MAPPING(THOUGHTS) (Switzerland, 2009)
Indian visual artist Baptist Coelho presents MAPPING(THOUGHTS) (Switzerland, 2009)at PROGR.
PROGR and Baptist Coelho invite you to the opening of the exhibition MAPPING(THOUGHTS) (Switzerland, 2009) by Baptist Coelho at PROGR on Friday, November 20, 1800 hrs.
Location: PROGR Guest Studio No. 162 (First floor), Waisenhausplatz 30, 3011 Bern, Switzerland.
Opening times: Friday, November 20, 18.00 - 21.00 / Saturday, November 21, 1600 - 1800 hrs.
MAPPING (THOUGHTS), is a multi-disciplinary project which explores the concept of random thought as part of the social and political commentary of the diverse people living in Switzerland. Collaborations were sought from people all over Switzerland, who share a common thread through generations; practicing and creating similar vocations and experiences. The thoughts collected are also a reflection for future generations. A part of this project was realised specifically in Bern and involved the participation of people using the trams there. The work was exhibited in Grand Palais (an art space, which originally functioned as a waiting room and office for the Tram Company).
About the artist
Baptist Coelho, a practicing visual artist from India is at PROGR - Zentrum, Bern where he is on a Residency from 2 Sep to 29 Nov 2009.
Coelho received his M.A. from BIAD, UK. His practice merges personal research with the collaboration from peo...ple of various cultures, geographies and histories. These interactions begin the process of investigation, questioning and interpretation. Baptist employs the use of atmospheric stimuli and residual work, such as found objects, to engage the participant into the story and allow them an interactive space to reflect on their own surroundings and predicaments. These works begin to take on the form of human-shaped media-landscapes and often contend with identity, space, history, culture and gender. Each project may incorporate various media such as: video, sound and architectural installation, photography, public-art, performance, found objects and site-specific work.
Paper Airplane Project
A workshop-based site-specific mixed-media installation and performance that engages children to explore their creativity, visualize New Media Art as way of expression and understand the role of the artist in the community.
Baptist Coelho, an Indian visual artist took the opportunity of being on a Residency at PROGR to involve children of Realschule Bruggen, St Gallen, a school in Switzerland in his PAPER AIRPLANE PROJECT. The last session will be conducted on the 26th of November 2009.
The artist's note and concept
The PAPER AIRPLANE PROJECT, is a workshop-based site-specific mixed-media installation and performance that engages children to explore their creativity, visualize New Media Art as way of expression and understand the role of the artist in the community. I encourage children to delve into new ideas about creative play while exploring their dreams and aspirations.The PAPER AIRPLANE PROJECT, was inspired by my earlier site-specific installation entitled RE(WIND), 2006, where I used paper airplanes on a large scale.
The PAPER AIRPLANE PROJECT was expanded to involve children who would construct paper airplanes and incorporate their dreams and aspirations about adulthood. The children also constructed collaborative art works using their paper airplanes, selected objects to represent their dreams and explored New Art Media in the process. The experience culminated in a final performance with children flying their paper airplanes and attaching them to a large white cylindrical pole called the ‘Tower of Dreams’.
This experience of constructing deceptively simple paper airplanes became a communication tool for the children to creatively express themselves and visualize their own abilities and dreams. Through my practice of construction, installation and performance, the children understood that each person has a unique role to play within their community. From this collaboration, I explored his role as an artist and gave the children a better understanding about the function of art in the community.
The PAPER AIRPLANE PROJECT, became a voice for children’s dreams and will be the benchmark for ongoing collaborations with other children from various schools, located nationally and internationally. Listed here are collaborations which have been realized:
- Participation with children of Realschule Bruggen, St Gallen, Switzerland (November, 2009)
Please note the last session will be conducted on the 26th of November 2009.
- Participation with 30 children of Students' Educational and Cultural Movement of Ladakh (SECMOL), Ladakh, (August, 2008)
- Participation with 35 children of seven Non-Governmental Organisations, based in Mumbai, and facilitated by Mohile Parekh Center for the Visual Arts, Mumbai, (June, 2008)
- Participation with 80 children of École Mondiale World School, Mumbai, (February-March, 2008)
About the artist
Baptist Coelho, a practicing visual artist from India is at PROGR - Zentrum, Bern where he is on a Residency from 2 Sep to 29 Nov 2009.
Coelho received his M.A. from BIAD, UK. His practice merges personal research with the collaboration from peo...ple of various cultures, geographies and histories. These interactions begin the process of investigation, questioning and interpretation. Baptist employs the use of atmospheric stimuli and residual work, such as found objects, to engage the participant into the story and allow them an interactive space to reflect on their own surroundings and predicaments. These works begin to take on the form of human-shaped media-landscapes and often contend with identity, space, history, culture and gender. Each project may incorporate various media such as: video, sound and architectural installation, photography, public-art, performance, found objects and site-specific work.
Residencies 2011/ 2012
Inviting applications from art practitioners from visual arts, performing arts and applied arts as well as from writers, curators, organisers and art mediators from South Asia.
The Swiss Arts Council supports studio and research residencies in the regions covered by the liaison offices it maintains in Egypt, India, Poland and South Africa. Swiss artists and cultural practitioners (e.g. curators, event organisers, promoters) in the areas of the visual arts, music, literature, theatre and dance are eligible to apply. Conversely, Pro Helvetia facilitates residencies in Switzerland for interested persons from the above-mentioned regions. Each year between four and six applications per region can be considered.
Studio residencies (max. 6 months) and research stays (max. 4 weeks) are available.
Studio residency
The residency (max. 6 months) gives artists and cultural practitioners the chance to get a broad insight into a different cultural environment. During this time they can find inspiration, establish networks and make their work known in a new context, without being under the pressure of production. In addition to a place to work and accommodation, Pro Helvetia provides a specialist from their field to support them. The Swiss Arts Council also pays the costs of travel, board and insurance.
Selection criteria:
Convincing track record, personal motivation, adequate command of English or a relevant foreign language and eagerness to become involved in exchange with the local culture. The selection is made by a jury set up by the liaison office in conjunction with the specialist division in Zürich.
Applications:
By 1 February, via myprohelvetia - Pro Helvetia's online portal for applications (under «Inter-/Multidisciplinary projects/Residencies»).
Research residency
The short residency (max. 4 weeks) enables artists and cultural practitioners to carry out research in the regions covered by the liaison offices, or conversely in Switzerland. The residency is an opportunity to get to know a different culture or to prepare a project. An expert in the relevant field will help to put together the programme for the visit and will be available to give support during the residency. Pro Helvetia pays the costs of travel, board and lodging and insurance.
Selection criteria:
Convincing track record, outline of a project with sustainable impact and international resonance or another plausible motivation, adequate command of English or a relevant foreign language. The selection will be made by the liaison office.
Applications:
May be submitted at any time via myprohelvetia - Pro Helvetia's online portal for applications (under «Knowledge sharing»), but in any case at least two months before the start of the trip.
The online application system is the preferred application system.
However incase you are unable to access myprohelvetia kindly fill the form below.
Pro Helvetia Residencies Application Form (DOC)
Pro Helvetia Residencies Application Form (RTF)
Frequently asked Questions (FAQs)
IMPORTANT:
The last date for submission of application forms for the year 2011/ 2012 is 1 February 2010.
The application process for the year 2009 and 2010 stands closed.
Click here to view a list of artists who have already been on the residency.
Denis Maillefer invited by National School of Drama
'one billion one hundred thirty-nine million nine hundred sixty-four thousand nine hundred thirty-two and me' - an improvised multilingual play presented by Swiss theatre director Denis Maillefer and students of NSD.
'one billion one hundred thirty-nine million nine hundred sixty-four thousand nine hundred thirty-two and me' - an improvised multilingual play about “Here & Now”' presented by Swiss theatre director Denis Maillefer and third year students of NSD.
After the very successful presentation of the theatre production For the First Time – ‘La Premiere Fois’ by Théâtre en Flammes,as part of the 11th Bharat Rang Mahotsav in January 2009, the Director Denis Maillefer was invited to conduct a workshop with the final year students of the National School of Drama, New Delhi. The premier of the production that Denis Maillefer is working on with the NSD final year students is on 20 November, 2009 at Bahumukh, the black box theatre of the school.
The production
one billion one hundred thirty-nine million nine hundred sixty-four thousand nine hundred thirty-two and me - an improvised multilingual play about “Here & Now”
Direction: Denis Maillefer
The performances are scheduled from 20th to 25th November 2009 at 6.30 pm daily with two additional shows on 21st & 22nd November 2009 at 3.00 pm. at Bahumukh, Bahawalpur House, Bhagwandas Road, New Delhi.
Entry cards can be collected for the performance from the NSD reception on first come first served basis between 11.00 am & 1.00 pm and 2.00 pm & 4.00 pm.
Seats are limited in Bahumukh Studio Theatre.
Please note that children below 8 years will not be allowed into the show.
For more information please contact 23073236.
To view poster click here
Director's note:
This project is an interrogation into the place that everyone has and shares in the world. This world could be the world at large or a country like India with its many different languages, traditions and ways of being. This project also seeks to display the opposition between collectivity and intimacy. It explores the multiple personal histories of all students on stage, perennially placed within the context of a larger collective history.
We principally devised the show through a series of exercises and improvisations. The students brought unscripted stories to the floor (some true, some not!) that were tiny, yet big and extremely funny yet tragic in their own ways. Their banality belonged to the everyday, yet their telling made them very special. They dealt with insightful details about life and the drama that surrounds us in our lives today. The process of rehearsals sought to build a microcosmic world of this collection of students, and by consequence leads us to feel the pulse of the country they live in. However small this part may be, we hope it rings true for you as it did for us. Following these simple ideas in rehearsals, we took ourselves back to the beginnings of theatre – storytelling.
The preparatory work has primarily been based on solo improvisations and its juxtaposition with a collective symphony. We also took the help of interviews and testimonies found in daily newspapers and magazines published during the time of our rehearsals. The attempt was to find a way to be on stage ‘here and now’. I believe this is the most important aspect for an actor. To be (or not to be) here and now, is the biggest and most difficult question for an actor. The students learnt to be aware of themselves, while discovering how to connect with the audience in a deep and personal way and further, how to sustain such a relationship through the performance. Scenes from the European repertoire (a familiar world for me amongst mostly unfamiliar all else!) were inserted to discover a similar and simple way of playing and performing great plays of the past. It proved to be just another way for the actor to expose more (although in a different way) about him/herself. Through all this, a sincere and intense connection with the audience has been emphasized while providing enough space for the audience’s associations to freely occur through the show.
The show we present to you largely consists of live and spontaneous improvisations.
1001 cups - a contemporary ceramic exhibition
1001 cups - a contemporary ceramics exhibition that will travel to India, China, Korea, France and Switzerland.
The National Handicrafts and Handlooms Museum and Pro Helvetia - Swiss Arts Council present a contemporary ceramics exhibition 1001 cups. The exhibition will travel to India, China, Korea, France and Switzerland.
India
Venue: Crafts Museum, New Delhi
Opening: 30 November 2009
On view from 1 December - 31 December 2009
The exhibition pays tribute to a traditional little tea cup from India and aims to demonstrate the rich diversity that exists in present-day ceramics and thus share with the general public a wide variety of approaches to the use of ceramic materials.
Exhibition flyer
List of 100 participating ceramists
Curator, Claude Presset's note
The following Indian potters and ceramists were invited to contribute for the exhibition:
Aarti Vir, Hyderabad - salt glazed stoneware
Ira Chaudhuri, New Delhi - glazed stoneware
Jayanti Naik, Ahmedabad - terra cotta wood fired.
Jugal Kishore Sankhyan, Andretta - smoked blackware
Kristine Michael, New Delhi - stoneware
Saraben Kumbhar, Kutch - terra cotta.
Laxmi Narayan Prajapati, Orchha - terracotta.
Lekha Bhagat, New Delhi - smoked inlaid blackware
Pandurangiah Daroz, New Delhi - glazed terracotta
Shampa Shah, Bhopal - glazed stoneware
Yogesh Mahida, Baroda - glazed stoneware
The workshops
A series of workshops are being organised in Delhi and Bhopal.
Traditional craftspeople and studio potters have been invited to participate in the workshop being conducted by Swiss ceramist and curator Claude Presset, Anja Seiler-Kopmann, Lise Cassani and Hughes de Crousaz.
1 – 4 December 2009 at and in collaboration with the Crafts Museum, New Delhi.
7 – 9 December 2009 at and in collaboration with the Bharat Bhavan, Bhopal.
The Exhibition tour
China
Venue: Guangdong Museum of Art, Guangzhou
On view from 5 March - 11 April 2010
Korea
Venue: Icheon World Ceramic Center
On view from 1 June - 15 July 2009
France
Venue: Musée de la Ville de Biot
On view from 1 - 30 September 2010
Venue: Viaduc des Arts, Paris
On view from 7 October - 12 November 2010
Venue: Musée la Piscine a Roubaix
On view from 1 December - 28 February 2011
Switzerland
Venue: Musèe Ariana, Geneva
On view from April - July 2011
Venue: Musèe des Beaux-arts
On view from 25 September - 13 November 2011
