2017
Projects / Processes (P/P) is an initiative launched by Serendipity Arts Foundation in 2017 to publish commissioned research essays, longform writing and in-depth criticism that explore the ideas and processes behind select curatorial projects at Serendipity Arts Festival. The Projects / Processes series offers an opportunity to give projects and the stories that they tell continued life, through a deeply engaged look at how they came together and their significance to the discourse of contemporary art in India moving forward. Each volume comprises essays covering distinct projects that stand in some dialogue with each other, through the questions they raise and the thematic landscape they cover.
Managing Editor: Nandita Jaishankar
Series Editor: Kanika Anand
Copy-editor: Arnav Adhikari
Contributors
Anuj Daga, Arnav Adhikari, Debashree Mukherjee, Deepa Bhasthi, Gargi Bharadwaj, Kanika Anand, Kanika Makhija , Khorshed Deboo, Niveditha Kuttaiah, Prayas Abhinav, Ranjana Dave, Sabih Ahmed, Shaikh John Bashur, Vidya Shivadas
VOLUME 1
ESSAY 1
Improvising History: Archival Negotiations and Memory in The Music Stopped, But We Were Still Dancing by Arnav Adhikari
Arnav Adhikari is a writer and editor based in New Delhi. As
an Editorial Fellow at The Atlantic in Washington, DC between
2016 and 2017, he covered books, music, and popular culture
for the website. His writing on the arts has also appeared in the
Asian American Writers’ Workshop and Hyperallergic.
Arnav is a consulting editor at Serendipity Arts Foundation/
Festival, where he helps oversee content and research projects
across various platforms. Most recently, he contributed
writing for the artist Ratna Gupta’s solo show everything is
precious (2018) at Sakshi Gallery in Mumbai.
Read MoreESSAY 2
A Cinematic Imagination: Josef Wirsching and The Bombay Talkies by Debashree Mukherjee
Debashree Mukherjee is Assistant Professor of South Asian
film and visual cultures at Columbia University in New York.
Her current book project, “Parallel Action: Bombay Cinema
and the Practice of Modernity,” presents a cultural history of
early Bombay cinema (1920s-1940s) that privileges material
practice, circuits of work, and technologies of production,
and draws inspiration from her own experience of working in
Mumbai’s film and television industries in the early 2000s.
Debashree has published widely, has curated exhibitions
on film ephemera, and is a core editor of the peer-reviewed
journal BioScope: South Asian Screen Studies.
Read MoreVOLUME 2
ESSAY 1
The Grammar of Reversal: An Essay on Anti-Memoirs: Locus, Language, Landscape by Khorshed Deboo
Khorshed Deboo is an independent writer and text editor
based in Bombay. She writes on art and culture and enjoys
making photographs. Her writing has appeared in publications
such as The Hindu, Scroll.in, Roads & Kingdoms, and Mint Lounge.
As a text editor, she has worked on exhibitions such as State of
Housing (2018) and Sakti Burman: In The Presence of Another Sky
(2017), among others. Her previous stints include working at
Tarq, a contemporary art gallery in Bombay, and BBC Good Food
India magazine. She currently works as Contributing Copy
Editor at Domus India magazine, and is Curatorial Assistant
(Visual Arts) for Serendipity Arts Festival.
Read MoreESSAY 2
The Young Subcontinent Project: An Intermediate Analysis by
Anuj DagaAnuj Daga graduated as an architect from Mumbai University
(2008) and went on pursue his interests in History & Theory
of Architecture as well as design research through the
interdisciplinary Master of Environmental Design program
at Yale School of Architecture, USA (2014). His practice is
informed by his diverse engagements in fields of design,
research and academia that have resulted into numerous roles
of writer, critic, commentator, theorist or interlocutor in the
cultural field. Anuj has worked with several cultural institutions
as well as research & artist organizations including Max Mueller
Bhavan Mumbai, Collective Research Initiatives Trust (CRIT)
– Mumbai, the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) – New York and
Critical Art & Media Practices (CAMP) – Mumbai in different
capacities. He has keen interest in studying the visual culture
in art & architecture and the way different visual media tie into
the expression of contemporary built environment. He has been
a consulting architect & strategist at the Godrej Innovation
Centre, Mumbai. He is the Curatorial Assistant to Riyas Komu
for the visual arts project “Young Subcontinent” since first
organized by Serendipity Arts Trust in Goa in 2016. Currently,
he is an Assistant Professor at the School of Environment &
Architecture, Mumbai.
Read MoreVOLUME 3
ESSAY 1
The Ground Beneath My Feet by Sabih Ahmed
Sabih Ahmed is a Researcher at Asia Art Archive based in
New Delhi. He conceptualises and leads research initiatives
on modern and contemporary art, has led projects digitising
artist archives and creating digital bibliographies of art across
multiple languages, and has organised colloquia and seminars
around archiving and educational resources. Ahmed has been a
Visiting Faculty at School of Culture and Creative Expression,
Ambedkar University, Delhi. His recent writings have been
published by Mousse Publications, The Whitworth, and
Oncurating. He was a member of the Curatorial Collegiate of
the 11th Shanghai Biennale curated by Raqs Media Collective.
Read MoreESSAY 2
Detritus: Matter Out of Place by Vidya Shivadas
Vidya Shivadas is a curator based in New Delhi. She completed
her Masters in Art Criticism from Faculty of Fine Arts, M S
University, Vadodara in 2000. She is currently the Director since
2011 of the not-for-profit Foundation for Indian Contemporary
Art (FICA). FICA was set up in 2007 to support artists, art
historians, curators, art critics, and other professionals devoted
to the study of contemporary Indian art, as well as to conduct
educational and art outreach programmes.
She has curated a number of exhibitions at the Vadehra Art
Gallery since 2002 which include Off the Record: Meditations on
the Photographic Image (2015), Porous (2012), The Seeds, Yoko
Ono (2012), Something I’ve been meaning to tell you (co-curated
with Sunil Gupta, 2011), Faiza Butt, Ruby Chishti, Masooma
Syed (three Pakistani women artists, 2009), Fluid Structures:
Gender and Abstraction in India, 1970s – 2008 (2008), Objects:
Making/Unmaking (2007). In 2009 she was a guest curator at Devi Art Foundation and worked on the solo exhibition of Bangladeshi artist Mahbubur Rahman. In 2013 she co-curated (with Akansha Rastogi and
Deeksha Nath) the exhibition Zones of Contact: Propositions on
the Museumat Kiran Nadar Museum of Art, Noida (January
– November, 2013). In 2014 she was curatorial advisor for
Where Do I End and You Begin, an exhibition on the theme of
Commonwealth at Edinburgh in 2014 to coincide with the
Commonwealth Games in Scotland.
Read MoreVolume 4
ESSAY 1
Mixed, Fused, and Rehashed Cultural Hybridity Through Ethnic Dress by
Kanika AnandKanika Anand is a Delhi based art writer and curator. She
holds a Master’s degree in History of Art from the National
Museum Institute, India and has been curatorial fellow at the
Centre National d’Art Contemporain, Grenoble, 2012-13. She
has worked extensively with galleries and alternative spaces
such as Exit Art and the Gagosian Gallery in the United States,
the Centre National d’Art Contemporain in France and with
Exhibit 320 and Gallery Espace in India. She is the Founder of
Parked-At, a roving exhibition platform, presenting alternative
modes of viewing, engagement and participation and is the
Exhibition Coordinator for the first edition of the Indian
Ceramics Triennale, Breaking Ground: Jawahar Kala Kendra,
Jaipur, 2018.
Read MoreESSAY 2
Is My Horizon Different From Yours? The Curious Case of Goan Identity by Kanika Anand
Kanika Anand is a Delhi based art writer and curator. She
holds a Master’s degree in History of Art from the National
Museum Institute, India and has been curatorial fellow at the
Centre National d’Art Contemporain, Grenoble, 2012-13. She
has worked extensively with galleries and alternative spaces
such as Exit Art and the Gagosian Gallery in the United States,
the Centre National d’Art Contemporain in France and with
Exhibit 320 and Gallery Espace in India. She is the Founder of
Parked-At, a roving exhibition platform, presenting alternative
modes of viewing, engagement and participation and is the
Exhibition Coordinator for the first edition of the Indian
Ceramics Triennale, Breaking Ground: Jawahar Kala Kendra,
Jaipur, 2018.
Read MoreVolume 5
ESSAY 1
Theatrical Explorations of Contemporaneity Quality Street / Shikhandi / Dumb Wait-err by Gargi Bhardwaj
Gargi Bharadwaj is a theatre practitioner and a research
scholar based in Delhi, India. She graduated from the National
School of Drama, Delhi with a specialization in Theatre
Techniques, Design and Direction (2007) and completed
MAIPR (2008-2010) from University of Amsterdam and
University of Warwick. As a theatre practitioner between
her formal education she directs performances, conducts
theatre workshops and curates theatre festivals. Her doctoral
research focuses on state cultural policy and issues of cultural
governance and citizenship in India. Other areas of interest are
genealogies of contemporary theatre, performance curation,
representation and self-articulations of women in public
culture. She has presented research papers at conferences in
University of Lisbon, University of Warwick, University of
Cape Town and University of Hyderabad. She teaches courses
on history/historiography of performance and practice based
research methodology in Performance studies at SCCE,
Ambedkar University, Delhi.
Read MoreESSAY 2
Purush by Ranjana Dave
Ranjana Dave is a dancer and arts writer. She co-founded
Dance Dialogues, a Bombay-based initiative that helps dancers
connect with provocative and diverse ideas, individuals and
institutions. Within dance, she has explored the strands
of writing, archiving, performance and pedagogy. She has
written for Firstpost, Hindu, Scroll, and Tanz. She curated an
online archive of dance video on Pad.ma. Her current interest
in pedagogy and learning environments emerges from her
experience of learning and practising classical dance. Ranjana
is programmes director at the Gati Dance Forum in New Delhi
and has worked on developing pedagogical frameworks that
encourage critical thinking and a reflexive artistic practice as
part of its curriculum development initiatives.
Read MoreESSAY 3
Towards New Beginnings Sari: The Unstitched / Sandhi by Ranjana Dave
Ranjana Dave is a dancer and arts writer. She co-founded
Dance Dialogues, a Bombay-based initiative that helps dancers
connect with provocative and diverse ideas, individuals and
institutions. Within dance, she has explored the strands
of writing, archiving, performance and pedagogy. She has
written for Firstpost, Hindu, Scroll, and Tanz. She curated an
online archive of dance video on Pad.ma. Her current interest
in pedagogy and learning environments emerges from her
experience of learning and practising classical dance. Ranjana
is programmes director at the Gati Dance Forum in New Delhi
and has worked on developing pedagogical frameworks that
encourage critical thinking and a reflexive artistic practice as
part of its curriculum development initiatives.
Read MoreVolume 6
ESSAY 1
Jaali: Its Past and Present by Kanika Makhija
Kanika Makhija attained her Master’s in Visual Arts from
Ambedkar University, Delhi (2016) and completed her
Bachelor’s in Fine Arts (painting) from College of Art, Delhi
(2014). She is an Assistant Researcher in Mumbai for a project
by Centre for Studies of Developing Societies, Delhi and
Center for Studies of Social Sciences, Calcutta (2018). She
did a research project with SPADE, a research journal for
design and architect supported by Samira Rathod Design
Associations. She also assisted Vibha Galhotra in research
for art project “Symphony or Cacophony” that was exhibited
in Exhibit320 Gallery in New Delhi (2017). She has been part
of several group shows, with recently being Take/The/City
curated by Niccolo Moscatelli supported by Clark House
Initiative(2017), International Print Exchange, initiated
by Green Door Printmaking Studios, Derby, UK (2017) and
Narcissism and Social Interaction, Curated by Parasher Naik
at Clark House Initiative, Mumbai, India (2017). Kanika was
also part of the Programming team for the first edition of
Serendipity Arts Festival, Goa (2016).
Read MoreESSAY 2
Brinjal: The Royal-Hued Wonder and Coconut: A Marvel Ingredient by Deepa Bhasthi
Deepa Bhasthi is a writer based in Bengaluru, India. She is
one of the co-founders, and the editor, of Forager Collective,
a collaboration between the writer and three artists, who
seek to explore the issues and ideas that are changing as well
as shaping the politics, culture, physical geographies and
socio-economic structures in the contemporary world. Her
works have appeared in several publications including Himal
Southasian, Indian Quarterly, The New Indian Express, OPEN
magazine, The Hindu Business Line’s BLInk, The Hindu, Art
India and elsewhere on the web.
Read MoreESSAY 3
A Study of the Barefoot School of Craft: Made in Goa by Niveditha Kuttaiah
Niveditha Kuttaiah is an independent researcher with
a background in Art History. Her research areas include,
Arts Education, Environmental Histories, Popular Culture,
Cultural Anthropology, and Apiology. After graduating
from Sir J.J. College of Architecture, Bombay, in 1983, Dean
d’Cruz joined architect Gerard Da Cunha as an assistant in
Goa in 1985. Enamored by the soft and human scale of Goa’s
Architecture and lifestyle he decided to stay. In 1986 he became
a partner in a firm called Natural Architecture, working on cost
effective housing in a very Laurie Baker approach using waste
building materials and innovative design. In 1994 he expanded
base of design work, taking on small hotels, large houses
and institutional work as principal architect of Dean D’Cruz
& Associates. In 2001 he co-founded Mozaic, with general
collaboration between disciplines as the core ethic. Having
been part of the State Level Committee for the making of the
Regional Plan 2021 for Goa, his current emphasis is on urban
interventions, sustainable principles and conservation.
Read MoreVOLUME 7
ESSAY 1
The Legacy of the Surabhi Family Theatre by Shaik John Bashur
Shaik John Bashur, a theatre activist and a
practitioner of theatre for young audience, completed his
Masters with a Gold Medal from the Dept of Theatre Arts,
University of Hyderabad, in 2009. He has been conducting
workshops and making performances for underprivileged
children for the past 10 years. He has been associated
with grass root level NGOS, conducting teacher training
programmes in the field of Theatre in Education (TiE).
He has presented research papers in various national
and international conferences such as the University of
Stockholm, the University of Oslo, Pondicherry Central
University, and the University of Hyderabad. As a theatre
practitioner, he has been associated with International
Theatre Festival of Kerala (ITFOK), International
Federation for Theatre Research (IFTR), International Ibsen
Festival, and Theatre Outreach Unit (ToU). He is currently
pursuing his PhD from University of Hyderabad, and his
area of doctoral research mainly focuses on the influence of
Henrik Ibsen on Indian Theatre.
Read MoreESSAY 2
The Public Loom by Prayas Abhinav
Prayas Abhinav is an artist, teacher, and entrepreneur. At
present, he is working on a startup called Storyflock that has
interests in e-learning, applied research, and novel forms
of content development. He has worked in the last few
years on numerous pieces of speculative fiction, software,
games, interactive installations, public interventions, and
curatorial projects. He has written extensively on poetic
thought as a form of lingual communication. He contributed
to research and projects at northeastwestsouth (n.e.w.s)
(Amsterdam, NL). He has conducted workshops at Centre for
Environmental Planning Technology (CEPT) (Ahmedabad),
Dutch Art Institute (Arnhem, NL), MICA (Ahmedabad) and
National Institute of Design (Ahmedabad & Bangalore). In the
past he led the Centre for Experimental Media Arts (CEMA) at
the Srishti School of Art, Design and Technology in Bangalore.
He is the initiator and the Director of the Museum of Vestigial
Desire and founding member of Surfatial.
He has developed his research and practice with the
support of fellowships by Sarai, Openspace, the Center for
Experimental Media Arts (CEMA), TED and Lucid. He has
been in residencies at Khoj (India), Coded Cultures (Austria)
and dis-locate (Japan). He has shared his work at a wide range
of festivals and venues including Exit Art, Transmediale, 48c,
Futuresonic, ISEA and Wintercamp.
Read More
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