Serendipity x Arles

About

To strengthen regional cooperation on the foundation of the strong bilateral relations through cultural exchange, Serendipity Arts Foundation and Les Rencontres d’Arles announced the biggest photography, video and new media grant in India, supported by the Institut français en Inde named the Serendipity Arles Grant, with the shared purpose of promoting cultural practices in South Asia. 
 
Starting from 4 July – 25 September 2022 two Serendipity Arts supported projects are going to be on display at the year’s Rencontres d’Arles exhibition; Imagined Documents and Town Boy. 
 
The shows will open at Arles les Rencontres de La Photographie representing South Asia at this year’s event in France from 4 July – 25 September 2022,10.00 AM – 07.30 PM at 21, Ground Control for Imagined Documents and 4 July – 25 September 2022 from 09.00 AM – 07.00 PM at 3, Cloître Saint-Trophime for Town Boy. 
 
For tickets and further details visit the website here.

Showcased at Serendipity Arts Festival 2019, the show curated by Ravi Agarwal looked at the staged photograph that flits between reality and fiction. The show aimed to focus on works that employ various sorts of strategies and techniques to tell their story. These could involve recreating scenes from memory, constructing elaborate sets, or telling personal encounters.

Participating artists: Azadeh Akhlaghi, Bani Abidi, Dia Mehhta Bhupal, Krishen Khanna, Munem Wasif, Prajakta Potnis, Sharbendu De, Sukanya Ghosh, Vivan Sundaram, and Yamini Nayar. 

Amongst the many applicants and emerging artists, Sathish Kumar’s ‘Town Boy’ was awarded the Serendipity Arles Grant by a panel of eminent jury members. The project will be exhibited at Arles Les Rencontre De La Photographie, 2022.

‘Town Boy’ is a collection of ordinary moments captured over time, reflecting the slow movements of daily life in South India. Evoking adolescence, the project is an observation of the gradual transformation of the artist’s life, from a small town to a cosmopolitan city.

Serendipity Arles Grant Publication

Encapsulating the body of work that was generated from the selected artists during the 2020 Serendipity Arles Grant, a photo book designed as a book exhibition by Rukminee Guha Thakurta will be launched in the first week of the Arles photo festival. We hope through this publication, readers can encounter dissident and diffusive voices, familiar echoes and new symphonies that may carry within them, at Arles and beyond. 

This publication has been made possible with generous support from the MurthyNAYAK Foundation.