For the creation of an audiovisual medley that explores habitual tendencies of violent human behaviour, and how it is impacted with increasing usage of the internet. The project aims to explore the ways in which the internet acts as a medium that perpetuates and enhances the contexts that cause violent behaviour. The outcome will be an audiovisual medley of montages which incorporates archival footage, basic animation, stop motion cinema, and live-action embedded with music. The Grantee’s deliverables to IFA along with the final report will be this audiovisual medley. Grant funds will pay for set construction, equipment hire, materials and honorarium.
For the creation of a digital project titled Priyanka’s Story which uses Forum Theatre technique of the Theatre of the Oppressed to examine the issues of increased online harassment against women in India. With a collaborative audience as ‘spect-actors’ whose responses aim at resolving the issues around online safety in the protagonist’s life, four videos will be created and disseminated sequentially, such that interventions from the preceding video influence the protagonist’s actions in the next one. The outcome will be a 20-minute film compiled from the four videos and interventions, which will be made public to be used as a resource. The Grantee’s deliverables to IFA along with the final report will be the film, and four videos made during the project along with the interventions received from the ‘spect-actors’. Grant funds will pay for professional fees, publicity, recording and documentation.
For research to investigate life in a visual artist’s studio. The project will explore how artists approach their work, overcome creative blocks, experience leisure, and source materials. It will also enquire into the significant roles played by their assistants. The project seeks to break new ground by constituting an inventive and imaginative form of art criticism drawing on history and memory, archive and experience, and studio and practice, with an emphasis on the multiplicity of artistic practices as a strategy to disrupt the notion of canon. The outcome of this project will be a manuscript for a book. The Grantee’s deliverables to IFA with the final reports will be the manuscript for the book and extensive audiovisual documentation of the interviews with visual artists from across India. Grant funds will pay for honorarium, travel, food and living costs, books, stationery and photocopying costs, professional fee, library fees, and an accountant’s fee.
For the making of a film that will look into the lives of four vocal artists in Mizoram and Meghalaya, who are associated with the congregational and other types of choral traditions. Foregrounding ethnicities, gender, sexuality, citizenship, belief, friendship and art, the film will map their personal journeys vis-à-vis the ritualistic and performative elements of faith and the distinct expressivity of their creative processes. The outcome of this project will be a film. The Grantee’s deliverables to IFA with the final reports will also be the film. Grant funds will pay for travel, food and living costs, professional fees, equipment rental, and an accountant’s fee.
For research on Cham, a Tibetan Buddhist ritual, at the monasteries of Kye in the upper Spiti Valley in Himachal Pradesh, and Diskit in the Nubra Valley in Ladakh. Through a comparative study of the histories, sites, contemporary performances and material culture of the Cham, this project aims to unpack the notions of ‘tradition’ and ‘authenticity’ to understand the making of and the relationships between religious, cultural and political identities. The outcome of this project will be comprehensive photographic documentation and a series of essays on the transformations impacting the form and function of the Cham. The Grantee’s deliverables to IFA with the final reports will be a series of essays and photographic documentation. Grant funds will pay for honorarium, travel, food and living costs, professional fees, books, stationery and photocopying, internet, phone bills and SD cards and an accountant’s fee.
For the creation of an audio installation, following research on Indian classical music and geometrical principles. Borrowing on Michel Foucault’s theory of Heterotopology, the project aims to challenge the listening practices of Indian classical music based on performance and improvisation, by spatialising recorded and composed sounds. The outcome will be two installations, one live performance and one final presentation on the installations and the research. The Grantee's deliverables to IFA with the final report will be photo and video documentation, research materials along with detailed methodologies, the multi-channel audio files created for the installation pieces, exhibition design and other details about the installations. Grant funds will pay for professional fees, honorarium, material costs, travel costs, communication and outreach, space and equipment hire, and an accountant’s fee.
For a film on the experiences of women police officers from the batch inducted in 1976 from Delhi. The project focuses on questions around the power of the state, gender, body and empowerment, while presenting an intimate portrait of the undocumented history of labour and empathy within the police force during Emergency. The outcome will be a film. The Grantee's deliverables to IFA with the Final Report will be the film, production stills, audio interviews and their transcripts. Grant funds will pay for equipment hire, honorarium, travel, and an accountant’s fee.
For the creation of a book on a series of fictional mythologies based in the Polar Regions with Ice as its protagonist. Addressing the politics of ecology, language, and perspectives from the global south, the project will present Ice as an agent of resistance against European colonialism and techno-capitalist greed for natural resources from the poles. The outcome will be a book and a series of performances. The Grantee's deliverables to IFA with the final report will be copy of the manuscript, publication excerpts and audio-video documentation of the performances. Grant funds will pay for an honorarium, printing cost, performance cost, research assistance, professional fees, research books and maps, travel and living cost and an accountant’s fee.
For a foundation course in puppetry that seeks to train professional puppeteers in India. The course comes as the culmination of a series of workshops held with traditional and contemporary puppet masters over the past five years. Drawing upon and building on existing discourse around puppetry, this first-of-its-kind course seeks to create a pedagogic model that contextualises Indian puppetry traditions while offering an overview of puppetry from other parts of the world. The course will be implemented between October 2018 and April 2019. The Grantee's deliverables to IFA with the Final Report will be still and video documentation from the sessions, video documentation of the performances of the students, journals of the students, evaluation reports by facilitators and external evaluators, and a handbook on the course. Grant funds will pay for costs towards an honorarium, professional fees, project coordinator’s fee, local conveyance, travel, material and an accountant’s fee.
For the creation of a play based on Russian playwright Yevgeny Schwarz’s The Dragon, in multiple spoken Hindi languages. The play examines notions of human agency, gender, power, narrative, love and collective action in the context of self-determination and the individual’s relationship with the world. It is designed as a lightweight, durable and cost-effective mobile spectacle aimed at Hindi-speaking audiences. The outcome will be a performance. The Grantee's deliverables to IFA with the Final Report will be a translated script, a PDF document of the rehearsal process, publicity material, a media dossier and video recording of the performance. Grant funds will pay for costs towards professional fees, lights, music, costumes and material, equipment hire, refreshments, travel, documentation and an accountant’s fee.
