Launch of Camerawork Delhi issue 7
Pro Helvetia New Delhi supports Camerawork Delhi, a publication dedicated to independent photography. [dated December 2010]
Pro Helvetia - Swiss Arts Council and FICA invite you to the launch of Camerawork Delhi, Issue No. 7. The magazine champions the cause of 'independent' photography and is edited by Gauri Gill and Sunil Gupta. Date: Saturday, 4th December Time: 5-7 PM Place: FICA reading Room, 42 Defence Colony, New Delhi 110024 Photographers presenting: Uzma Mohsin, Vidisha Saini, Ishan Tankha
Camerawork Delhi, a tri-annual publication that is distributed to a local, national and international audience, aims to provide a forum for independent photography. Its objectives are to provide opportunities for photographers and writers to publish their work, and, to develop new audiences. The primary focus of the journal is education and not the market place. With that in mind, it features extensive coverage of archives, history, theory and developments in formal and non-formal education. It is currently edited by Gauri Gill and Sunil Gupta, well known Indian photographers and curators.
Previous issues carried an interview with William Ewing, Director of the Musée de l’Elysée, Lausanne, Switzerland by Gauri Gill, and Urs Stahel in conversation with Sunil Gupta.
Archive
Camerawork Delhi Vol I Issue VII.pdf
Camerawork Delhi Vol I Issue VI.pdf
Camerawork Delhi Vol I Issue VI (COVER).pdf
Camerawork Delhi Vol I Issue V.pdf
Strange Lines at Ahmedabad and Thrissur
Pro Helvetia presents Strange Lines, an Indo - Swiss multilingual theatre collaboration based on the graphic novel anthology ‘When Kulbhushan Met Stöckli’ at Ahmedabad and Thrissur. [dated December 2010]
Pro Helvetia - Swiss Arts Council presents Strange Lines An Indo - Swiss multilingual theatre collaboration based on the graphic novel anthology ‘When Kulbhushan Met Stöckli’ at
Ahmedabad, Gujarat - 18 December 2010 at 830 pm Natarani Theatre, Darpana Academy of Performing Arts Ahmedabad
Thrissur, Kerala - 22 December 2010 at 9:00 pm International Theatre Festival of Kerala, KT Muhamed Smaraka Theatre Kerala Sangeetha Nadaka Academy, Thrissur
Concept and Direction - Amitesh Grover
Cast - Amit Saxena and Julia Perazzini
Text Work & New Writing – Amit Saxena, Julia Perazzini & Keshav Kumar
Video Design – Michel Weber
Sound Design - Ish S Drawing – Dheerendra Dwivedi
Production Design – Kumaradas T N Synopsis
The departure point of this theatrical collaboration is a comics collaboration – When Kulbhushan Met Stockli - recently released by HarperCollins Publishers, India. Nineteen graphic novelists share their experiences while encountering the ‘other’ land/people in their stories and drawings. In Strange Lines, two people write letters to each other. They write about themselves, their lives, their cities and their nations. They draw their bodies and imagine the other’s. And then, they meet. The project seeks to play with the young art of graphic novel, the theatricality in drawing and ways in which drawing and theatre can come together to present notions of ‘home and away’, ‘nativity and foreignness’. Some stories from the book are adapted to form the narrative for the production, while others are improvised from the performers’ own lives.
Profile of the Director-Amitesh Grover
Performance Maker, New Media Artist and pedagogue, National School of Drama (India) alumnus Amitesh Grover has created 15 Performances and Mixed-media Installations, which have taken a total of 90 shows across 6 countries. Having completed his MA (Performance Arts) from University of Arts London, UK in 2006, he went on to focus on exploring the live interface between the body and media in performance. His work has been shown in Switzerland, U.K., China, Romania, Oman and India. He is the recipient of numerous awards including YCE Creative Entrepreneur Award nomination (2010), SNA (Bismillah Khan) National Award for Theatre Direction (2009), BC Theatre Sutra Award (2009), was awarded a Pro Helvetia Artists Residency in Switzerland ( 2008) and received a Charles Wallace Scholarship (2005). He has also been on the jury of TheatreSpektakel’08. At present, he lectures at National School of Drama, India and is a freelance artist. His work, thoughts and reviews are available online at amiteshgrover.blogspot.com
Profile of Swiss actress Julia Perazzini
Julia Perazzini is a Swiss a actress, who was born and lives in Lausanne, Switzerland. She graduated in 2006 from the « Manufacture », the National School of Theater in Lausanne. She has worked with Denis Maillefer and his company « Theatre en Flammes » and with musician Polar in Geneva, for the international festival « La Bâtie ». Julia has also worked with Mathieu Bertholet, a young Swiss writer and director and with director Isabelle Pousseur from Brussels, Belgium. Currently, Julia is developing a more personal work with Company Eponyme, based in Lausanne, who makes their own collective political creations. She continues to dance for the concerts of Swiss electro music group « Larytta » for whom she created a duo of dance performances in 2007.
Julia Perazzini performed for the first time in India in, January 2009. She was part of the cast of Denis Maillefer’s production « For the first time » that was part of National School of Drama’s Bharat Rang Mahotsav. This play, created first in Geneva was recreated in Delhi and Gurgaon in English, Hindï and French with Indian and Swiss actors. Julia returned to India once again in January 2011 to perform at the Bharat Rang Mahotsav for the second time. She shared the stage with Amit Saxena in « Strange Lines », a multimedia theatre performance in English, directed by Amitesh Grover.
A versatile actress, Julia has also acted in several short films, like « La Délogeuse » (Golden Leopardino in the International film festival of Locarno 2008) and has played the main character in a feature film, directed by Lionnel Baier, a Swiss movie director. She has just completed the shooting of a sitcom for the Swiss Television (TSR), 13 episodes, in which she plays a petty criminal, the main female character.
Poetry Connections
POETRY CONNECTIONS - a translation workshop and multilingual multimedia performance in Pondicherry, Chennai and Pune. [dated December 2010]
As part of the Literature Across Frontier’s (LAF) international initiatives, a translation workshop POETRY CONNECTIONS will be held in India in Pondicherry. This will be followed by a multilingual and multimedia performance in Chennai and Pune.
Pondicherry
Workshop at Adishakti Date: 8th to 14th December 2010 (closed - for poets / oganisers only)
Chennai
Performances at Amethyst, Gopalapuram on 15 December at 7.00 pm ( open to public) Stella Maris College on 16 December at 9.00 am Womens Christian College o 16 December at 11.30 am British Council on 16 December at 6.00 pm ( open to public)
Pune
Performance at Kala Chaya Campus, Opp Vikhe Patil School, Patrakar Nagar Road, Chaturshrungi Date: 18 December, 2010 at 5.30 pm (open to public)
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The poetry translation workshop leading up to these events is scheduled to be held from 8th to 15th December, 2010 at Pondicherry. Eight national and international poets will be participating in the workshop. The six-day intensive workshop is envisaged to bring poets in contact with various contexts of their languages, regions, styles, formats etc. With musical, visual and performative aspects the poets will interact with each other in the beautiful environs of Adishakti.
The cross-translation and creative work achieved during this intensive workshop will be showcased as a performance at the inaugural of the Prakriti Poetry Festival on the 15th December in Chennai at 7pm.
POETRY CONNECTIONS at Pondicherry Workshop at Adishakti 8th to 15th December, 2010 This particular workshop to be held at Adishakti will bring together the following eight poets:
Arjun Bali – English, Hindi, Punjabi
Bill Herbert – English
Meena Kandasamy – English, Tamil
Raphael Bendicht Urweider – English, German
Robin Ngangom – English, Manipuri
Roselyne Sibille – French, English
Sampurna Chattarji – English, Bengali
Zoë Skoulding – English
The poets have been selected to bring together a range of languages as well as to look at different cultural contexts they work in. The workshop to be held at the beautiful environs in Pondicherry will be a blend of working on text as well as incorporating other elements like music, performance and visuals. Unlike other workshops where poets work in pairs with the assistance of interpreters, or where translations are produced collectively into one language, this workshop aims for cross-translation in different directions, providing an environment where participants are encouraged to translate work by everyone in the group and where they can learn about each other’s literary tradition and the contemporary context in which each of them writes. The week-long residential workshop will consist of group sessions and sessions dedicated to individual work. Daily discussions around the work in progress will allow the group to explore the microcosm of each text, as well as wider issues of translation practice. The workshop is expected to result in a multilingual multimedia performance to be staged at Chennai and Pune.
POETRY CONNECTIONS at Chennai and Pune
Performance at the Amethyst (Chennai) and Kala Chhaya (Pune)
15 & 18 December, 2010 The same group of eight poets will put up a multilingual and multimedia performance at the Amethyst, Chennai on 15 December, 2010. The workshop will be held at the inauguration of ‘Poetry with Prakriti’, a two-week long poetry festival organized annually in Chennai by the Prakriti Foundation. The group of poets will showcase the same performance in Pune as part of the Open Space at Kala Chhaya on 18 December, 2010.
CHENNAI
Date: 15 December, 2010 Time: 7 pm Venue: Amethyst, Gopalapuram, Chennai
PUNE
Date: 18 December, 2010 Time: 6.30 pm Venue: Kala Chaya Campus, Opp Vikhe Patil School, Patrakar Nagar Road, Chaturshrungi, Pune
Partners Literature Across Frontiers German Book Office Pro Helvetia - Swiss Arts Council French Book Office British Council Sangam House Prakriti Foundation Open Space Siyahi
Profile of Raphael Bendicht Urweider
Participating poet from Switzerland Raphael Bendicht Urweider was born in 1974 in Bern, Switzerland. He studied German literature and philosophy in Fribourg, and sees himself as a poet and a musician. He has performed with the Bernise Hip-Hop crew LDeeP and composed the music for a number of plays. In 1999, he received the Arbeitsstipendium des Deutschen Literaturfonds, as well as the Leonce-und-Lena-Preis. Other prizes include the Förderpreis des Bremer Literaturpreises (2001), the 3sat award at the Ingeborg Bachmann Competition (2002), and the Clemens-Brentano-Preis (2004). His first volume of poetry, Lichter in Menlo Park, was published in 2000. His latest collection is Das Gegenteil von Fleisch (2003). He also translates plays (Five Gold Rings, Poor Beck by Joanna Laurens) and poetry (Minsk by Lavinia Greenlaw). In March 2009, he was awarded the 'Schillerpreis' for his poems in 'Alle deine Namen'. He lives in Bern.
Helvetia Park in Ticino
The Helvetia Park exhibition, a core element of the Swiss Arts Council’s «Ménage – Culture and Politics in Conversation» programme is on show in Bellinzona until 23 January 2011. [dated November 2010]
After starting out in Neuchâtel in 2009, the Helvetia Park travelling exhibition’s latest port of call is Bellinzona in Ticino, where it will stay from 16 October 2010 to 23 January 2011. Castelgrande and the cantonal library in Bellinzona are transformed into a unique fairground with attractions such as the carousel of never-ending rituals, a ghost train through the dark world of cultural policy scandals and a shooting gallery featuring protagonists of the cultural scene as targets.
The exhibition, created by the Musée d’Ethnographie in Neuchâtel (MEN), is an integral part of Pro Helvetia’s «Ménage – Culture and Politics in Conversation» programme. With this programme, the Swiss Arts Council explores the role and various perceptions of culture in Switzerland and aims to stimulate the frequently arduous dialogue between the worlds of arts and politics.
In collaboration with the city of Bellinzona, the Ticino tourist board, the cantonal archives and the cantonal library of Bellinzona, various components of the Helvetia Park exhibition have been adapted to the specific conditions of Switzerland’s Italian-speaking region. The agenda also includes local cultural policy debates and artistic interventions.
More www.helvetia-park.ch
Programme Ménage
In the Air - a sound installation by Jason Kahn
Pro Helvetia - Swiss Arts Council & Crafts Museum, New Delhi present In the Air -a sound installation by Jason Kahn, a sound artist and musician from Switzerland. [dated November 2010]
Pro Helvetia - Swiss Arts Council & Crafts Museum, New Delhi present In the Air -a sound installation by Jason Kahn, a sound artist and musician from Switzerland on Friday 12 November 2010 at 3:30 pm at Bhuta Gallery, Crafts Museum, Bhairon Road, Pragati Maidan, New Delhi 110001
The installation will be open from 13 – 30 November 2010 10:00 am 5:00 pm (Monday closed)
In the Air
The piece is a sound installation of a body of radios distributed more or less evenly to fill the installation space. By moving through the exhibition the visitor will experience rich variations in phasing occurring between the radios and the various acoustical reflections that are cast by static waves.
Jason Kahn
Jason Kahn is a sound artist and a musician whose work is a mix of electronic and acoustic sound sources, produced with minimal percussion, a laptop or an analogue synthesizer. In recent years he has created several sound installations using field recordings and sound waves as concrete forms. He has held exhibitions and concerts in museums, galleries, art spaces, festivals and clubs throughout Europe, North and South America, Australia, Egypt, Hong Kong, India, Israel, Japan, Korea, Lebanon, Mexico, New Zealand, Russia, Turkey and South Africa. He has also produced sound pieces for film, dance and radio. In 1998 he started the label ‘cut’.
Jason Kahn is in Delhi on an Artist-in-Residence programme at Sarai from 1 - 30 November 2010. The residency is supported by Pro Helvetia New Delhi and Sarai.
The installation in the Bhuta Gallery by Jason Kahn is coordinated by Ish S, an Indian sound artist and musician who had a brief research residency in Zürich, Switzerland in June 2010.
Web links: cut.fm jasonkahn.dfekt.org http://harmonyseries.blogspot.com/2009/08/jason-kahn.html
IGNITE! Festival of Contemporary Dance
Pro Helvetia is delighted to be associated with IGNITE! a festival of contemporary dance being organised by the Gati Forum in New Delhi in November 2010. [dated November 2010]
Pro Helvetia is delighted to be associated with IGNITE! a festival of contemporary dance being organised by the Gati Forum in New Delhi in November 2010.
The Gati Dance Forum presents
IGNITE! Festival of Contemporary Dance
10-13 November 2010 New Delhi
IGNITE! is a path breaking initiative to promote Indian Contemporary Dance and redefine the parameters of contemporary performance. Designed as an intensive four-day festival, this unique and exciting event is envisaged to give high-quality Indian contemporary dance public visibility, showcase creativity and innovation in Indian dance and support the development of vibrant, new artistic work.
The festival showcases some of the most innovative and cutting-edge choreographers in Indian dance from around the world. Combined with the performances, are master classes, film screenings, exhibitions and intensive workshops with national and international choreographers. True to its name, this festival aims to ignite a debate on contemporary dance theory and galvanize public opinion on policy through intensive seminars and network meetings.
IGNITE! is conceived of as a synergic, multilateral platform. It brings together the artists’ community, academics, educational institutions, producers, cultural organisations, policy makers and the public, to collectively chart the future of contemporary dance in India.
For details on the event visit - http://www.ignitedancefestival.com/
Cultural magazine Passages issue 53
Coverage of art and culture issues and cultural policy debates – Passages, Pro Helvetia’s cultural magazine, has provided reports on current trends and developments in the Swiss culture scene. [dated September 2010]
Art Will Make You Happy!
This issue of Passages is dedicated to the felicity provided by art. Conceived in tandem with the Forum Kultur und Ökonomie (Culture and Economy Forum), this issue of Passages assembles a range of responses to the proposition that "Art Will Make You Happy!” A writer, a cultural studies expert and a psychoanalyst (among others) try their hand at identifying the effects of art, and subject cultural policy makers and their related claims to the third degree, visually heckled all the while by Swiss artist Olaf Breuning.
Other topics:
Epiphany in a Petri Dish: Artists-in-Labs
The Walls Have Tongues: Swiss Sound Art in San Francisco
Inspiring Rome: Turnig Time into Art PDF file
Download the entire contents: Passages No. 53, PDF file (~2MB)
Browse through Passages: Passages no. 53
DABBA-WALLA - M Pravat's ongoing project
DABBA-WALLA an open studio evening of M Pravat's ongoing project. [dated September 2010]
F+F Schule fur Kunst, Zurich and Pro Helvetia New Delhi invite you to the Open Studio evening of M Pravat's ongoing project
DABBA-WALLA
an interaction and a multimedia presentation of M Pravat's performance project.
on 20 September 2010 at 5.30 pm at F+F Schule fur KunstUnd Mediendesign Flurstrasse89, Ch-8047 Zurich
About the Project:
Across various cities in India, a large number of office-going people as wellas students are accustomed to 'Tiffin walla' meals during work-hours. The word 'tiffin' originated in India under the British rule, meaning lunch. Over aperiod of time, it has gained currency as packed lunch, which is either sentfrom home, or from eateries that cater to this facility.
The delivery of Tiffin boxes by Tiffin-wallas (Dabba-wallas) is a unique and complex system often under one delivery person who is responsible for getting thousands of tiffin-boxes to the right destinations. What is even more complex is the kind of dependence-structure that this creates between people on such a large scale in the recesses between hours of work. The lunch-hour of work is that gap between work when a person is not at work, but neither at home. This gap is filled by a basic necessity which varies in practice tremendously in different cultures.In the form of a performance interaction, 'Dabba-wala' attempts to re-situate a complex system of interdependence between people, one that centers around the already familiar steel tiffin-box.
For the project, I will play the role of the chef as well as the delivery-boy (dabba-walla), delivering tiffin-boxes to selected people for a period of 5 days. The entire process will be documented, culminating in a multimedia presentation and interaction which is open for everyone.
M Pravat
The Škoda Prize
The Skoda Prize is a contemporary art award that will recognise and reward an Indian artist responsible for the most outstanding exhibition, or other presentation of their body of work. [dated September 2010]
Pro Helvetia - Swiss Arts Council associates with The Škoda Prize which is a contemporary art award that will be instituted in 2010 -11.
The Škoda Prize recognises cutting-edge work demonstrating vision, innovation, and a mature understanding of material and form. The Prize brings to public notice exciting trends in contemporary art, highlighting the output of established mid-career artists as well as new voices. The award is backed by jurors of impeccable credentials, including a Swiss specialist, and a dedicated group of advisors.
The award recognises and rewards an Indian artist under the age of 45, responsible for the most outstanding exhibition, or other presentation of their body of work produced in the twelve months preceding.
Important dates
30th September 2010 | Last date for entries
4th October 2010 | Total nominations received shortlisted to 100 nominations
8th October 2010 | 100 nominations to be short-listed to 20 by the Jury Panel
6th November 2010 | 20 nominations to be short-listed to final three nominations by the Jury Panel
21st January 2011 | The ŠKODA Prize Award Ceremony in New Delhi. The Jury Panel announces the Winner from the short-listed three finalists.
To know more about The ŠKODA Prize, read the FAQs.
To participate, download the Nomination Form. For more information visit http://www.theskodaprize.com/
Residencies 2012/ 2013 - call for applications
The Swiss Arts Council supports studio and research residencies. Artists and cultural practitioners in the areas of the visual arts, music, literature, theatre and dance are eligible to apply. [dated September 2010]
The Swiss Arts Council supports studio and research residencies. Artists and cultural practitioners in the areas of the visual arts, music, literature, theatre and dance are eligible to apply.
For more information on the studio and research residencies click here
To access myprohelvetia - Pro Helvetia's online portal for applications (under «Knowledge sharing») click here.
Click here to view a list of artists who have already been on the residency. To view Frequently Asked Questions click here IMPORTANT: The last date for submission of application forms for the year 2012/ 2013 is 1 February 2011. The application process for the year 2011 and 2012 stands closed.
Contemporary Swiss music
This year’s «Tonkünstlerfest» is being held in Lucerne. This large-scale showcase for contemporary Swiss music will feature no fewer than 24 world premieres in 48 hours. [dated September 2010]
Contemporary Swiss music Judging by the selection of works being performed at this year's «Tonkünstlerfest», the Swiss music scene is vibrant and multi-faceted. The programme includes large-scale orchestral concerts and intimate solo recitals, dance music and «theâtre musical», improvisation concerts and a sound installation. As many as 24 works will receive their world premieres in Lucerne on 11 and 12 September.
The Tonkünstlerfest has, for the first time in its 110-year history, been invited to the renowned Lucerne Festival, which has chosen contemporary Swiss music as a focal point in its summer programme. «(z)eidgenössisCH» (a play on words in German meaning both contemporary and federal, i.e. Swiss), is the double-layered name of this festival-within-a-festival that will transform Lucerne into a centre for new music on the second weekend of September.
Besides established composers such as Dieter Ammann, who is this year’s Composer-in-Residence, the 2010 festival will also feature younger talents. Pro Helvetia has commissioned works from six Swiss composers: Cécile Marti, Xavier Dayer, Stefan Wirth, Nadir Vassena, Michael Wertmüller and Dieter Ammann.
Thanks to the Lucerne Festival’s international reputation, the composers' works are likely to be performed not just this once in Switzerland but hopefully also in other countries as well in the near future. At the invitation of Pro Helvetia, large numbers of important arts administrators and organisers from all over Europe will be attending the «(z)eidgenössisCH» festival.
Further information: www.tonkuenstlerfest.ch www.lucernefestival.ch
GameCulture
Video and computer games have become an integral part of our everyday culture.The aesthetics of video games are closely linked to contemporary visual and performing arts. [dated August 2010]
Computers have become both a principal tool in our working life and one of our favourite toys. Games are now an integral feature in the daily life of a growing number of people from a broad social spectrum. The market is booming, the games industry has proved resilient to all forms of crisis so far and has, in fact, advanced to the cultural industry with the highest turnover. and the number of those involved in the creation of the associated, increasingly complex digital worlds is also on the rise. Game producers nowadays are clients for artists from a variety of disciplines – graphic designers, script writers, composers and others.
The ever closer link between the world of computer games on the one hand and visual arts, music and film on the other makes the involvement of cultural promotion institutions inevitable. UNESCO has recognised computer and video games as a cultural industry and acknowledged the contribution they make to cultural diversity. In France, Germany and the Nordic states, video games have been on the cultural agenda for a long while already.
Computer games as art form
Similar to television and cinema two or three generations back, computer games are faced with the generic suspicion of being nothing more than trash and a mindless diversion for children and childish adults. Gamers and non-gamers find it hard to understand each other’s attitude. There is a sharp generational divide. Public debate tends to be more emotional than factual, with the focus mostly on addiction and the depiction of violence. Few non-gamers realise that there is a diversity of genres in computer games similar to that of feature films.
Through its GameCulture programme, Pro Helvetia aims to raise public awareness and understanding of the wealth and complexity inherent in this new medium. GameCulture agenda Computer games will be in the spotlight from autumn 2010 to 2012 at three exhibitions and various panel discussions at conferences and festivals.
For more information click here
Visit by Pierre Thomé, Hochschule Luzern – Design & Kunst
Visit by Swiss illustrator Pierre Thomé, Head Illustration, Hochschule Luzern – Design & Kunst. [dated August 2010]
Swiss illustrator Pierre Thomé, Head Illustration, Hochschule Luzern – Design & Kunst will be visiting India to represent Switzerland at Jumpstart 2010 as well as to conduct workshops at Jamia Millia Islamia and National Institute of Design. Ahmedabad. The Jumpstart Series is being organised by the German Book Office. Workshops and seminars organised will look at all aspects of publishing, writing and illustrating children’s books.
> JUMPSTART 2010: Joining the dots
Delhi: 20-21 August 2010
Venue: Indira Gandhi National Centre for the Arts
Ahmedabad: 23 – 24 August 2010
Venue: National Institute of Design
> Add-on workshops on illustration with Indian partner Orijit Sen Visual essay - workshop /The illustrator as author to be conducted jointly by Pierre Thomé and Orijit Sen Delhi: 17, 18 & 19 August 2010 Venue: AJKMCRC, Jamia Millia Islamia Ahmedabad: 25, 26 & 27 August 2010 Venue: National Institute of Design
Partners:
German Book Office
National Institute of Design
AJK Mass Communication Research Centre, Jamia Milia Islamia
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What is illustration?
To me, illustration speaks the silent voice of beauty, accompanying a text or commenting on it through the vibrant fabric of patterns, structures and rhythm. A playful symbiosis of mysteries and meanings – of what you understand and what you feel. (Following the drama unfolding along lines and contrasts, our mind leaps easily from abstraction to realism).
After half a life spent in illustration, and lately teaching illustration, I see pictures as a language and our role as illustrators as that of a translator. (Everybody can enjoy pictures, looking comes naturally to the curious mind, but to be a successful artist requires a relentless search for perfection). I don’t care about style but take great pains to find the appropriate tone for each audience, to give every story its unique form. Starting from scratch, imagination should guide the hand in pleasant and unpredictable ways, but in the end – if you are looking for a distinctive voice of your own – perseverance and work will solve most problems. Life in illustration could be summed up in the last words of the great master Hokusai, when he claimed at the end of his career: „Just ten more years and perfection would be mine."
Pierre Thomé
Head, Illustration Hochschule Luzern – Design & Kunst
www.hslu.ch/design-kunst
Ms Meena to be staged at The Hindu Theatre Festival 2010
An adaptation of the tragicomedy, 'The Visit' by Swiss dramatist Friedrich Dürrenmatt, the play has been directed by Rajiv Krishnan. [dated August 2010]
Pro Helvetia New Delhi and The Hindu, along with other partners
presents an adaptation of the tragicomedy
'The Visit' by Swiss dramatist Friedrich Dürrenmatt.
Miss Meena
Directed by Rajiv Krishnan
Rangashankara, Bangalore
28 July 2010 - 1 August 2010 at 7: 30 pm.
Ms. Meena will be staged at The Hindu Metroplus Festival, 2010 on Saturday, 7 August 2010.
Friedrich Dürrenmatt
Friedrich Dürrenmatt (5 January 1921 – 14 December 1990) was a Swiss author and dramatist. He was a proponent of epic theatre. The politically active author's work included avant-garde dramas, philosophically deep crime novels, and often macabre satire. Dürrenmatt was a member of the Gruppe Olten.
Dürrenmatt was born in Konolfingen, in the Emmental (canton of Bern). The family moved to Bern in 1935. Dürrenmatt began studies in philosophy and German language and literature at the University of Zurich in 1941, but moved to the University of Bern after one semester. In 1943, he decided to become an author and dramatist and dropped his academic career. In 1945-46, he wrote his first play It is written. Like Brecht, Dürrenmatt explored the dramatic possibilities of epic theater. His plays are meant to involve the audience in a theoretical debate, rather than act as purely passive entertainment.
His first play, It Is Written, premiered to great controversy. The story of the play revolves around a battle between a sensation-craving cynic and a religious fanatic who takes scripture literally, all of this taking place while the city they live in is under siege.
His first major success was the play Romulus the Great. Set in the year A.D. 476, the play explores the last days of the Roman Empire, presided over, and brought about by its last emperor.
The Visit (Der Besuch der alten Dame, 1956) is a grotesque fusion of comedy and tragedy that creates a superb dramaturgic effect. It is the work best known in the United States.
The satirical drama The Physicists (Die Physiker, 1962), which deals with issues concerning science and its responsibility for dramatic and even dangerous changes to our world, has also been presented in translation.
Radio plays published in English include Hercules in the Augean Stables (Herkules und der Stall des Augias, 1954), Incident at Twilight (Abendstunde im Spätherbst, 1952) and The Mission of the Vega (Das Unternehmen der Wega, 1954). The two late works "Labyrinth" and "Turmbau zu Babel" are a collection of unfinished ideas, stories, and philosophical thoughts.
NOW ONLINE - New Media Journal
India Habitat Centre's Arts Journal 2009 on New Media, with essays by Swiss and Indian leading theorists on New Media and co-edited by Dr Alka Pande and Dr. Nils Roeller can now be accessed online. [dated August 2010]
India Habitat Centre's Arts Journal 2009 on New Media, with essays by Swiss and Indian leading theorists on New Media and co-edited by Dr Alka Pande, Consultant Art Advisor and Curator at the Visual Arts Gallery and media theorist Dr. Nils Roeller, Professor for Media and Cultural Theory at the University of the Arts, Zürich, can now be accessed online.
India Habitat Centre's Arts Journal 2009 on New Media (pdf)
The India Habitat Centre’s Art Journal - 2009
Editors: Dr. Alka Pande, Prof. Dr. Nils Röller
Contents
Editorial
05 - Director’s Note: Raj Liberhan, IHC
06 - Note on Collaboration: Chandrika Grover Ralleigh, Head,
Pro Helvetia, India
07 - Curatorial Note: Dr. Alka Pande, IHC
09 - Editorial Note: Prof. Dr. Nils Röller, ZHDK
Essays
12 - The Fickleness of Novelty: Shuddhabrata Sengupta
17 - A reflection on perspective in art, science and digital media:
Karan Sher Singh
22 - Celebrating with anti-coagulants Ten Years of SHIBEN:
Abhishek Hazra
26 - Old Language in a New World: Alice Cicolini
31 - New Media Art and its Obsolete Present: Shukla Sawant
35 - New Media interventions from Bangalore: Suresh Jayaram
42 - The New Music of New Media in India: Shankar Barua
48 - The Way Things Go: Vilém Flusser
50 - Programmes as space for thought?: Tabea Lurk
65 - Variantology and Archaeology of the Media: Siegfried
Zielinski
67 - The Myth is the Message: Adrian Notz
74 - Media authorship: Giaco Schiesser
77 - HOME MADE and do-it-yourself: Dominik Landwehr
80 - The DACollection/DAStore project: Annette Schindler and
Reinhard Storz
82 - Building bridges: Peter Schneider
85 - Interview with Bob Bishop - A trend of computing
88 - Xcult.org - the Swiss internet platform: Reinhard Storz
90 - Public Art, Sociology, and the Theory of Art: Some
Preliminary Remarks: Christoph Schenker
93 - Not everything is predictable: Verena Kuni
98 - Copyright and Freedom of Art in the 21st Century:
Felix Stalder
101 - Swiss Knife of Communication: Nils Röller
Translator of German Essays: Ritu Khanna
Design:
Parthiv Shah
Centre for Media and Alternative Communication
IMPORTANT: This publication is copyright protected and cannot be copied, published or replicated in any form.
Swiss lighting designer, Jonathan O'Hear in India
Jonathan O'Hear, an established lighting and video designer is visiting India on the invitation of Pro Helvetia New Delhi, to work with the four residents of the Gati Summer Dance Residency 2010. [dated July 2010]
Jonathan O'Hear, an established lighting and video designer is visiting India on the invitation of Pro Helvetia New Delhi, to work intensely on the visual aspects of stage performance, with the four residents of the Gati Summer Dance Residency 2010.
The final presentation, 'All warmed up 2010' is on Friday 9 July 2010.
All warmed up 2010
Friday 9 July 2010
7:00 pm
Venue: Shri Ram Centre
For passes contact Gati Dance Forum at:
011 41825766 OR 9810944810
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About Jonathan O'Hear
Born in Geneva, Jonathan O'Hear has been a lighting and Video designer for over a hundred productions in New York, Geneva, Paris and Brussels in venues such as Baryshnikov Arts Center, Dance New Amsterdam, Association de la Danse Contemporaine, Bercy, Le théâtre des Amandiers, Palexpo, La Comédie de Genève, le Botanique, le Théâtre Varia and many others. He has worked with choreographers such as Foofwa D'lmobilite (Neopost Ahrrrt) and Rebecca Spinetti (Cobalt). He has also directed music and sports video clips as well as a few short fiction films.
Jonathan has been working on the use of new technologies and human interference such as generating an organic form of light movement and using a track pad to move and re-shape it live during the performance. He is fascinated by how the genius of human imperfection can transcend technologies limitations, and how technology can give us more freedom to improvise.
About the workshop
During his stay Jonathan O'Hear conducted workshops organised by Gati, for choreographers and aspiring light designers.
Thursday 24 June & Friday 25 June 2010
11 am to 5 pm
Akshara Theatre, 11-12 B, Baba Kharak Singh Marg, New Delhi
This is a lighting design workshop for choreographers, aspiring lighting designers or just about anyone who is curious about understanding light. Along with a general introduction to lighting for performance, the workshop will discuss light in nature and in art, focusing on its emotional and psychological effects on human beings. A non-linear journey through time and culture will take us from natural light to figured light and the creative mechanisms used in painting, cinematography and live performance. In concordance with the multifaceted nature of light, the workshop will be a mix of theory, observation and sensing.
This workshop has been organised by Gati in partnership with Pro Helvetia - Swiss Arts Council.
The Swiss List
Pro Helvetia and Seagull Books London are collaborating over a long-term publishing project entitled The Swiss List. The project envisages publishing books of Swiss origin into the English language. [dated July 2010]
Pro Helvetia - Swiss Arts Council and Seagull Books London are collaborating over a long-term publishing project entitled The Swiss List.The project envisages publishing a minimum of 8 - 10 books of Swiss origin between 2010 and 2012 into the English language for the world and in particular the Indian sub-continent.
Authors and their works that are considered for the project include:
Urs Widmer- Der Geliebte der Mutter
Urs Widmer- Das Buch des Vater
Urs Widmer- Vom Leben, vom Tod und vom Übrigen auch dies und das. Frankfurter Poetikvorlesungen, Correspondence: Max Frisch and Friedrich Durrenmatt, Rainer Brambach: Gesammelte Gedichte.
Titles from Swiss literature in French are also under consideration.
For more information on Seagull Books click here.
Announcing names of the recipients of Studio Residences in 2011/2012
Pro Helvetia - Swiss Arts Council announces the names of artists who have been selected by the jury to avail of the Studio Residency it offers. [dated June 2010]
Pro Helvetia - Swiss Arts Council announces the names of artists who have been selected by the jury to avail of the Studio Residency it offers.
Indian artists:
Bharathesh G.D (Visual Arts)
Srishti Rana (Applied Arts)
Sreejata Roy (Visual Arts)
Tarun Jang Rawat (Visual Arts)
Swiss artists:
Chieppo David ( Visual Arts)
Nikitin Boris (Performing Arts)
Leon Beraud /Frida Viviana (Performing Arts)
ReichlinGuido /Karin Wälchli (Visual Arts)
Studio residency
The residency gives artists and cultural practitioners a 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.
An invitation to Art Basel 2010
Six Indian curators have been invited to attend Art Basel 2010 to develop discussions while strengthening networks for future cultural exchanges and collaborative projects. [dated June 2010]
Six Indian curators have been invited to attend Art Basel 2010 and use it as a platform for interesting and engaging discussions while strengthening networks for future cultural exchanges and collaborative projects.
Pro Helvetia - Swiss Arts Council in collaboration with Art Basel has invited the following Indian curators for an organised curator's trip to Switzerland during the Art Basel week, 13 - 20 June 2010
Ranjit Hoskote
Nancy Adajania
Girish Shahane
Vidya Shivadas
Kavita Singh
Sharmistha Ray
Pro Helvetia New Delhi wishes them all a fruitful and memorable trip.
For more information on Art Basel 2010 click here.
Indian sound artist Ish S to perform in Zurich and Geneva
Ish S, a sound artist and composer from India is currently in Zurich. During his Research Residency Ish will weave together a sound sculpture of the city of Zurich. [dated June 2010]
Ish S, a sound artist and composer from India is currently in Zurich. During his Research Residency Ish will weave together a sound sculpture of the city of Zurich, using field recordings and musical composition along with synthesis, where one suggests and leads the other. He will present his work at F+F Schule für Kunst und Mediendesign' in Zurich and 'Fête de la musique' at Geneva.
-'F+F Schule für Kunst und Mediendesign' in Zurich on 10 June 2010
-'Fête de la musique' at Geneva on 19 June 2010
Artist's note
A Sound art project to reflect upon the City, its streets and the people who constitute it. Recorded Sound and its manipulation using electronic synthesis mixed along with Music/compositions to weave together a sound sculpture of Zurich and it's spaces. I will use of Indian classical music intervals and scales to emote upon an artist context and the personal experience and these musical interventions will be represented using contemporary tools of electronic music ans Synthesis . The overall process will also juxtapose the cities of Delhi and Zurich together as Multi-media installations and I will try to produced an Audio CD as one of the final presentation of the works.
As a sound artist/ composer I engage with sound and music more as a philosophical and social reverberant and not just as an aesthetic Object. Sound is the main element in my works and I try to use it with an expressionist angle to reflect on the times we live in. I will weave together a sound sculpture of the city of Zurich, using field recordings and Musical Composition along with synthesis, where one suggests and leads the other.
As a process I will record sounds from the city and then try to abstract the personal experience of inhabiting these spaces like parks, Zurich Lake, trams, coffee shops etc. The second electronic-synthesis and compositional process will comprise of isolating sounds, manipulating them while focusing on the small details which can be kept afloat by using additional electronics (like delay, loops). The emotive content of these sounds along with music will then depend on the context they are placed in or ideas they are juxtaposed with. Ideas will be developed on these 'activities of sounds', that is, different sounds coming from different places, producing a sonic sculpture which is sonorous. This process can also be defined as sound art and I will produce them under my experimental sound art/installation project called diF.
I will try to collaborate with a number of Swiss artists/ technicians to present my works created during the residency and I will further the collaborative process by incorporating their expert knowledge and know-how in producing our future new media art works, for example, for my future project with Saranath Banerjee which is around interactive 'building installation' we can use some of their works to build a part of the Project/Installtion. These Swiss technicians are at the top of their game in Lights, Video, Synthesizer Design etc and will provide excellent help in producing hardware and Equipment(s) the future Pro-Helvetia 'New-Media' Works.
Biography:
Ish S is a Composer, sound artist and Producer from Delhi. He studied Classical guitar at the Delhi school of Music and then later ventured into Jazz, Latin and electronic music. He has worked with Sound Art and Video installations and while at a Residency at Sarai-CSDS released an Audio compilation called [t0]. He also formed a music label called Sound reasons Records (http://soundreasons.in) to promote the new sounds of the Avant-garde and Electro-acoustic music from around the world. He has sound designed and composed for 2 short films and plays like for the director Zuleikha Allana chaudhari. He is currently working on a Sound art project on the City of Zurich commissioned by Pro Helvetia, New Delhi. His various Music, video and sound art projects are -edGeCut, diF, 4th world Orchestra, dbase and Khayali pulao His works have been showcased and performed live at the 1st habitat Summit at the ‘Indian Habitat Center’ // School of Arts and Aesthetics at Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) // ‘World Information City conference’, Bangalore , India // at 1st international art | tech | media congress // ‘SoundLAB -Edition V’ // Osian‘s Cinefan Asian Film Festival , 2009 Delhi // He will be performing Live electronic music at 'F+F Schule für Kunst und Mediendesign' in Zurich on June 7 or 8, 2010 and 'Fête de la musique' at Geneva on June 19, 2010.
http://soundreasons.in music label
http://soundcloud.com/i98t diF-sound art /installation
http://www.sarai.net
Indian artists and authors contribute to Beam me up
Beam me up is an internet publication with scientific and artistic essays. The online project invited artists and authors to concern themselves with space concepts. [dated June 2010]
Beam me up is an internet publication with scientific and artistic essays for our present-day idea of space. The online project invited Indian artists and authors to concern themselves with space concepts in the form of art contributions and essays. Interpretations of space concepts based on both pictures and texts, on artistic and philosophical models as well as on scientific experience emerge.
The project develops its treatise on the space topic in the worldwide as well as space-negating medium Internet, the technology of which is based on flat, framed picture displays. Hence, the artists cannot draw up space-consuming installations, sculptures and architectures for their contribution to the project, but are medially tied back to texts, sounds and the central-perspective picture space as are the scientific authors. Which kind of expanded possibilities the artists will find in the net-medium we’ll see in the course of our project. Hence, the publication Beam me up offers a polyphonic reflection within the medium of a still young and global communication channel accessible to many people.
Hauz-i-Shamsi by Vishal Rawlley
Hauz-i-Shamsi, a reservoir, built by Iltumish – who ruled Delhi in the 13th century – still holds water. Legend has it that it was in a dream that Prophet Muhammad revealed where Iltumish should build the reservoir. On inspecting the site, Iltumish is said to have found a hoof print of Muhammad’s horse (Burak); around this he erected the reservoir. Hauz-i-Shamsi will now be presented online via webcam. A mobile sculpture of Burak will float on it waters and visitors, in the vicinity and online, will be able to interact with the Burak through phone or web.
More: www.beam-me.net/beitragdetail.php
Buraq and the Hauz-e Shamsi. Or, The Residue of Dreams by Anand Vivek Taneja
A mobile sculpture of Buraq will float on the waters of the Hauz, the dream-horse returning to the reservoir it inspired...
More: www.beam-me.net/beitragdetail.php
#cloudrumble56 by Abhishek Hazra
of twittering performing archives under the influence of thermal ionization
More: www.beam-me.net/beitragdetail.php
Twitterneurons by Nilanjana Roy
Five Brief Meditations on Beam Me Up/ #cloudrumble56 Mor: www.beam-me.net/beitragdetail.php
scotty's back by Gitanjali Dang
scotty gets caught up with tim berners-lee
More: www.beam-me.net/beitragdetail.php
Where Three Dreams Cross at Fotomuseum Winterthur
'Where Three Dreams Cross – 150 Years of photography from India, Pakistan and Bangladesh' opens at Fotomuseum Winterthur. [dated June 2010]
Where Three Dreams Cross – 150 Years of Photography from India, Pakistan, and Bangladesh
Where Three Dreams Cross – 150 Jahre Fotografie aus Indien, Pakistan und Bangladesch is organised by Whitechapel Gallery in London in collaboration with Fotomuseum Winterthur. The curators are Sunil Gupta, Radhika Singh, Hammad Nasar, Shahidul Alam, Kirsty Ogg and Urs Stahel.
Fotomuseum Winterthur (Main Gallery & Gallery & Gallery of Collections)
Opening: Friday, 11 June 2010 On display from 12 June 2010 to 22 August 2010
A comprehensive catalogue of the exhibition is published by Steidl ( 200 images and essays by Sabeena Gadihoke, Geeta Kapur and Christopher Pinney).
On the weekend of the official opening a two-day international symposium on South-Asian photography will take place (in English).
Programme of the presentations:
Saturday June 12, 13.00 to 18.30
13.00–13.15 Greeting delivered by Urs Stahel, Director of the Fotomuseum Winterthur
13.15–14.00 Pramod Kumar KG: Grandees of the Realm; Photographic Portraits in Princely India 1840s - 1947
14.00–14.45 Akshaya Tankha: Early Precedents: Ethnography through the Eye of Photography, Bombay 1855-70
14.45–15.30 Dayanita Singh: Go Away Closer – My Book Story
16.00–16.45 Sabeena Gadihoke: Everyday Encounters: Press and Magazine Photography after Independence
16.45–17.30 Shahidul Alam: Confessions of a Storyteller
Sunday June 13, 13.00 to 18.00
13.00–13.45 Suryanandini Narain: Photographing the Feminine: Women in Photographic Studios of India 13.45–14.30 Aveek Sen: Beyond Photography
14.30–15.15 Sunil Gupta: Love and Light: My Journey with Photography
15.45–16.30 Hammad Nasar: Contemporary Approaches to Photography in Pakistan
16.30–17.15 Bani Abidi: Artist’s Talk
17.15–18.30 Panel discussion
Brief on the project
Histories of photography, as presented through books or exhibitions in the twentieth century, have been dominated by Europe and the United States. The exhibition Where Three Dreams Cross – 150 Years of Photography from India, Pakistan, and Bangladesh and the publication accompanying it articulate the untold story of an equally significant history, as rich and as formally innovative, yet embedded in the culture and politics of South Asia. It does not reiterate a western view of the east, but celebrates how successive generations of photographers from the subcontinent have portrayed themselves and their eras.
Where Three Dreams Cross spans the transition of the South Asian peninsula – once defined as ‘the immense rhomboid’ bordered by the Himalayas in the north and the ocean to the south – from a heterogeneous yet single entity defined by the Indus river to its subdivision into three nations: India, Pakistan and Bangladesh. The fast time of political upheaval and technology and the slow time of family, culture and ritual are captured through the lens of some 80 artists. Their work also demonstrates formal experimentation and aesthetic lines of enquiry that are indigenous yet of universal interest.
This project traces the characteristics of contemporary photography through its historical precedents, revealing the roots of the medium’s development over the past 150 years. Its starting point is the crucial moment when the power to hold a camera, frame and capture images was no longer exclusively the preserve of colonial or European photographers. This sense of self-determination and self-representation is evident in hundreds of remarkable photographs brought together here, for the first time. They have been made by a wide variety of practitioners from amateurs to photojournalists, documentary photographers and artists.
This survey is structured thematically, taking an innovative approach to integrating historical material and contemporary works within five broad areas. The clustering of works and the essays analysing them trace the following thematics: The Portrait, The Performance, The Family, The Street and The Body Politic.
Supported by:
BTS Investment Advisors / Volkart Foundation, Pro Helvetia, Holcim Ltd. and Philippe Reich
For more information: http://www.fotomuseum.ch/PRESS.3.0.html?&L=1
