Project 560

Nikita Teresa Sarkar


Grant Period: Five months

For a series of artistic engagements exploring the ecology of birds in the Kammanahalli neighbourhood of Bangalore. By inviting residents to experience, share and create spaces for birds, the project will attempt to build their connections to the environment and encourage accountability towards it. The outcome of the project will be the artistic interventions that the residents will undertake, and a film documenting their reflections. The Grantee’s deliverables to IFA along with the final report will be photo-documentation of the process and the artistic interventions and the film. Grant funds will pay for honorarium, materials, and installation costs.

Rukmini Swaminathan


Grant Period: Eight months

For the creation of an online soundscape of the city, drawn from journeys undertaken on the route of the No 201 series of buses in Bangalore. Weaving together personal and shared experiences on Bangalore’s bus journeys, this project, through the sensorial experience of sound and written text, aims to understand the persona of the city through sonic experiences on the bus. The outcomes of the project will be a curated bus album of soundscapes and songs played in the bus, a website containing the bus route maps embedded with the sounds on these routes and a journal of personal impressions from the bus trips. The Grantee’s deliverables to IFA with the final report will be audio recordings of the bus journeys, the curated bus album, the maps of the routes of the bus with embedded sound and texts, a copy of the journal, and the website downloaded on a drive. Grant funds will pay for honorarium, professional fee, local conveyance and an accountant’s fee.

Indu Antony


Grant Period: One year

For an exploration into the distinct smells that make up the city of Bangalore. Drawing upon interviews and research, the project seeks to understand the relationship between memory, associations, people and places through olfactory perceptions and imaginations. The outcomes of this project will be a book containing photographs, research text and an olfactory map of Bangalore with specially created samples of perfume. The Grantee’s deliverables to IFA along with the final report will be photographs, audio and video documentation, and the book. Grant funds will pay for professional fees, materials, printing, equipment hire, honorarium, local conveyance and an accountant’s fee. 

This Grant was amicably cancelled based on reasons mutually agreed upon by the Grantee and IFA due to unavoidable circumstances.

Tejshvi Sajju Jain


Grant Period: Four months

For examining the history, memories, and experiences of the Sindhi community that has made Bangalore their home post the Partition of India. Through interviews across two generations, the project will explore notions of identity and home, memories of tradition, and experiences within the changing cityscape of Bangalore. The outcome of the project will be a short film. The Grantee’s deliverables to IFA along with the final report will be the short film and documentation of interviews. Grant funds will pay for documentation, post-production and professional fees.

Ganapathy BP


Grant Period: Five months

For an artistic engagement to explore the Raithara Santhe or farmers market in the Shivanahalli neighbourhood of Bangalore. Drawing from detailed interviews with residents, shop owners and push-cart sellers, the project seeks to identify stories, memories and experiences of the community to this neighbourhood’s unique food culture through artistic interventions. The outcome of the project will be artwork/s evoking the santhe at a central location in Shivanahalli. The Grantee’s deliverables to IFA along with the final report will be photo-documentation of the interviews and the process, and the artwork. Grant funds will pay for materials, research and documentation, conveyance and design fee.

Chanakya Vyas


Grant Period: One Year

For a series of gaming interventions as a theatrical strategy to examine and reimagine the issues related to the urban commons in Bangalore, with a specific focus on lakes, in the face of rapid and brutal development. Using the tools and elements from Live Action Role Playing games (LARP), participatory art, and storytelling, the audience will be invited to take on roles to play the game. The outcome of the project will be this interactive game theatre performance played over ten engagements in the Sarjapur/ Bellandur neighbourhoods. The Grantee's deliverables to IFA with the final report will be a detailed textual illustrated document outlining the game design process, interview records and transcripts, and photographic and video documentation of game-testing, final production, and the subsequent ten engagements with audience. Grant funds will pay for game productions,professional fees, fabrication costs, honorarium, travel and conveyance, printing, materials, books, venue, refreshments and an accountant’s fee. 

Visual Art Collective


Grant Period: One year and three months

For a series of curated artistic engagements in Bangalore which will explore the different aspects of the city through the experiences of its various inhabitants. The events will include an art exhibition on the city, a comic zine-making workshop, a contemporary retake on Bangalore picture postcards, a city mapping project, an event of children drawing their favourite trees in the city, a photography project of portraits of the city-dwellers, a walk in a garden with a botanist and a curatorial mentoring for an exhibition of a landscape artist in the city. The outcomes of the project will be art exhibitions, comic books, postcards, maps, drawings, photographic portraits and a guide on trees. The Grantee's deliverables to IFA with the final report will be a detailed textual and illustrated document of the curatorial process and outcomes, photo and video documentation of the events, comics, maps, botanical guides and exhibition catalogues. Grant funds will pay for professional fees, honorarium, materials, space hire and other rentals, design and printing, refreshment and workshop expenses, documentation costs and transport. 

Gaurav Jain


Grant Period: One year

For a photography-based exploration of the phenomenon of ‘Random Amit’ in Bangalore, which reinforces the stereotype of the brash North Indian male who has migrated into the city. Using the medium of photography and text, propagated in a participatory mode through social media and offline encounters, the project will interrogate the popular, humorous and pejorative nickname Amit. It will explore the subjects’ sense of inhabiting this idea of a monolithic, homogeneous North Indian identity in a fast-changing Bangalore. The outcome of the project will be a photo exhibition. The Grantee’s deliverables to IFA along with the final report will be the photographs and texts from the exhibition, still and video documentation of the exhibition, the crowd-sourced materials, and recordings of the interviews. Grant funds will pay for honorarium, printing, equipment hire, local conveyance, professional fees, venue hire, exhibition costs, stationery and materials, software purchase and an accountant’s fee.

This Grant was amicably cancelled based on reasons mutually agreed upon by the Grantee and IFA due to unavoidable circumstances.

Mahesh S


Grant Period: One year and three months

This grant supports a photography-based exploration of the history, architecture, and cultural memory of Building No. 37 that was opened to citizens in 1973, as the tallest built space in Bangalore. Delving into narratives of nostalgia, dismay, hope, and indifference, the project seeks to investigate into the conception of the building, the impact it has had on the city and imagine its possible futures. The outcomes of the project will be an on-site multimedia exhibition / installation comprising of audio, photographs and sketches, a photo essay, a personal essay and a website. The Grantee’s deliverables to IFA along with the final report will be photographs and sketches from the project, photographs of the exhibition, the photo essay, audio recordings of the interviews, the website and the personal essay on the building. Grant funds will pay for equipment and studio hire, professional fees, honorarium, printing, mounting and publicity, local conveyance, costumes and props, stationery and refreshments, and an accountant’s fee.

Anaheeta Pinto


Grant Period: Four months

For an artistic engagement involving the children of Richards Town, Bangalore, including students of the Clarence School on Pottery Road and the children of the Pourakarmikas who work in the ward, led by a local artist and a design firm.  The children will be encouraged to explore the environs surrounding Richards Park and their connections to the neighbourhood. The outcome of the project will be a three-day artistic intervention culminating in the creation of artworks on the walls along the railway track on Pottery Road. The Grantee’s deliverables to IFA along with the final report will be photo documentation of the three-day event and digital copies of the artworks. Grant funds will pay for refreshment, material, digitising and printing, and communication and outreach. 

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