2015-2016

Prathibha Nandakumar


Grant Period: Over four months

For a poetry performance, photo exhibition and installation tracing Bangalore's long history of coffee cafes and the collective intellectual and creative space it provided for citizens, on the site of one of city's old coffee shops, Kumara Bhavana, that is currently scheduled to be demolished.

Anuradha Venkataraman


Grant Period: Over four months

For a dance and theatrical performance that engages with the psychological, sociological and political understandings of war and its diverse representations within the museum space. This performance will take place at the Government Museum, Bangalore.

Mangala N


Grant Period: Over four months

For a multi-sensory artistic experience at one of Bangalore’s old restaurants, the Vidyarthi Bhavan, located in Gandhi Bazaar. This artistic intervention will involve theatre, music and visual installations that reflect on the history of Vidyarthi Bhavan, and attempt to make new meanings of the space in contemporary Bangalore.

Bhagwati Prasad


Grant Period: Over one year and three months

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.

Performers in Chennai Perch


Grant Period: Over two months

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.

Baba Farid Mir Musicians Project


Grant Period: Over eight months

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.

Dr S Murugaboopathy


Grant Period: Over nine months

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.

Anurupa Roy


Grant Period: Over three months

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.

Gayatri Kodikal


Grant Period: Over one year and six months

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.

Soumya Sankar Bose


Grant Period: Over one year

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.

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