LUPE - the exhibition
A glimpse into the works of graphic novelists from Switzerland and India at the India Habitat Centre, New Delhi. [dated December 2008]
LUPE - a glimpse into the work of graphic novelists - 4 each from Switzerland and India - to be published jointly in German and English by Pro Helvetia - Swiss Arts Council, Edition Moderne and Phantomville in 2009.
On view from 1 - 10 December 2008 at Central Court, India Habitat Centre, New Delhi.
Curator: Sarnath Banerjee
Designer: Vishal K Dar
Supported by the Visual Art Gallery, India Habitat Centre.
Graphic Novelists:
Andrea Caprez, Andreas Gefe, Ashish Padlekar, Christophe Badoux, Christoph Schuler, Kati Rickenbach, Orijit Sen, Samit Basu, Sekhar Mukherjee and Vishwajyoti Ghosh
Curator's note: LUPE
In the early spring of 2007, Pro Helvetia and Phantomville, conceived a project that involved creating a conversation between comic book artists living in Switzerland and India. In the following months a dialogue developed through words and pictures, often in the absence of one another. Five Swiss comics creators were invited to visit Delhi and an equal number of Indian practitioners were sent to Zurich. What followed were a dozen or so magnificently crafted graphic essays that gently threatened to break age-old cultural stereotypes and, in a few cases, even enhanced them.
These graphic novellas portray a strong sense of the times we live in and sometimes offer surprisingly deep insights into the contemporary urban lore of both countries. In many cases, the authors see things with the objectivity of an outsider, revealing aspects or layers of the culture-scape not perceived by the insiders. They also display an uncanny skill in understanding each other's local context and avoiding stating the obvious.
The eight panels here are images picked from the narratives that were developed by these artists. The stories will be compiled in a single volume that will be published by Phantomville early next year.
I would like to acknowledge Chandrika Grover Ralleigh and Anindya Roy who were involved in project conceptualising the project along with me and most of all, Pooja Varma, Sangeeta Rana and Mary Therese Kurkalang who co-ordinated it over nearly two years. Vishal Dar designed this exhibition with his characteristic lightness of touch and sophisticated vision.
Sarnath Banerjee
2008
Journal for Art, Sex and Mathematics
The Visual Arts Gallery and Pro Helvetia, the Swiss Arts Council present the exhibition 'Journal for Art, Sex and Mathematics' [dated December 2008]
The Visual Arts Gallery, India Habitat Centre and Pro Helvetia, the Swiss Arts Council, New Delhi present the exhibition Journal for Art, Sex and Mathematics a project by Barbara Ellmerer, Yves Netzhammer and Nils Röller
Preview on 1 Dec 2008 at 6:00 pm. Exhibition on 2 and 3 December 2008 at The Experimental Art Gallery, India Habitat Centre, New Delhi 10:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. daily
Images and texts explore the special approach of art towards mathematics, natural science and sex/gender. The approach is itself interdisciplinary and takes form of digital dialog. Texts respond to images, which are themselves following other images or texts from natural sciences, literature and philosophy. Visual artists Barbara Ellmerer and writer Nils Röller are now contributing to the Journal from their residencies at New Delhis Sanksriti Kendra.
Prof. Dr. Nils Röller, ZHdK - Zurich University of the Arts, Department for Media Arts presents:
A lecture on ABC of Media Theory Wednesday 3 December at 4:00 pm Palm Court Conference Room, India Habitat Centre
A workshop on 'Time Machines' - Workshop on Media Arts Thursday 4 December from 10 am to 4:00 pm Palm Court Conference Room, India Habitat Centre The workshop explores the special situation of todays Media Arts in Switzerland.
Barbara Ellmerer is a swiss-austrian painter and drawer, educated at the Academy of Art and Design in Zürich and at theUniversity of Arts in Berlin. She has shown her work in museums and galleries in Switzerland, Austria, Germany, the United States, Thailand and Peru. She is listed in encyclopedias like -ALLGEMEINES KÜNSTLERLEXIKON, The Visual Artists of all Times and all Nations, Vol. 33 Munich: K.G. SAUR; Lexikon Schweizerisches Institut für Kunstwissenschaften, SIK, www.sikart.ch Recent book: Blue Spanish Sky with a text by Dr. Ulli Seegers. Zürich: Niggli, www.ellmerer.com
Nils Röller is Professor for Media Theory at the Academy of Art in Zürich. He teaches and writes on the impact of modern technology on artistic production. Recent publications in English are : „Scientia Media - Simulation between different cultures of knowledge“; „Thinking with Instruments: The Example of Kant’s Compass”; „Tentative instruments - artistic methods and the crisis of linearity”. For details see: www.romanform.ch.
Yves Netzhammer is living and working in Zürich. His works are shown worldwide. Latest shows include: Furniture of Proportions, SFMOMA 2008, Subjectivation of Repetition, Venice Biennale 2007 and Kassel 2007. Publications are: Yves Netzhammer (1997): Was sich erzählen lässt wird verbessert werden, Verlag Ricco Bilger, Zürich.Yves Netzhammer (1999): Wenn man etwas gegen seine Eigenschaften benützt, muss man dafür einen anderen Namen finden, Museum zu Allerheiligen, Schaffhausen; Dietmar Dath und Anne Philippi (2002): Dornbracht Culture Projects: Statements IV: Yves Netzhammer, Opiate, Mouse on Mars, To Rococo Rot: Bd 4 , Dornbracht, Iserlohn.
Biel-Benaras-Bhubaneswar’ - a musical journey
A collaborative performance by Swiss musician Hans Koch and Odissi Dancer Rekha Tandon. [dated December 2008]
A collaborative performance by Swiss musician Hans Koch and Odissi Dancer Rekha Tandon.
Thursday 4 December 2008 at 7:00 pm at Shri Satya Sai Auditorium 8 Pragati Vihar, Lodhi Road, New Delhi In collaboration with the Delhi International Arts Festival
From Biel to Benaras, a journey from order to chaos, from the familiar to the unfamiliar: new thoughts, new ideas, even new dreams…
From Benaras to Bhubaneswar, a further journey, to explore what is unknown and yet shared, a meeting point… A new pulse, a new rhythm of life; perhaps a new way to Be.
Musician Hans Koch leaves behind his ordered urban life in Switzerland to experience the chaotic moods of Benaras, before venturing further east to Orissa. Here he meets Odissi dancer Rekha Tandon who shows him further facets of traditional and contemporary India...
Artists
Hans Koch Bass clarinet/Video
Rekha Tandon Dancer/Choreographer
Michael Weston Audio-visual design/Lighting
Audiovisuals
Singers Sela Bieri, Siba Prasad Rath
Narration Michael Weston, Rekha Tandon
Percussion Sura Maharana
Hans Koch
Hans Koch quit his career as a recognised classical clarinetist to become one of the most innovative improvising reed-players in Europe. He has been working with everyone from Cecil Taylor to Fred Frith since the eighties. As a composer he has shaped the sound of Koch-Schütz-Studer as well as worked for radio-plays and film. Since the nineties he has been working with electronics as an extension of the saxes/clarinets as well as with sampling/sequencing/Laptop. As a reed-player he is always working on his very own vocabulary and sound, which makes him a very unique voice on the actual scene.
Rekha Tandon
Rekha Tandon started her professional career in the arts in 1980 by performing Indian classical Odissi dance, which she has continued to do extensively in different parts of the world. Always pursuing academics simultaneously, she graduated with a BA in architecture from the School of Planning and Architecture in 1985, an MA in History of Art from the National Museum, New Delhi in 1995, and a PhD from Laban, London in Dance Studies in 2005.
Michael Weston
Michael Weston began his professional life in the pop world of London in the 1980’s, before moving on to writing music for both film and television. In India he has promoted and documented Orissan adivasi culture, particularly the music, as well as creating the music and soundscapes for the productions of Dance Routes.
Rekha Tandon and Michael Weston have worked together since 1997 when they founded Dance Routes as a forum for research and experimentation in Odissi. Their vision has been to make this Indian classical dance form more accessible to contemporary audiences worldwide, without compromising its traditional spiritual integrity. Choreographic works have included pieces created for both performance and film using multicultural literary and musical resources.
Pro Helvetia – the Swiss Arts Council facilitated a residency for Rekha Tandon at the Villa Straeuli at Winterthur, Switzerland in May and June 2008. An Odissi dancer, choreographer and scholar, Rekha’s mission is to conserve and present tradition with a contemporary aesthetic. Her innovative productions are created from research of the classical, folk and tribal performing arts of India.
ZOOM Jazz Quintet and ZOOM trio tour India
Lucas Niggli Zoom to tour India with Indian percussionist Karthik Mani and Sarah Büchi. [dated December 2008]
When Karthik S, a young and established percussionist from Bangalore, India met the immensely talented and well-known Swiss percussionist Lucas Niggli in Zurich in September 2007, the atmosphere reverberated with the sounds of percussion instruments that hailed from across continents. Keen to take their music to new and unexplored spaces after a very fruitful and productive collaboration, Lucas and Karthik will now play with other members of the ZOOM trio and Sarah Büchi (vocals) in front of a Bangalore and New Delhi audience.
The collaborative efforts of Lucas Niggli Zoom and Karthik Mani are a fruitful culmination of the residency and reiterate the objective of Pro Helvetia New Delhi to support artists seeking dialogue with other cultures in an effort to forge closer ties.
Lucas Niggli ZOOM featuring the trio Lucas Niggli, Philipp Schaufelberger (guitar) and Nils Wogram (trombone) will start their tour of India by playing at Gurgaon, a Delhi suburban town followed by playing at Blue Frog in Mumbai. The trio formation has played into the consciousness of a public interested in innovative jazz.
Lucas Niggli - drums, percussion
Karthik Mani (Karthik Subramanya), percussionist / drummer
Nils Wogram - trombone
Philipp Schaufelberger – guitar
Sarah Büchi, vocals
ZOOM Jazz Quintet Featuring Lucas Niggli, Karthik Mani, Sarah Büchi, Philipp Schaufelberger and Nils Wogram
Bangalore
Date: Thursday 4 December 2008 Venue: Alliance Françoise, Bangalore Time: 7:30pm
New Delhi
Date: Friday 5 December 2008 Venue: Sai Auditorium, New Delhi as part of the Delhi International Arts Festival Time: 7:00pm
Lucas Niggli ZOOM trio Featuring the trio Lucas Niggli, Philipp Schaufelberger and Nils Wogram
Gurgaon Date: Thursday 27 November 2008 Venue: Epicentre, Gurgaon Time: 7:30pm
Mumbai (cancelled) Date: Sunday 30 November 2008 Venue: Blue Frog, Mumbai
Stück mit Flügel - Anna Huber to perform in India
The Swiss dancer choreographer Anna Huber is scheduled to tour three Indian cities introducing her distinctive art form to audiences in Delhi, Kolkata and Chennai. [dated December 2008]
International audiences know Anna Huber for her inimitable and unique style of choreography. The dancer choreographer is scheduled to tour three Indian cities introducing her distinctive art form to audiences in Delhi, Kolkata and Chennai.
In a Stück mit Flügel, Anna Huber works for the first time with existing compositions and develops a sensitive weave of sound and movement in cooperation with the pianist, Susanne Huber. The performance oscillates between restlessness and stillness, between destabilization and the search for orientation. Being on one‘s way in different spaces of time. The fleeting nature of contemporary dance confronts the structured compositions of György Ligeti, György Kurtág and Franz Liszt and contrasts with the electronic.
New Delhi: Tuesday 2 December 2008 at 7:00 pm at Kamani Auditorium, 1 Copernicus Marg, New Delhi
Kolkata: Saturday 6 & Sunday 7 December 2008 at 6:30 pm at Rabindranath Tagore Centre, ICCR, 9 A Ho Chi Minh Sarani, Kolkata
Chennai: Thursday 11 December 2008 at 7:00 pm at Sir Mutha Venkatasubba Rao Concert Hall, Shenstone Park, 13/ 1 Harrington Road, Chennai
concept/choreography/dance - Anna Huber
piano/musical concept - Susanne Huber
music - György Kurtág, György Ligeti, Franz Liszt
electronic music - Martin Schütz
light design - Thilo Reuther
costume - Inge Zysk props - Brezihouse Proz
