For the implementation of a Foundation Project by IFA under Productions, which will create an artist book that will reflect on the nature and relationship of personal archives to history. Titled My Voice Is As Brittle As The Paper You Write On, the book is imagined as a conversation between four imagined characters at the time of the Partition of Punjab in 1947. As an extension of the film Iqraar-naama, through documents from personal archives, drawings, text and photographs, the book will capture reflections, inflections, propositions and deliberations rethinking questions around how history is written and read. The outcomes from this project will be the artist book and an essay on the relationship of personal archives to history writing and making. The Project Coordinator's deliverables to IFA along with the final report will be the artist book, the essay, copies of drawings, text and photographs used in the book. Project funds will pay for contract fees, printing and scanning, travel and living and archives fees.
For the implementation of a Foundation Project by IFA under Workshops, Residencies, Seminars, which will create workshops for young people from rural contexts to practice non-fiction filmmaking skills that will empower them to tell their own stories, in the socio-political context of North India. The outcomes of the project are the workshops, including individual sequences prepared by each participant and non-fiction short films that they will make in groups. The Project Coordinator’s deliverables to IFA with the final report will be photographs, audio-visual documentation of the workshops, the individual sequences, and the non-fiction short films. Project funds will pay for contract fees, food, travel and living, materials, and stationery.
For the implementation of a Foundation Project by IFA under Arts Platforms which will curate a series of 12 to 15 sessions of discussion on the online platform titled Re-Cognising Dance. Propelled by a need to create a healthy and safe space for building dance scholarship in India, this series hopes to build robust and stimulating conversations on neglected themes, bridge the classical-folk divide, and provide access to resources, collaborations, scholars and mentors in the field of dance. The outcomes from this project will be the 12 to 15 virtual sessions of discussion and a website that will be a repository of textual and audio-visual materials. The Project Coordinators’ deliverables to IFA with the final report will include recordings of the sessions of discussion and a download of the website. Project funds will pay for contract fees, zoom and canva subscriptions, and website domain and hosting.
For the implementation of a Foundation Project by IFA, which will investigate the existing practices, patterns and problems in the performing arts in the context of safety and through the lens of individual practitioners working with formal or quasi-formal theatre groups, collectives and institutions in India. It will focus on the aspects of physical, mental and legal safety and well being of actors, directors, facilitators and designers and their audiences. The outcomes of this project will be a publicly accessible resource library containing safety kits, checklists, video tutorials, sample contracts and a digitally accessible forum for anonymous grievance redressal. The Project Coordinator’s deliverables to IFA with the final report will be links to the publicly accessible library and digitally accessible forum, checklists, video tutorials and sample contracts. Project funds will pay for contract fees, travel and living, internet and library subscriptions and equipment rental.
For the implementation of a Foundation Project by IFA under Workshops, Residencies, Seminars which will create a design residency for architects and designers to reimagine the architectonics of performance spaces including those for theatre in the context of the Covid-19 pandemic and physical distancing. The residency is inspired by Rustom Bharucha’s nine-episode speech act titled Theater & CoronaVirus. The outcome of the project will be orthographic drawings, volumetric and form models, essays and visual concept maps. The Project Coordinator’s deliverables to IFA with the final report will be photographs, audio-visual documentation of the workshop and outcomes, screen recordings of online sessions, architectural drawings and models in digital forms, link to the studio blog and an offline file of the studio blog at the time of project completion. Project funds will pay for professional fees, honorarium and stationery.
For the implementation of a Foundation Project by IFA under Explorations, which will examine the anatomy of a collective song We shall Overcome and its various iterations across time, geography, language and political context. This will be done by aggregating a vast array of data about its musicality, structure, popularity maps, analytics, and audience interactions such as YouTube comments. The envisioned outcome may start to take shape only as the project progresses and may be an intermedia work. The Project Coordinator’s deliverables to IFA with the final report will be the process documentation and the intermedia work. Project funds will pay for professional fees, honorarium, printing, studio hire, books, web hosting and online subscriptions.
For the implementation of a Foundation Project by IFA under Explorations, which will examine the lives and working conditions of migrant labourers of the brick kilns of Mirzapur through artistic collaboration with them. Through research and documentation the project will trace ironies in relationships between labour and development, such as women bearing the heavy load of bricks branded Durga, the Goddess often associated with women’s empowerment. The outcomes of the project will be a series of drawings, terracotta sculptures, photographs and a video documentary. The Project Coordinator’s deliverables to IFA with the final report will be documentation of the drawings and terracotta sculptures, as well as copies of the photographs and the documentary. Project funds will pay for materials, honorarium, professional fees, travel and living, and printing.
For a conference on family photographs from across India, contributing to the microhistories of people and their communities. It will explore how family photos provide counternarratives to dominant strains of thought and memory making, and attempt to move it from an area of neglect to being a significant strategy for social research and documentation. The outcome of this project will be an online conference. The Grantee’s deliverables to IFA with the final reports will be an edited volume of the papers presented at the conference, and the audiovisual documentation of the proceedings of the conference. Grant funds will pay for preparations and presentations by 24 participants at the conference and an accountant’s fees.
For research to study the contribution of Art Deco as a modernist art movement in India, with a focus on the architecture of Delhi. At the intersection of arts and architecture, this project will attempt to examine the role of Art Deco in shaping the cultural identity of Delhi under the British rule. It aims to build appreciation for this ignored and diminishing style along with the lesser-known artists, patrons, architects, artisans and local people associated with its propagation. The outcomes of the project will be a digital exhibition of photos, inventories of buildings, maps, oral narratives of building owners and occupants, stories of architects, artists, contractors, artisans and developers, a visual publication, and a pocket guide with maps and overview of public typologies. The Grantee’s deliverables to IFA with the final reports will be a link to the website hosting the digital exhibition, visual publication and a pocket guide with maps. Grant funds will pay for honorarium, professional fees, reference material, books and magazines, travel, food and living costs, equipment hire, heritage walks, website domain fee and an accountant’s fee.
For research on the identities, biographies, and artistic practices of the wall painters of Shekhawati through the case studies of two painters - Binja Chejara and Balu Ram Chejara – who worked between 1890 and 1945. By tracing the inscribed instances of paintings, this project will build an archive of the artists’ oeuvre, while studying the influence of popular new imagery on their aesthetic choices. The project also aims to understand the self-fashioning by the painters through changing caste affixes in the inscriptions. The outcomes of this project will be a monograph and a short booklet in Hindi. The Grantee’s deliverables to IFA with the final reports will be the monograph and the short booklet in Hindi. Grants funds will pay for travel and living costs, honorarium, professional fee, publication costs, stationery, and an accountant’s fees.
