For a graphic narrative and a series of performances, on the untold stories of migrant labourers and their tools, as they transform the history of the city of Delhi. These stories provide perspectives from those who have come from the outside to make this city their home, as the city grows in shape and size. A prototype of the graphic novel, performances and their documentation will be produced as outcomes.
For a production on the theme of the mobile phone and its impact on our lives, which is an extension of the theatre group’s endeavour of building theatre pieces based on objects. It questions the effect of technology on our individual and community lives, while simultaneously using the object and its social practices as material for the performance. While the production will be the main outcome of the grant, a detailed documentation of the processes including rehearsal notes, photographs and audio-video recordings, will also be delivered.
For a foundation-administered project, supporting an initiative in Rajasthan, which will bring together the families of Mir musicians and their patrons scattered across the Bikaner region, in an attempt to reinvigorate their musical tradition. A core team of senior as well as young artists along with patrons will undertake a yatra across the ten far flung Mir strongholds in the Bikaner region; towards facilitating musical interchanges, community interactions and mapping of musical opportunities within cultural festivals and events.
For exploring the socio-cultural, historical and psychological understandings of doll traditions in southern Tamil Nadu, towards creating a new language of performance. Through an investigation into the myths, movements, language, songs and politics of these doll traditions, the study seeks a deeper understanding of the nuanced performative elements embedded in these traditions. The outcome of the research will be a performance script.
For a puppetry workshop, over eighteen days, for eight participants from diverse artistic backgrounds, with a traditional master Kathputli practitioner from Rajasthan – Puran Bhatt. The third in a series of IFA funded workshops, this is another step towards addressing the need for building a robust discourse and pedagogy for puppetry in India, through intensive training, discussions and artistic exchanges, between traditional and contemporary puppeteers and other arts practitioners who draw from puppetry in form, content or aesthetics.
For the development of a game-art environment, by a moving image artist, based on the speculations around the remains of Queen Ketevan of Georgia in Goa. Using archival materials, the project aims to question the legitimacy of proof in the reading of history, while experimenting with the limits of film, games and the digital media. The outcome of the project will be an installation that will allow interaction between traditional board games and interactive screen games, ideally, situated in a gallery.
For artistically representing the untold private lives of veteran Jatra artists, photographed while performing their beloved characters in costume within their quotidian environments. While the photographs push the boundaries of documentation and performance, raising questions about history and authenticity, they are also witnesses of the transforming face of Jatra. The outcome will be an exhibition of these photographs where some Jatra artists will talk about their experiences dressed as characters.
For the building of a pedagogy through theatre practice re-interpreting existing stories, as well as creating new ones, from the perspective of a child. This project will be undertaken with the children of the Government Primary School in Siddapura-Tubrahalli, Bengaluru.
For the creation of an archive of lost traditions and rituals, through a mapping of the history and culture of Sulthanpet village. This project will be undertaken, in collaboration with Bakul Jani, with the children of the Government Primary School, Sulthanpet village, near Nandi Halli, Chikkaballapura.
For a series of comic strips and a calendar of community food recipes, using culinary practices that find their way into songs and stories. This project will be undertaken with children from the seventh standard, at the Government Primary School, Ramalingapura, Bukkapatna, Shira, Tumkur District.
For the construction of a data visualisation prototype to expose and make readable the information that is layered in text based data in Prof Jyoti Bhatt’s photographs and other associated materials, from his series Living Traditions that forms part of the Asia Art Archive. For nearly four decades Prof Bhatt has been documenting various ‘living traditions’, the arts, crafts and daily lives of people across the country. This project will draw on Prof Bhatt’s photographs, notes, sketchbooks, diaries, audio interviews and articles.
For working with the cultural history archive at the Centre for Studies in Social Sciences Calcutta (CSSSC) which contains a wide variety of visual materials from eighteenth- and nineteenth-century Bengal that includes books, journals, popular paintings, prints, posters, hoardings, advertisements and commercial art productions. Sujaan will trace the two-century-old history of tourism in Calcutta and focus on the ways in which the city has been represented by and for the ‘outsider’. The outcome could take various forms such as a curated guided tour, a guidebook, and a digital map that represents the different histories of Calcutta’s heritage.
For working with the cultural history archive at the Centre for Studies in Social Sciences Calcutta (CSSSC) which contains a wide variety of visual materials from eighteenth- and nineteenth-century Bengal that includes books, journals, popular paintings, prints, posters, hoardings, advertisements and commercial art productions. Vishwajyoti will visually reinterpret some of the moral science textbooks from nineteenth-century India with the visuals and popular iconography of that era to form a new body of work.
