For an exploration of the history of social media in India over the past 25 years through embroidery on textile and stop motion animation. A storyline with 100 frames will be embroidered on pieces of textile which will then be stitched together as a single fabric. This will be documented to create a stop motion animation film. The outcomes from this project will be the embroidered cloth and the stop motion animation film. The Grantee’s deliverables to IFA along with the final report will be a detailed documentation of the embroidered textile and the stop motion animation film. Grant funds will pay for honorarium, post-production, materials, professional fees and postage and local conveyance.
For the making of an audio-drama based on 25 stories of women, who have used the internet to flip the power structure and reverse the gaze. Titled Watching You, Watching Me, the drama will explore the many-layered and complex relationships that women have had with visibility on the internet and the numerous ways in which they have dared to both defy and re-imagine it. The outcome of the project will be the audio-drama. The Grantee’s deliverables to IFA along with the final report will be a recording of the audio-drama together with documentation of the process. Grant funds will pay for post-production, professional fees and honorarium.
For a series of artistic engagements where womxn artists, rural and urban, will inhabit cyberspace at midnight for 25 nights, through live and pre-recorded videos of their performances, conversations and feminist readings. The theme of these sessions will be to celebrate occupying space and claiming agency. The outcomes of the project will be these sessions and a condensed five-minute video. The Grantee’s deliverables to IFA along with the final report will be the recordings of the 25 sessions and the five-minute video. Grant funds will pay for professional fees and honorarium.
For a video art project that seeks to explore digital consciousness. It will attempt to find moments of invisibility from the omniscient calculations of the internet, to prove that human beings can still be thinking individuals, in control of the choices they make and the identities they create for themselves. The project will explore fictional, seemingly simplistic ways of becoming invisible from digital consciousness. The outcome of the project will be a video tutorial. The Grantee’s deliverables to IFA along with the final report will be documentation of the process and the video. Grant funds will pay for honorarium, professional fees, equipment hire, travel and stationery.
For the making of a zine that explores aspects of sexuality on the internet, through the erotic lives and experiences of people online. The project encompasses a wide range of issues and concerns related to menstrual and mental health, adolescence, sexual orientation, cyber crimes, pornography, cybersex, consent and privacy. The outcome of the project will be the zine. The Grantee’s deliverables to IFA along with the final reports will also be the zine. Grant funds will pay for printing and publications, honorarium, communications and purchase of e-books and online subscriptions.
For an exploration of trans-human and cyborg identities through the creation of an e-Devi - the Goddess of faster internet connections and better download speeds - and a portal with the rituals for online darshans by devotees. This project attempts to study the construction of digital deities, while also highlighting the need for crafting a more ethical and critical engagement with the virtual world. The outcome of the project will be a cyborg goddess in Augmented Reality; a mobile-friendly e-darshan portal; and a bilingual - Hindi and English - devotee initiation pledge about safe online behaviour. The Grantee’s deliverables to IFA along with the final report will be documentation of the project, free access to the portal, and the portal downloaded on a drive. Grant funds will pay for website creation and professional fees.
For the making of an audio play titled The Chat Room in Alwal that will relive the moments of accessing internet cafes for the first time 25 years ago. The outcome of the project other than this play will be a blog with photographs of the internet cafe. The Grantee’s deliverables to IFA along with the final reports will be the audio play, the link to the blog, and all the materials of the blog downloaded on a drive. Grant funds will pay for professional fees, honorarium, local conveyance, printing and studio hire.
For the excavation of decades of email archives, and interviews with the excavators, in an attempt to trace human journeys through its digital footprints over the years. The outcome of the project will be a creative essay made using excerpts of emails, images and graphic attachments. The Grantee’s deliverables to IFA along with the final report will be audio and video recordings of interviews and the creative essay. Grant funds will pay for professional fees, honorarium, materials, communication and stationery.
For the creation of a dystopic science fiction tale exploring the human relationship with the internet and the possible impact of its absence. The project aims to explore themes of human rights, censorship, net neutrality and imposed restriction of access to the internet through interviews with diverse users. The outcome of this project will be a dramatised reading with music, interspersed with illustrations. The Grantee’s deliverables to IFA along with the final report will be documentation of the process and a recording of the performance. Grant funds will pay for honorarium, professional fees, and performance costs.
For speculation of the future of artistic sovereignty, amidst threats to digital privacy in the age of surveillance statecraft. As a diagnosis of the precariousness of arts philanthropy in the subcontinent, the grant will combine elements from superfiction, participatory art and institutional critique. The outcome of the project will be a video lecture performance. The Grantee’s deliverables to IFA along with the final report will be the video of the lecture performance and Zoom tapestries. Grant funds will pay for professional fees and materials.
For a photography-based exploration of notions of nostalgia, temporality, hyperreality and alienation in the age of technology and the internet. Based on the itinerary for a seven-day tour to Japan that never happened due to the pandemic, the project uses multiple visual devices to photographically simulate the tour. The outcome of the project will be a set of still images. The Grantee’s deliverables to IFA with the final report will be these still images. Grant funds will pay for honorarium, printing and scanning, materials and equipment hire.
For the creation of a theatrical performance that will look at death and mourning in the age of the internet, through the particular lens of queer communities online. Based on testimonials, the performance will involve an ensemble of five actors. It will be interactive and devised, using text, movement and spatial design. The Grantee’s deliverables to IFA along with the final report will be a still and video documentation of the rehearsals and video documentation of the final performance. Grant funds will pay for professional fees, honorarium, purchase of software, rehearsals and properties, and venue hire.
For the creation of hypertext poetry/ fiction based on an exploration of the place of pornography and erotic imagery in India from the past to contemporary times. Through research into erotic and desirous images created under royal patronage to the more recent images in the digital sphere, the project seeks to focus on the contemporary understandings of terms such as ‘erotic’ and ‘sexual’, particularly from the point of view of female and queer pleasure. The outcome of this project will be a website containing the hypertext poetry/ fiction alongside a selection of erotic images, and a foldable booklet. The Grantee’s deliverables to IFA along with the final report will be the hypertext poetry/ fiction, copies of the booklet and the website downloaded on a drive. Grant funds will pay for printing, honorarium, professional fees, purchase of books and online material and website creation.
For an exploration of the various stories of people from marginalised communities as shared on the internet thus claiming their own space which they are often denied in society. Taking the form of letters written to the internet the outcome of this project will be a publication. The Grantee’s deliverables to IFA along with the final report will be a copy of the publication. Grant funds will pay for professional fees, honorarium, printing and publishing, refreshments and stationery.
For photo documentation of the abandoned, ignored and almost invisible infrastructure of cybercafés in Bangalore. The outcome of the project will be an online photo exhibition. The Grantee’s deliverables to IFA along with the final report will be photographs of the cybercafés. Grant funds will pay for equipment hire, professional fees, local conveyance and honorarium.
