Grant & Projects

Shobhana Kumari


Project Period: Eight months

For the implementation of a Foundation Project by IFA under Arts Projects (Research/Practice) which will create a theatre performance that will attempt to capture vignettes of Bangalore through the lived experiences of a single woman in the city, and their interactions with the working class and queer communities.  By engaging sensorially with 20 locations across Bangalore, the performance titled Nantu (bond, in Kannada) will explore the artist’s personal experiences as well as the collective sense of belonging, memory, loss, helplessness, and survival for marginalised communities in a vast city like Bangalore. The outcome of this project will be the performance. The Project Coordinator’s deliverables to IFA with the final report will be still and video documentation of the rehearsals and the performance. Project funds will pay for contract fees, sets and costumes, documentation, travel and living, hire of equipment, hire of venue, and stationery. 

Sujeet George


Project Period: One year

For the implementation of a Foundation Project by IFA which will develop a physical exhibition, a multi-modal book and a symposium drawing from the materials at the Herbarium located at the Institut Français de Pondichéry (IFP). The project will explore the Herbarium as a site of scientific knowledge focusing on processes of knowledge production, archiving practices and the use of the data for research as well as pedagogic and public history purposes. The outcomes of the project will be an exhibition tentatively titled Landscapes/Labscapes, a multimodal book as an extension of the exhibition chronicling the story of the herbarium, and a symposium. The Project Coordinator’s final deliverables will be the images from the exhibition, the multi-modal book and recordings of the proceedings from the symposium. This is a collaboration with the Institut Français de Pondichéry (IFP). Project funds will pay for travel and living, contract fees, and production.

Nalini B


Project Period: Eight months

For the implementation of a Foundation Project by IFA under Explorations which will attempt to find expressions for the trans-generational trauma endured by women in the context of Dalit-Christian inheritance, using embroidery and knitting - skills that women artists have historically used as tools for political and feminist resistance. This will be explored by a mother-daughter duo. The outcomes of the project will be a compilation of oral histories, sketches leading to experiments with fabric dyeing and cyanotypes, and the embroidery samplers. The Project Coordinator’s deliverables to IFA with the final report will be photographs and audio-visual documentation of the research travels, and soft copies of the preliminary sketches, dyed fabrics, cyanotypes, and embroidery samplers. Project funds will pay for materials, travel and living, contract fees, and the hire of equipment.  

Sonam Chaturvedi


Project Period: Eight months

For the implementation of a Foundation Project by IFA under Explorations which will bring together artists who are friends in late night potluck sessions in order to compile a lexicon of multilingual terms and neologisms that point to the disruptions caused by digital screens in our everyday lives, including our sleeping and eating habits with a focus on the deferral of the night. The outcomes of the project will be five potluck sessions and a larger session to conclude the project, an artist’s book, and the web tool of the lexicon. The Project Coordinator’s deliverables to IFA with the final report will be audio/visual documentation of the potluck sessions, a copy of the artist’s book, and an offline version of the web tool. Project funds will pay for contract fees, travel and living, printing and online subscriptions.

Clyde Herschel Thangkhiew


Project Period: Eight months

For the implementation of a Foundation Project by IFA under Explorations which will experiment with creating an interactive e-comic book accompanied by soundtracks and visualisations, giving contemporary inflections to stories from Khasi folklore. The outcome of the project will be the interactive e-comic book, with an accompanying soundtrack as a YouTube album playlist with visualisations. The Project Coordinator’s deliverables to IFA with the final report will be a soft copy of the e-comic book, offline versions of the soundtracks and visualisations, and links to the YouTube album playlist. Project funds will pay for contract fees, travel and living, hire of equipment, and stationery.  

Darshan R Shet


Project Period: One year

For the implementation of a Foundation Project by IFA which will engage fifth and sixth grade students of Government Higher Primary School in Honnesara, Shivamogga district with the project titled – nannuru nanageshtu gottu?! (How much do I know of my city?!) Students will explore the regional history of Shivamogga through a series of lecture sessions and field visits by connecting it to their curriculum in social science and languages. The outcome of this project will be a performance. The Project Coordinator’s deliverables to IFA with the final report will include still and video documentation of the process and the performance. Project funds will pay for contract fees, travel and living, performance, food, printing, and stationery.

Thasil MA


Project Period: Eight months

For the implementation of a Foundation Project by IFA under Explorations which will involve traveling through the West Coast of India, to explore imperial fort debris, lagoon ecosystems, and people’s narratives of resistance movements in these places against the onslaught of aggressive development, towards the making of a lecture performance. The outcome of the project will be the lecture performance. The Project Coordinator’s deliverables to IFA with the final report will be photographs and audio-visual documentation of the travels and the lecture performance. Project funds will pay for travel and living, contract fees, and materials.  

Aditya Garg


Project Period: Eight months

For the implementation of a Foundation Project by IFA under Explorations which will bring together artists from different disciplines to explore breath as an artistic element across art forms, in the wake of the severe dearth of oxygen cylinders in the country during the pandemic and the abysmal Air Quality index in most towns. The outcome of the project will be an interdisciplinary workshop. The Project Coordinator’s deliverables to IFA with the final report will be the video documentation of the workshop. Project funds will pay for contract fees and the hiring of a venue. 

 

Aastha Gandhi


Project Period: Eight months

For the implementation of a Foundation Project by IFA under Explorations which will attempt to explore expressions for the haunting images of migrant bodies witnessed during the Covid-19 pandemic, through a performance that is informed by and draws from legislation that governs various aspects of migration in India. The performance will explore this through textual, physical, aural and digital means. The outcome of the project will be the performance. The Project Coordinator’s deliverables to IFA with the final report will be audio-visual documentation of the performance and the artistic process in the studio. Project funds will pay for contract fees, hire of venue, travel and living, and books. 

Khandakar Ohida


Project Period: Eight months

For the implementation of a Foundation Project by IFA under Explorations which will research the possibility of a digital/virtual museum based on a 50-year-old collection of objects that carry emotions and history, which were stored in an ancestral mud house demolished in 2022. The outcome of the project will be the digital/ virtual museum, in the making. The Project Coordinator’s deliverables to IFA with the final report will be an offline version of the digital/ virtual museum along with 3D and VR files and audio/video recordings. Project funds will pay for the hire of equipment, contract fees, hire of venue, materials, and travel and living. 

Mythili Anoop


Project Period: Eight months

For the implementation of a Foundation Project by IFA under Explorations which will attempt to reimagine Mughlai Vesham, a form of Mohiniyattam which incorporates the courtly style of Kathak including its costume, now erased from public memory. The outcome of the project will be the experimental dance piece with live music and a research paper on the artistic process. The Project Coordinator’s deliverables to IFA with the final report will be a video recording of the experimental piece and the research paper. Project funds will pay for contract fees and the hiring of equipment.

Devarati Chakrabarti


Project Period: One year

For the implementation of a Foundation Project by IFA which will develop a series of essays, curated walks and structured writing workshops drawing primarily from the materials from the Photo Archives at the Institut Français de Pondichéry (IFP). The project will critically explore Pondicherry as a site of tourism and history with the aid of the picture postcards and photographs available at the archives anchoring it into three broad thematic frames of heritage and tourism; everyday life and leisure; and waste, value, and the materiality of the archive. The outcomes of the project will be scholarly essays, curated walks, structured writing workshops and a small brochure for the archival photos of streetscapes of Pondicherry. The Project Coordinator’s deliverables along with the final reports will be the essays, outcomes from the workshop, photographs from the curated tours and the brochure. This is a collaboration with the Institut Français de Pondichéry (IFP).  Project funds will pay for contract fees, travel and living, printing and publication, venue hire and stationery.

Karthik S


Project Period: One year

For the implementation of a Foundation Project by IFA which will develop a photo-film by weaving the archival materials from the Photo Archive, STARS Archive and Herbarium, the three collections available at the Institut Français de Pondichéry (IFP). The film will narrativise a fictional account of an elusive Tamil woman who has successfully through the ages escaped the attempts of being photographed by various photographers. It intends to address the intersections of photography, ecology and women. The outcomes of this project will be the film, an exhibition of images from the Herbarium paired with audio featuring relevant Sangam poems, a series of audio-visual social media posts, and public engagements with children. The Project Coordinator’s deliverables along with the final reports will be high resolution digital copy of the film, finished high resolution audio pieces, social media posts along with a selection of images from the Herbarium, and photographs from the public engagements. This is a collaboration with the Institut Français de Pondichéry (IFP). Project funds will pay for contract fees, production and travel and living.

Joshua Remsanga Sailo


Project Period: Eight months

For the implementation of a Foundation Project by IFA under Explorations which will attempt to reconstruct Mizo folktales through movement arts that creates a new ‘folk dance’ in collaboration with community members as a way of recovering memories that were lost after the coming of Christianity to the region in the 20th century. The outcome of the project will be the new folk dance, along with open movement workshops, curated happenings, and community dining. The Project Coordinator’s deliverables to IFA with the final report will be audio-visual documentation of the artistic process, along with written/ illustrated notes on the exploration and public events. Project funds will pay for contract fees, hire of venue, and travel and living. 

Bhamati Sivapalan


Project Period: Eight months

For the implementation of a Foundation Project by IFA under Explorations that will trace the collective memories of the erstwhile dwellers of the town of Old Tehri that went under water after the construction of a dam. Through science/ speculative fiction storytelling, and storyboarding, this project will attempt to explore the loss of lived experiences of this ghost town, in the wake of the monstrous ambitions of the industrial nation-state. The outcome of the project will be the science/ speculative fiction, along with a storyboard for eventual development as an illustrated narrative. The Project Coordinator’s deliverables to IFA with the final report will be the script of the speculative fiction and a soft copy of the storyboard. Project funds will pay for travel and living, contract fees and materials.

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