Arts Practice

For the dissemination of a musical performance where the songs explore notions of Manipuri identity embedded in the lives, literature and folklore of the Meitei diaspora. This performance is an outcome of an earlier project supported by IFA and seeks to take the music to six locations across Assam and Bangladesh in an attempt to reconnect with the places and the people whose stories the songs embody. The project also attempts to enliven traditional performance spaces, generate further conversations around Manipuri identity and thereby become a bridge between Manipur and its diaspora. The Grantee’s deliverables to IFA along with the final report will be photos and videos of the performances and discussions. Grant funds will pay for travel and living costs, professional fees, equipment hire, honorarium and accountant’s fee.

For the making of a photo-book, on the memories of the massacre of Marichjhapi, 1979. The project aims to question the boundaries between documentary and staged photographs, while creating awareness about a historical event, the traces of which have been systematically erased. The outcome will be a book containing staged photographs, eyewitness portraits, archival materials and three essays. The Grantee's deliverables to IFA with the final report will be final draft of the book, photographs and audio-video interviews of eye witnesses, and staged images. Grant funds will pay for professional fees, honorarium, travel costs, materials costs, equipment hire and an accountant’s fee.

For the creation of an audio installation, following research on Indian classical music and geometrical principles. Borrowing on Michel Foucault’s theory of Heterotopology, the project aims to challenge the listening practices of Indian classical music based on performance and improvisation, by spatialising recorded and composed sounds. The outcome will be two installations, one live performance and one final presentation on the installations and the research. The Grantee's deliverables to IFA with the final report will be photo and video documentation, research materials along with detailed methodologies, the multi-channel audio files created for the installation pieces, exhibition design and other details about the installations. Grant funds will pay for professional fees, honorarium, material costs, travel costs, communication and outreach, space and equipment hire, and an accountant’s fee. 

For a film on the experiences of women police officers from the batch inducted in 1976 from Delhi. The project focuses on questions around the power of the state, gender, body and empowerment, while presenting an intimate portrait of the undocumented history of labour and empathy within the police force during Emergency. The outcome will be a film. The Grantee's deliverables to IFA with the Final Report will be the film, production stills, audio interviews and their transcripts. Grant funds will pay for equipment hire, honorarium, travel, and an accountant’s fee. 

For workshop expeditions with students to three archaeological sites. These workshops will attempt to disseminate the knowledge of archaeoacoustics tested successfully in an earlier project supported by IFA. The outcome will be three workshops. The Grantee's deliverables to IFA with the final report will be data collected from the field recordings, report of the process, audio-video documentation and photographs of the workshops. Grant funds will pay for workshop costs, honorarium, professional fees and an accountant’s fee.

For the creation of a performance piece that explores the idea of the ‘black hole’ in the realms of science, philosophy and the personal. Exploring connections between consciousness and astrophysics, and the objective nature of science and the subjective nature of being, this work seeks to blur the boundaries and link the outer and the inner cosmos, by interweaving personal narratives and scientific theories. The outcome will be 14 shows of the performance, including the premiere.  The Grantee's deliverables to IFA with the final report will be still and video documentation of the performances. Grant funds will pay for professional fees, travel and living costs, space hire, equipment hire, local conveyance, documentation costs, material costs and an accountant’s fee. 

For the creation of a book on a series of fictional mythologies based in the Polar Regions with Ice as its protagonist. Addressing the politics of ecology, language, and perspectives from the global south, the project will present Ice as an agent of resistance against European colonialism and techno-capitalist greed for natural resources from the poles. The outcome will be a book and a series of performances. The Grantee's deliverables to IFA with the final report will be copy of the manuscript, publication excerpts and audio-video documentation of the performances. Grant funds will pay for an honorarium, printing cost, performance cost, research assistance, professional fees, research books and maps, travel and living cost and an accountant’s fee.

For a foundation course in puppetry that seeks to train professional puppeteers in India. The course comes as the culmination of a series of workshops held with traditional and contemporary puppet masters over the past five years. Drawing upon and building on existing discourse around puppetry, this first-of-its-kind course seeks to create a pedagogic model that contextualises Indian puppetry traditions while offering an overview of puppetry from other parts of the world. The course will be implemented between October 2018 and April 2019. The Grantee's deliverables to IFA with the Final Report will be still and video documentation from the sessions, video documentation of the performances of the students, journals of the students, evaluation reports by facilitators and external evaluators, and a handbook on the course. Grant funds will pay for costs towards an honorarium, professional fees, project coordinator’s fee, local conveyance, travel, material and an accountant’s fee.

For the creation of an experimental film that explores the lives of a group of performers of the Chhau form from Purulia, West Bengal, going beyond their much studied practice of using elaborate masks in their performances. The project attempts to study their transformation into mythical characters for the performance as well as trace the shifts and changes in the dance form in recent times. Evocative and slow in nature, the film will be an experiment in cinematic storytelling through folk narratives. The outcome will be a film. The Grantee's deliverables to IFA with the Final Report will be the film, final script, rush footage, production notes and stills. Grant funds will pay for an honorarium, equipment hire, professional fees, production and post-production costs and an accountant’s fee.