For the implementation of a Foundation Project by IFA under Explorations, which will experiment to create a form for Asunam, a non-Vedic mythical creature from Sangam Literature of the classical Tamil oeuvre. In a collaborative artistic process between a comics writer, an illustrator and a voice-over artist, this project will use motion and sound to imagine this mythical creature with surreal physical features and hypersensitivity to sound. The outcome of the project will be an audio-visual and a motion comic. The Project Coordinator’s deliverables to IFA with the final report will be process documentation of the collaboration, the audio-visual and the motion comic. Project funds will pay for professional fees and honorarium.
For the implementation of a Foundation Project by IFA under Explorations, which will be a collaboration between four contemporary dancers, rethinking and re-embodying ideas of community and co-work through a series of weekly or bi-weekly shared journeys. These four dancers, who are teacher-trainees of the Alexander technique, will examine ways to unite their solo investigations into a sustainable collective practice, focussing on process instead of production. The outcome of the project will be the process documentation and a collective journal in physical, digital or hybrid form. The Project Coordinator’s deliverables to IFA with the final report will be this process documentation, including those of the interactive open studio improvs and a collective journal in physical, digital or hybrid form. Project funds will pay for professional fees, space hire, honorarium, equipment hire and online subscriptions.
For the implementation of a Foundation Project by IFA under Productions, to create a series of artist books that investigate the history and evolution of printmaking technologies in Bengal. Focussed on five milestone methods of printmaking namely woodcut, block, offset, serigraph and digital technologies, the project will experiment with media, methods and book design formats to trace the history of printmaking to create new relationships between the reader and the book. The outcome of this project will be the series of five artist books, detailed process documentation and a physical and virtual exhibition on the evolution of print-technology in India. The Project Coordinator’s deliverables to IFA with the final report will be the artist books, video documentation of the process, a download of the website containing the virtual exhibition along with the URL, and still and video documentation of the physical exhibition. Project funds will pay for professional fees, documentation, materials, transport, website creation and virtual exhibition, purchase of equipment (the scanner will be returned to IFA), physical exhibition and publicity.
For the implementation of a Foundation Project by IFA under Productions, to create a video game that investigates expressions of corporate culture and gendered labour as manifested on the computer interface. Created in the genre of a Fumblecore game, this project will explore the meaning of labour on the computer and create ways of subverting the hegemonic and gendered bodily relationships with the machine. The outcome of this project will be an online as well as a physical iteration of a Fumblecore game. The Project Coordinator’s deliverables to IFA with the final report will be a download of the website comprising the game along with the URL, the process documentation of creating the game, and still and video documentation of the physical installation. Project funds will pay for professional fees, honorarium, physical installation of the game and purchase of software.
For the implementation of a Foundation Project by IFA under Productions, to create a series of photographs that examine notions of identity and contestations around questions of faith and nation-building among the Niam Khasi people. Through detailed field research, the project will problematise the monochromatic, linear narratives about the history of faith in Meghalaya, offering nuanced understandings of historical and contemporary debates within Meghalaya and in the Indian geopolitical context. The outcomes of this project will be a series of photographs, a set of picture postcards, a book and an exhibition. The Project Coordinator’s deliverables to IFA with the final report will be the photographs, the picture postcards, the book, and still and video documentation of the exhibition. Project funds will pay for honorarium, travel and living, book design and production, professional fees, venue hire, printing and the exhibition.
For the implementation of a Foundation Project by IFA under Productions, to create a performance that seeks to reinvent Bharatanatyam by bringing in values of pluralism. Based on the lived experiences of a non-binary, Muslim Zoroastrian dancer practising the Hindu temple dance form, the performance will be centred on the Alarippu—the traditional Bharatanatyam dance sequence—reimagining the form through layered movement, sound influences from Islam, and lyrics from Bhakti and Sufi traditions. The Project Coordinator’s deliverables to IFA with the final report will be audio recordings of interviews and still and video documentation of the process and the final production. Project funds will pay for professional fees, honorarium, equipment hire, venue hire and studio hire.
For the implementation of a Foundation Project by IFA under Productions, to create a series of architectural sculptures based on memories, oral narratives and legends of people from the Kurdi village in Goa. Following the construction of the Selaulim dam in 1977, the ancient Kurdi village was submerged and over 3000 families were displaced. By sculpturally reconstructing remembrances, this project attempts to resist erasure and re-frame memory and recuperation, offering an alternative artistic methodology for documenting forgotten histories. The outcome of the project will be the series of sculptures. The Project Coordinator’s deliverables to IFA with the final report will be still and video documentation of the process and the architectural sculptures. Project funds will pay for professional fees, materials, equipment hire and travel.
For the making of an experimental docu-fiction film which will explore the precariousness of the lives and work of freelance Computer Graphics (CG) and Visual Effects (VFX) artists in the South Indian film industry. It will explore the dual invisibility of these artists - within the organised film studio system as well as in the aspired anonymity of the CG image itself - making their existence fragile and tenuous. The outcomes of the project will be the film and part of the work hosted on an online portal as interactive digital fictions. The grantee’s deliverables to IFA with the final report will be a high-resolution copy of the film and an offline version of the interactive online portal on a hard disk. Grant funds will pay for professional fees, honorarium, travel and living, equipment hire, website creation, purchase of e-books and online subscriptions and an accountant’s fee.
For the making of a film-document based on the presence of seasonal migrant labourers in Mirya, a fishing village on the Konkan coast of Maharashtra. Since Mirya is the ancestral village of the filmmaker, it will also be a personal expression of an attempted dialogue, momentary friendships and precarious encounters through the camera, with the men who work as migrant labourers there. The outcome of the project will be the film-document. The Grantee’s deliverables to IFA with the final report will be a high-resolution copy of the film-document on a hard disk, along with the footage, production stills, film deck and publicity materials. Grant funds will pay for professional fees, honorarium, equipment hire and consumables, travel and living costs, communication and stationery, and an accountant’s fee.
For the making of an experimental film on the city of Lucknow and its architectonics, based on the literary oeuvre of Urdu litterateur Naiyer Masud. The film, a combination of animation sequences and documentary footage, is imagined as a visual letter and travelogue that speaks to Naiyer Masud about the city of Lucknow - one that was ubiquitous in his literary world. It will attempt to unravel the inherent differences between the Lucknow depicted in Masud’s fictional universe and the real city in the present. The outcomes of the project will be the script and the film. The Grantee’s deliverables to IFA with the final report will be a high resolution copy of the film on a hard disk, along with the script, footages, production stills, film deck and publicity materials. Grant funds will pay for honorarium, travel and living, professional fees, post production, equipment hire and an accountant’s fee.