Staying Connected #26 | Friends, Internet, and Cinema | March 22, 2024
Does hyperconnectivity bring us closer to each other?
In this edition of Staying Connected, we look back on a project that speaks to the present times and our interactions with the internet. Created a little over four years ago, the project is a marriage between many art forms–film, music, theatre and dance–tracing the journey of a group of friends as the internet pervades every part of their lives.
The newsletter also brings to you recordings of conversations with artists on IFA implemented projects and grants from the past few months, the new projects implemented by us, and open calls for proposals.
Watch Sharif, an experimental audio-visual media, created as a collaborative work by a group of five artists engaging in diverse art forms. We meet three friends in the middle of the night, and with them, go on a journey from 2011 to 2015, exploring the dichotomy of physical and emotional disconnection between people in a world hyperconnected through technology.
This project was created under the special initiative 25x25 that marked the 25th anniversary of grantmaking and the 25-year long history of the Internet in India. Through the initiative, IFA supported 25 projects.
Actor and storyteller Soumendra Bhattacharya received a grant under the special initiative 25x25, made possible with support from Kshirsagar Apte Foundation, Titan Company Limited, Priya Paul, and Sethu Vaidyanathan.
Project Showcase@IFA
Project Showcase@IFA is a series of monthly presentations to showcase, discuss, and engage audiences with the diverse projects we support and implement across programmes. Watch and listen to four such conversations held between January to March 2024 on varied themes, from arts-integrated activities at an archeological museum to the understanding of the popular form of Bombay cinema and how it has affected Kathak and Qawwali.
Museums and Arts Integrated Learning - An Experiment at the Robert Bruce Foote Sanganakallu Archaeological Museum (RBFSAM), Ballari was a presentation by Syed Sadiq S and a conversation with Gowri from RBFSAM, about a project that engaged with students of Government High School (Hindi medium), Ballari, Karnataka, as they participated in activities conducted with RBFSAM, which triggered conversations around prehistoric artefacts and how they enrich school curriculum.
Syed Sadiq S was the Project Coordinator of the Foundation Project implemented by IFA under the Arts Education programme.
Tracing the History of Independent Initiatives in the Arts in Bangalore was a presentation by Chinar Shah where she spoke about a collaborative project with artists, writers and researchers attempting an editorial inquiry into the history of independent initiatives in Bangalore, to weave a narrative around the economic and political contexts within which these independent spaces exist.
Chinar Shah was the Project Coordinator of the Foundation Project implemented by IFA under the Project 560 programme, made possible with support from BNP Paribas India.
In a special showcase conducted offline, Mehfil-e Filmiyana: Kathak and Qawwali in Bombay Cinema, Yousuf Saeed and Siddhi Goel showcased their respective projects at The Park, Bangalore in March 2024. Yousuf’s project looks at Qawwali in Bombay cinema and Siddhi’s, at Kathak. Both the projects engaged with these art forms popularised by Hindi cinema and asked: how have Kathak and Qawwali been portrayed in Hindi cinema? How does popular culture transform and interact with the traditional and classical elements in these art forms? The event was open to all and had Indian Sign Language interpretation.
Yousuf and Siddhi received grants under the Arts Research programme. Yousuf’s grant was made possible with support from Titan Company Limited.
Open Calls
Are you an artist, scholar, cultural practitioner hoping to apply for support from IFA?
Arts Practice
The Explorations category under this programme seeks to implement projects where artists expand their present range of practices in new directions.
Deadline: April 19, 2024
John Xaviers invites applications
under the Explorations category of the Arts Practice programme
You can also apply under the Arts Platforms category throughout the year.
Project 560
The Arts Projects (Research/Practice) category under this programme seeks to implement projects in Bangalore that critically engage with the city's pasts, presents, and futures.
Deadline: May 03, 2024
The Curated Artistic Engagements category under the programme accepts proposals throughout the year.
The Project 560 programme is made possible with support from BNP Paribas India.
Arts Education
The programme invites proposals from Teachers and Artists to implement arts projects in Government Schools in Karnataka. These projects have approvals from the Department of State Educational Research and Training, Karnataka.
Teachers for projects in government schools in Karnataka
Deadline: June 30, 2024
Artists for projects in government schools in Karnataka
Deadline: June 30, 2024
New Projects at IFA
We have implemented 60 projects in 2023-24 under our various programmes. Read about the ones from Archives and Museums, Arts Education, Arts Practice and Project 560 in this edition:
Phindarishisha Angelia Kharkamni and Nathaniel Donbor Nampui Majaw (Archives and Museums) will facilitate research and documentation towards creation of an inventory with photographs of all the artefacts in the Heritage Section of the Ever Living Museum, Shillong and a website with the photographs and descriptions of the artefacts and oral history interviews of Kyntiewbor War, founder of the museum.
Barikupar Paswett (Archives and Museums) will facilitate research and documentation of the folklore and oral narratives based on the collections at the Ever Living Museum, Shillong to create a comprehensive map of the travels and expeditions undertaken by Kyntiewbor War, recorded narrations and associated folklore of selected artefacts, and audio-visual recordings.
Aadithya S (Archives and Museums) will facilitate research and analysis to uncover the historical significance of lobby cards and explore the broader discourse on intersection of cinema, design, and spatial dynamics based on the collection of Tamil film lobby cards at The Cinema Resource Centre (TCRC), Chennai.
Anjana Sekar and Balaji Maheshwar (Archives and Museums) will facilitate research towards the creation of a series of episodes for an audio-visual podcast, exploring the presence and location of class, caste, gender, and influence of mainstream politics in Tamil cinema, based on the collections of Tamil cinema reviews in Periodical publications from 1930s-1990s at The Cinema Resource Centre (TCRC), Chennai.
Vineeth Kumar M (Arts Education) will engage students of the Government High School in Hiregowja, Chikkamagaluru, with the project titled Tejaswi Shaale (Tejaswi School) to create an experiential learning platform focusing on the life and work of the prominent writer and novelist KP Poornachandra Tejaswi.
Mallikarjun Veeranna Koralli (Arts Education) will engage students of the Government Public School, Kalaburagi, in making an illustrated book titled Makkala Gombe Rama (A Children’s Puppetry Picture Book) using the leather puppetry style of painting.
Jalajakshi KD (Arts Education) will engage students of the Government Higher Primary School, in Kolcharu, Dakshina Kannada, in a project titled Chandada Badukige Ondu Putta Udugore (A Small Gift for A Beautiful Life) to enable students to have a deeper understanding of male and female anatomy with specific focus on the female body in the context of menstrual health.
Balanagamma Dasar (Arts Education) will engage students of the Government Higher Primary School, Koppal, in a project titled Urdu Mattu Kannada Bhaashaa Kalikeyondige Kalaa Samyojita Chatuvatikegalu (Art Integrated Activities in Learning Urdu and Kannada Languages) connecting their curriculum of history, language and social science.
Ravi Devaraddi (Arts Education) will engage students at the Government Higher Primary School in Hesaruru, Gadag, in a project titled Prakrutiya Nartana Rangam (Nature’s Dancing Theatre) where students will explore and appreciate the rich heritage of the Kappatagudda hill.
Prathwin K (Arts Education) will engage students of Sri KSS Government High School in Hakladi, Udupi, in the project Hesarada Pattana Basruru (The Famous Basrur Town) to explore the pre-historical traces and inscriptions in the city of Basrur through lecture sessions and field visits.
Usha GA (Arts Education) will engage students of Government Higher Primary School in Mandagalale, Shivamogga, with a project on Hase Chittara – a traditional folk wall art form of Karnataka deeply rooted in agrarian culture.
Ramachandra Bhat BG (Arts Education) will engage students of the Government High School in Bengaluru, in a project titled Nesara Baanangalada Beragu (Playground of the Sun), by engaging in logical reasoning and scientific thinking through stories and facts about the Sun.
Ananda Kulal (Arts Education) will engage students of the Government Higher Primary School, in Bailoor, Udupi, to explore the stories of heroic women of coastal Karnataka who fought against social exploitation and western invaders.
Girisha KR (Arts Education) will engage students of Government Boys Higher Primary School in Melukote, Mandya, in exploring the flora and fauna of Melukote town through Environmental Theatre techniques.
Ujwal UV (Arts Education) will engage students of Government Higher Primary School in Ulayibettu, Dakshina Kannada, with the project titled Maavu Naavu (Mango and Us) by exploring art-integrated learning possibilities by considering the Mango and its ecosystem.
John CF (Arts Practice) will enable a cross-disciplinary artistic exploration of the inter and intra-connectedness of body, food, land and community.
Ram Lal Bhatt (Arts Practice) will work towards 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.
Areeba Ansari (Arts Practice) will examine the urban youth subculture of skateboarding in Humayunpur, Delhi, using the camera as a diagnostic tool to delve into the social realities around the subculture as an affective act.
Purvi Bharat Sharma (Arts Practice) will explore the making of a site-specific installation in/around the living space of the Project Coordinator, that disrupts everyday life, to map the emotional registers of the quotidian.
Neelambari Bhattacharya (Arts Practice) will explore a Zubaan-published story on witchcraft titled Cast Out by Samhita Arni by involving two women filmmakers to develop a distinct design vocabulary through a collaborative process of experimental storytelling.
Parshathy Nath (Arts Practice) will enable the creation of a theatrical production centred around the epic character Shoorpanakha, seeking to move beyond conventional frameworks in dance, drama and storytelling to find a new language of performance.
Shivesh Kumar (Arts Practice) will involve Chhau dancers in contemporary theatre towards the making of a devised theatrical production to develop a playscript in Hindi and the pre-production process.
Millo Ankha (Arts Practice) will delve into the mythological world of nature worship in the ancestral land of Ziro valley, Arunachal Pradesh, in collaboration with the elders, women, and girls of Apatani community.
Garima Gupta (Arts Practice) will experiment with the making of an artist book in the form of a dragon-scale scroll, containing the micro-narratives of the Mahakali River, as a site of spirituality and cross-border trade.
Subhendu Bhandari (Arts Practice) will enable the development and creation of a series of theatrical productions in government schools in districts of West Bengal that centre on a story developed around the fraught relationship between young adults, social media and the internet.
Gobi G (Arts Practice) will delve into the philosophical dimensions of finding a physical theatrical performative form for the ritualistic singing of the Arichandran (Harischandra) song that is sung only orally, during the death ritual, in front of the Arichandran temple in Puducherry.
Revanth R Malige (Arts Practice) will explore the idea for a play in Kannada around language politics, through the form of absurd theatre engaging with different Kannada dialects.
Maya Krishna Rao (Arts Practice) will work towards the creation of a manuscript on the theatre-making processes of veteran theatre actor and director, Maya Krishna Rao, detailing the essence, modalities, insights, and reflections of Maya’s unique performance language.
Vasudha Kapadia (Arts Practice) will work on a project titled How to Claim the Meaning of a Landscape? that will entail developing long-term research into process-based exercises, exploring varied interpretations of landscapes derived from syntagmatic exercises in relation to AI prompt engineering.
Lakshmi Nagaraj (Project 560) will enable a memory mapping engagement in Yelahanka New Town exploring the intersection of people’s histories in Yelahanka and Yelahanka’s relationship with the growing city of Bangalore.
Chandra Keerthi B (Project 560) will enable an engagement with the legacy of Majestic through personal and collective memories and narratives by juxtaposing personal histories with the larger social and cultural histories of the area, thereby reflecting on Bangalore’s metamorphosis over time.
Roshini M (Project 560) will enable a multi-pronged creative engagement with the Bangalore neighbourhood of Rajajinagar by involving its residents to reflect upon and engage with the various historical, cultural and artistic elements that constitute the neighbourhood.
Prithiraj Borah (Project 560) will examine notions of ‘belongingness’ and ‘neighbourhood’ through an understanding of food habits of the indigenous and tribal communities from the northeast residing in Kalyan Nagar, Bangalore.
Become a Friend of IFA
Our Friends of IFA, Saeed and Naila Ibrahim, share their reflections on the impact of art and culture in their lives. Through their association with IFA and its work, they build a deep connection to art, life, and culture. If YOU also want to be part of something special, join Saeed, Naila, and many others on this journey.
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