For research towards a travelling exhibition kit consisting of materials from the Archives of Indian Labour. This project will also extend earlier research with migrant labourers in Bangalore that culminated in a short film titled In Transience. The kit will make material from the Archives available to a wider public and the footage gathered during the filming of In Transience will be deposited in the Archive.
For the creation of sequential visual storytelling techniques based on the study of three picture-based folk performance traditions. With the aim of enriching the contemporary comic book form, the project will focus on how Patachitra from Bengal, Kaavad from Rajasthan and Togalu Gombeyatta from Karnataka depict stories from the Mahabharata.
For the creation of a multi-channel video installation titled ‘Between the Waves’, which uses text and dance choreography to explore contemporary conceptual understandings of the relationship between Animal – Human – Machine – Divine. Drawing upon Donna Haraway and Virginia Woolf, along with theories of evolution and existing religiocultural practices, the project will highlight the inevitability of interstitial existence and challenge received notions of gender, race, evolution and consciousness.
For the second edition of a four-month residency programme, which will enable four Indian photographers from diverse cultural backgrounds to explore and experiment with different approaches to the photographic medium. This edition will introduce a three-day walking expedition to sensitise the residents to the local ethos and encourage them to use the experience to reflect on their practice.
For a storytelling and visual arts workshop for children from Chizami in Nagaland. In the absence of any encouragement for the visual arts in Nagaland, this project will give the children the opportunity to explore their creativity by engaging with various styles of narration, visualization and illustration. The workshop will result in a book of stories illustrated by the children as well as exhibitions of their artworks.
For creative arts workshops with children living in and around four railway platforms in West Bengal. Drawing inspiration from the dramatic, rhythmic and free-flowing character of railway platforms, the project will enable the children to experience and explore a wide range of artistic processes drawn from storytelling, movement, music and theatre. The workshops will lead to four large site-specific performances and the emergence of the four organisations as community cultural centres.
For preserving and sustaining the performance practice and repertoire of the Bettiah gharana, one of the oldest and richest traditions of dhrupad. Through interactions with two contemporary musicians living in Kolkata and Bettiah, the musical ecology of Bettiah dhrupad will be documented and reinvigorated. The project will result in a multimedia physical archive located in Bettiah and Kolkata, an online portal and a guided listening DVD of the dhrupad of Bettiah.
For a three-day national conference bringing together performing artists, writers, educationists and teachers to discuss theatre for young audiences (TYA) in India and its relationship to other performance and pedagogical practices. The conference will strengthen existing networks among TYA stakeholders and outline possible actions to support their future endeavours.
For the creation of a dance-drama performance based on Jean Genet’s play, The Maids. Combining padams in Bharatanatyam and the dramatic narrative of the play, the performance will reflect on the lives of the devadasis. The maids will be performed by male dancers and multi-media images will be used to convey the devadasi’s experiences and the socio-cultural setting of the performance.
For a two-day national conference on contemporary Dalit/Adivasi theatre in India. The conference will review the historical development of the Dalit/Adivasi theatre movement, study its conceptual underpinnings, investigate its existing forms of expression and critically reflect on its relationship to other performance practices in India. The conference also aims to strengthen networks among Dalit/Adivasi theatre artists and outline possible actions to support their work.
