Pro Helvetia, the Swiss Arts Council, is a foundation under public law, funded by the Federal Government of Switzerland. Pro Helvetia promotes artistic creation in Switzerland as well as networking and cultural exchange abroad.

Philipp Theisohn invited by Jaipur Book Mark

Philipp Theisohn to participate in a conference on copyrights at the Jaipur Book Mark. Copyrights experts from Switzerland, Germany, Australia and India will discuss global issues of copyright and intellectual property rights.

Jaipur Literature Festival began an important new initiative: Jaipur BookMark (JBM). Conceptualized as a business to business segment, JBM is held parallel to JLF, and provides a platform for publishers, literary agents, authors, translation agencies and writers to engage with one another.

Session: Global issues of copyright and intellectual property rights
19 January 2017
at the Jaipur Book Mark at 3:00 p.m. - 4:00 p.m.

Copyrights experts from Switzerland, Germany, Australia and India will discuss global issues of copyright and intellectual property rights.

Speakers: Philipp Theisohn, G. Raghavendra, KerstinSchuster, Aditi Maheshwari Goyal, Cate Blake, Swami Shubha Vilas

Moderated by Renuka Chatterjeeat the Centre for Culture, Media and Governance at Jamia Millia Islamia in New Delhi and at the Seagull Publishing School in Kolkata.

Philipp Theisohn will also be speaking on the issue in Delhi & Kolkata.
23 January 2017 - Seminar/ lecture at the Centre for Internet and Society, Jamia Millia Islamia in New Delhi

25 January 2017 - Lecture at the Seagull Publishing School in Kolkata. 

About Philipp Theisohn 
Philipp Theisohn, who was born in 1974, studied Modern German Literature, Medieval Studies and Philosophy in Tübingen and Zürich. He gained his doctorate in Jerusalem and Tübingen and, since 2013, has been Professor of Modern German Literary Studies at Zurich University. He has produced numerous publications on German and European literary history from the 13th to the 21st century, in particular on "literary future knowledge", the perception of literary property, and Jewish Cultural Poetics.

The focal points of his work and research are the literature of Switzerland, literary property/plagiarism as a literary historical phenomenon, science fiction and futurology, realism, Franz Kafka and Early Modern Poetics of Knowledge.

Theisohn is intensely involved in the transmission of literature far beyond the academic environment. He is a member of the jury for the "Swiss Book Prize" of the Publishers' Association, an expert for inter-disciplinary and literary projects for the Swiss Arts Council Pro Helvetia; he curates literary exhibitions, is active in a broad range of journalistic work, among other things for the Neue Zürcher Zeitung, and is in charge of the blog and website of the "Schweizer Buchjahr" which contributes significantly to contemporary literary discourse.

Among his most important book publications are: "Die Zukunft der Dichtung. Geschichte des literarischen Orakels 1450-2050" ("The Future of Poetry. The History of the Literary Oracle 1450-2050"); "Plagiat. Eine unoriginelle Literaturgeschichte"( "Plagiarism. An Unoriginal Literary History") and "Literarisches Eigentum. Zur Ethik geistiger Arbeit im digitalen Zeitalter" ("Literary Property. On the Ethics of Intellectual Work in the Digital Age").

Future Orbits
A collateral event of the Kochi Muziris Biennale, 'Future Orbits' has invited Marie Velardi to present a talk on her recent exhibition ‘Possible Futures’.

Book of Possible Futures /A talk by Marie Velardi 
Interlocutor: Rashmi Sawhney

On 6 January 2017
2:30 - 3:30 pm
at Mill Hall, Mattanchery, Kochi

Directions: https://www.google.co.uk/maps/place/Mill+Hall

Within her practice, Marie employs fact and fiction to both imagine and question the future. Her work closely examines movements of the earth, such as the continuous shift between land and sea or inhabited islands disappearing into the ocean, due to rising water levels. (Atlas of Lost Islands was exhibited at the Kochi-Muziris Biennale, 2014). Marie's use of fiction to present a timeline of the 21st century as described in sci-fi literature and film (for the work, Future Perfect, 21st Century, Kochi-Muziris Biennale 2014), offsets our sense of reality to suggest a powerful yet playful protest that reflects on the uncertainty of our future, and the condition of the earth today. For Future Orbits, Marie Velardi will present a selection of works on different relationships and ways of considering the future. She will also present the new works developed over a residency in India (in 2016), drawn from the pages of a hypothetical Book of Possible Futures, with short phrases, written in English and Marathi, inspired by discussions the artist had with Indian women about their hopes and desires for the future. Marie Velardi is a Swiss visual artist who lives and works in Geneva and Paris. Her work has been exhibited in Switzerland, France, Germany, Belgium, Italy and the UK. In 2014-2015 she represented Switzerland at the Kochi-Muziris Biennale in India. She was awarded among others the '2015 Scholarship of the City of Geneva' for her on-going research project: Terre-Mer (SeaLand). In 2016 she was selected by Pro Helvetia for a 3-month residency in India (in Delhi and Mumbai respectively). http://marie.velardi.ch/

Image credit: The Ark (2015) by Gigi Scaria

Partners: Pro Helvetia - Swiss Arts Council in partnership with Srishti Institute of Art, Design & Technology, Bangalore

Space for Encounters - Meetings, Happenings and Inputs in Art Mediation
A collateral event of the Kochi-Muziris Biennale, the closed workshop and lecture on Art Mediation is organised by the University of Applied Sciences and Arts in Lucerne.

Space for Encounters - Meetings, Happenings and Inputs in Art Mediation

Workshop: 
16 -19 January and 23 - 26 January 2017 from 10.00-12.00 and 14.00-16.00 
At the Kochi-Muziris Biennale / location (tbc)

Keynote Lecture: 27 January 2017 KMB Pavilion, Cabral Yard, Kochi at 4:00 pm

About the workshop:
A collateral event of the Kochi Muziris Biennale, Space for Encounters - Meetings, Happenings and Inputs in Art Mediation at the Kochi-Muziri Biennale is a closed workshop and lecture on Art Mediation organised by the University of Applied Sciences and Arts in Lucerne at the invitation of swissnex India and Pro Helvetia - Swiss Arts Council, in collaboration with the Foundation of Contemporary Art of India (FICA) and Kochi Biennale Foundation.

The workshop uses the site of the Kochi Muziris Biennale to develop site specific tools to engage with their audiences. The objective of this intensified engagement on Art Mediation, which draws young curators from India and Bangladesh, is to delve into practices to make art more accessible and to consequently allow it to address a broader range of audiences.

The University of Applied Sciences and Arts in Lucerne does research in this field and offers a Master of Arts in Art Teaching and is thereby especially engaged in developing new models of art mediation which are focusing on the inclusion of non-experts.

The workshop in Kochi will be led by Lena Eriksson, artist and lecturer, Lucerne / Basel.

The key-note speakers will be Dr Susanne Kudorfer, and art historian, Dr Annapurna Garimella. The project coordinator is Rachel Mader, Head of Competence Center Art, Design and Public Spheres, Lucerne/Bern

Partners: The project is an initiative by Hochschule Luzern - Design & Kunst swissnex India, Bangalore, Kochi Biennale Foundation, Foundation of Indian Contemporary Art in cooperation with Pro Helvetia New Delhi. Image: KMB Pavilion, Cabral Yard, Kochi