For the implementation of a Foundation Project by IFA that aims to generate new ethnographic art-historical knowledge on Husayn-centric devotion by exploring the relationship between piety, labour, and materiality by mapping a “Husayn-scape” from western Uttar Pradesh to Bengal, tracing how Shiʿi and Sufi devotion to Husayn is translated into built forms (imambaras, Karbalas, dargahs) and ritual objects (taziya, alam, zarih). The outcome of this project will be scholarly essays that will foreground new ethnographic art-historical knowledge on Husayn-centric devotion, an online interdisciplinary seminar, a public workshop organised as part of the project and a website. The Project Coordinator’s deliverables, along with the final reports, will include six peer-reviewed art history essays and three photo-essays, documentation of the seminar and the workshop, and a dedicated website hosting photographs, documents, and recorded voices, ensuring open-access digital preservation of research on Husayn-centric devotional spaces. Project funds will pay for contract fees, travel and living, purchase of equipment, publication, materials and stationery.
For the implementation of a Foundation Project by IFA under Productions that envisions creating an artist’s book/glossary through onsite engagements, developing small devices such as the Lorrain Glass and Thaumatrope with short videos, and producing a temporary landscape archive. The project inquires into the spaces of transitions, reuses, impositions and superimpositions, anchoring the ghats (riverbanks) between the Rabindra Setu and the Vidyasagar Setu along the Hooghly River in Kolkata. Focussing on temporary spaces that are part of the urban fabric and improvement-narratives, it seeks to trace, contest, and retrace the points fronted by the planning archives through a critical lens. The Project Coordinator’s deliverables to IFA along with the final report will be an artist’s book/glossary, the small devices produced, short videos, and documentation materials from the process and the temporary landscape archive. Project funds will pay for contract fee, production, printing, documentation, travel and living, hire of venue, and archive fee.
For the implementation of a Foundation Project by IFA that will investigate the history and cultural significance of the Raibenshe martial dance form. It will critically assess the impact of the cultural intermediary, Gurusaday Datta, on the research and practice of Raibenshe dance, learn about the evolution of different styles, and examine how the practitioners of this caste-specific art form balance their artistic identity with their social, economic, and political realities. The outcomes of this project will be an illustrated manuscript, audio and video recordings of interviews and performances, a multimedia archive, and two public events at the School of Cultural Texts and Records, Jadavpur University, and Arthshila, Santiniketan. The Project Coordinator’s deliverables to IFA, along with the final reports, will be the manuscript, audio and video recordings of interviews and performances, and the multimedia archive. Project funds will pay for contract fees, travel and living, hire of equipment, and transcriptions.
For the implementation of a Foundation Project by IFA that aims to study the character of four seasonal fairs in Cooch Behar, West Bengal, as sites of intangible cultural heritage by looking into the customs, traditional medicines, and food systems that operate within these fairs. The outcome of the project will be four maps by local artists (including documentation of the mapmaking process) labelled in Bangla and English, seven 10-minute-long podcasts in Bangla and English, and a website that will house all the podcasts and documentation. The Project Coordinator’s deliverables to IFA, along with the final reports, will be the four maps, seven podcast episodes, and a link to the website. Project funds will pay for contract fees, travel and living, domain and website charges, materials, purchase of books and stationery.
For the implementation of a Foundation Project by IFA that will investigate the cultural memory of exile and identity formation in Chhota Lucknow, situated in Metiaburuz, Kolkata. It will attempt to understand the narratives of displacement of a community that was the custodian of the Nawabi culture of Lucknow in Kolkata, and that underwent systematic marginalisation over several decades while clinging on to the fading cultural memory of Lucknow and Wajid Ali Shah. The outcomes of this project will be a multimedia exhibition, audiovisual documentation, a lecture demonstration and an essay. The Project Coordinator’s deliverables to IFA with the final reports will be documentation from the multimedia exhibition and lecture demonstration, audiovisual documentation, and the essay. Project funds will pay for contract fees, travel and living, premiere of the exhibition, production, and documentation.
For the implementation of a Foundation Project by IFA which will facilitate research towards three to four scholarly essays and long form visual articles based on the materials available at the Queer Archive for Memory, Reflection and Activism (QAMRA) archival project at National Law School of India University (NLSIU), Bengaluru. The project will critically examine the archival materials to historicise Section 377 and trace the cultural and socio-political struggle towards decriminalising homosexuality in India. The project will also explore the idea of community in the ways they are imagined and formed by queer persons. The outcome for the project will consist of the three to four essays and long-from articles, and a possible symposium. The Project Coordinator’s final deliverables will be the essays, long-from visual articles and the proceedings or recordings from the symposium if it happens. This is a collaboration with the QAMRA at NLSIU Bengaluru. Project funds will pay for contract fees and travel and living.
This Project was closed due to unavoidable circumstances.
For the implementation of a Foundation Project by IFA under Workshops, Residencies, Seminars, which will create four residential workshops for movement artists from East and North East India to inspire critical thinking while nurturing choreographic practices. Four artists from diverse backgrounds will restage their earlier pieces as they work with the participants of the workshop as facilitators. The outcomes of the project are four intensive residencies and workshops for dance and movement artists, culminating in formal public presentations, along with analytical documentation of the process, and a blog. The Project Coordinator’s deliverables to IFA with the final report will be photographs, audio-visual documentation of the residencies and workshops, process documents, and the link to the blog along with an offline version of the blog. Project funds will pay for contract fees, travel and living, and production.
For the implementation of a Foundation Project by IFA under Workshops, Residencies, Seminars, that will create a residency for movement artists and filmmakers to collaboratively explore a language for the practice of the Indian dance-film, with a focus on non-classical and marginalised movement forms. The outcome of the project is the residency and the dance-films that will result from the collaborations. The Project Coordinator’s deliverables to IFA with the final report will be photographs, audio-visual documentation of the residency and the dance-films. Project funds will pay for travel and living, food, hire of equipment, contract fees, materials and hire of venue.
For the implementation of a Foundation Project by IFA, which will explore various methods of worship across different Sufi traditions in West Bengal. It will inquire into the religious and political conditions in which Sufi Dargahs and Majars in the region have flourished over time. The outcome of this project will be a manuscript for a book. The Project Coordinator’s deliverables to IFA with the final report will be the manuscript for the book and audiovisual documentation from the field. Project funds will pay for travel and living, contract fees and stationery.
For the implementation of a Foundation Project by IFA under Explorations, which will critically examine the conflicting emotions of pleasure and guilt in the context of self-awakening as a homosexual, and investigate the ethical representation of love and sexuality on screen with the help of intimacy experts. Critiquing the lack of sex education, the project will also trace the challenges of growing up as a homosexual person in India. The outcome of the project will be the script for a short film. The Project Coordinator’s deliverables to IFA with the final report will be the script of the short film, and process documentation. Project funds will pay for professional fees, honorarium and travel.
