For workshops in villages and small towns by urban visual artists/potters and tribal and folk potters to facilitate an exchange of skills and techniques in pottery and ceramics.
For research and examination, by a theatre director, a contemporary actor and a musician, of the textual nature of music in Koodiyattam, the classical theatre of Kerala. The project will result in a new theatre piece and a reworked version of an earlier production.
For continuing the work between an urban visual artist from Mumbai and four traditional artists in Bastar District, Madhya Pradesh, who will gain an appreciation of one another’s aesthetic concerns, techniques and creative processes. Paintings, sculptures and video films that emerge may form part of urban public installations.
For a Karnataka tour of three contemporary shadow-puppetry performances targeted at children and involving university departments of folklore. The performances, which were jointly created by theatre artists, visual artists, musicians and puppeteers, will introduce children to the arts and help sustain folk performance traditions.
For a fresh examination of the dynamics between theatre and social action, by a coordinating body for welfare organisations in rural West Bengal, two social organisations, and three theatre workers. Through fieldwork and a series of workshops, the collaborators will explore how spontaneous performance can be refined to invigorate activist theatre.
For developing concepts and a treatment for a dance video by a contemporary choreographer and a filmmaker. They will examine the architecture of two stone quarries as possible venues for video-recording dance sequences, generate additional images using computer animation techniques, and experiment with grafting these onto the on-site sequences.
For an artistic interaction between a performance scholar and a theatre group towards the completion of a dance-theatre production based on the history of the devadasi and her dance. The production will examine what was lost, preserved and concealed when sadir or dasi attam was reconfigured as Bharatanatyam under the impact of colonialism and nationalism.
For developing a shadow play repertoire by contemporary theatre artists, visual artists, traditional leather puppeteers, folk musicians and children. Besides working on possible technical and performative innovations the collaborators will explore how shadow puppetry may be used in Karnataka’s schools and lead to the inclusion of the arts in school curricula.
For a series of workshops for children by theatre workers and traditional toy makers with the aim of reconnecting and contemporising the narrative and toy cultures of Malwa. The workshops will culminate in a toy festival, and the possibility of founding a permanent toy resource centre will be explored.
For developing a shared vision for a proposed dance-theatre production by a performance scholar and a theatre group, based on the former’s study of the history of the devadasi and her dance. They will visualise segments from the evolving piece, which intends to examine what was lost, preserved and concealed when sadir or dasi attam was reconfigured as Bharatanatyam under the impact of colonialism and nationalism.
