Arts Practice

For the implementation of a Foundation Project by IFA under Productions that will lead to the reimagination and revival of five puppet characters and their stories that are part of the string puppetry tradition of the Natt lineage of Rajasthan. Alongside the richness of artistic practice, the tradition, over generations, has also been subject to serious marginalisation and caste-based oppression of the practitioners. This project, while drawing on the strengths of traditional practice, will recreate the puppet characters and their narratives in ways that will subvert feudal, patriarchal and other hegemonic systems, thereby enabling conversations around oppression and resistance. The outcomes from this project will include the five newly created puppets and the accompanying stories, one live performance and 15 episodes of digital content that will be made available online. The Project Coordinator’s deliverables to IFA along with the final reports will be photographs and videos from the process and the live performance along with recordings of all the 15 episodes. Project funds will pay for contract fees, materials, travel and living, hire of equipment, hire of venue, publicity and communication. 

For the implementation of a Foundation Project by IFA under Productions that will enable a cross-disciplinary artistic exploration of the inter and intra-connectedness of body, food, land and community. Structured around workshops and conversations with the elders and youth of the farming community in Wayanad, this project will bring together folklore and native wisdom contained in songs, stories, sayings, food, cultural practices, images, materials, seeds, and language. The outcome of this project will be an exhibition and an artist book. The Project Coordinator’s deliverables to IFA along with the final reports will be copies of the artist book and photographs and video documentation of the workshops, the process and the exhibition. Project funds will pay for printing, travel and living, contract fees, materials, and hire of equipment. 

For the implementation of a Foundation Project by IFA under Workshops, Residencies, Seminars, that will create a month long technical residency followed by a week long workshop, addressing the role of the contemporary body, movement and improvisation, in theatre and dance. The outcomes of the project would be a draft performance out of the residency programme and a presentation out of the workshop that will be shared in March Dance 2024 at Basement 21. The Project Coordinator’s deliverables to IFA with the final report will be photographs and audio-visual documentation of the residency and the workshop. Project funds will pay for contract fees, and publicity and marketing. 

For the implementation of a Foundation Project by IFA under Explorations which will engage 25 women from Self-Help Groups from Satwas, Madhya Pradesh, in reclaiming public spaces through exploring leisure with gatherings, potlucks, music and game sessions as a way of building solidarities. The outcome of the project will be the leisurely gatherings, a co-created mixed media artwork, and its 25 framed copies which will be given to each one of them. The Project Coordinator’s deliverables to IFA with the final report will be audio visual documentation of the artistic process, and the image of the artwork. Project funds will pay for contract fees, materials, travel and living, and printing.  

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.  

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.

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.  

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.  

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.