion of various musical styles. The resulting CD of original compositions will feature Indian classical and folk musicians, and musicians from Africa, Latin America and the USA.
For collaboration among a creative writer, a screenplay writer and a writer/producer of radio programmes on the arts, to translate six of the latter’s short stories from Gujarati into English in a publishable form. The translations would also be converted into radio scripts and screenplays.
For developing and implementing, in collaboration with the Rewachand Bhojwani Academy, Pune, an arts programme that would lead to an arts education curriculum. Besides introducing students to local culture via the arts through a series of workshops, the programme seeks to make an impact on the staff and parents as well.
For continuing the work between an urban visual artist from Mumbai and four traditional artists in Bastar District, Madhya Pradesh, who will gain an appreciation of one another’s aesthetic concerns, techniques and creative processes. Paintings, sculptures and video films that emerge may form part of urban public installations.
For research towards the development of a theoretical basis for designing public places for art in India. The study will compare the integrative character of indigenous public spaces with the isolating experience of newer, urban ones. It will result in a series of monographs or an illustrated book.
