<de>confine29th November 2020 | 18h30 IST – 14h00 CET
Curators of the festival, Khayal and Proiti Seal Acharya will deliver the closing note and announce the open call for media artists in South Asia in presence of M. Emmanuel LEBRUN-DAMIENS, counsellor for Education, Science and Culture at the French Embassy in India. The discussion with the counsellor shall throw light on the happenings of the festival and some ideas for future collaborations in the subcontinent.
Open Call for
South Asian Media
and Digital Art Practitioners
Media Art South Asia invites media artists, producers, organisations, curators, researchers, galleries, students and enthusiasts from India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Bhutan, Afghanistan and Maldives to write to mediaartsouthasia@gmail.com, or send direct messages to fb and Instagram. If you are an artist who wants to be part of a growing database on www.mediaartsouthasia.org and build a widespread network of practitioners across South Asia, please fill out the form below. If you are an organisation, please email us. We also look forward to receiving proposals for collaborative ventures.
Festival curators Khayal and Proiti Seal Acharya (Media Art South Asia) outline the key themes and share details about the artists, the online exhibition, the panel discussions and the workshop. Hannah Loué, Charge de Projets – Département Numérique, French Institute Paris, introduces Novembre Numerique, the yearly initiative by Institut Francais to facilitate critical engagement with digital culture across the globe. Jean-François Hans, Director, Asie Océanie de la fondation des Alliances Francaises, talks about the Alliance Francaise’s work in Asia, fostering intercultural exchanges within the region and beyond. Gael de Kerguenec, Director, Alliance Francaise Ahmedabad highlights <de> confine as one of the first collaborations between the Alliance Francaises across South Asia, and reveals plans to build on this for future events.
The session ends with a virtual walk through the exhibition, conducted by the curators.
Pauline Fournier speaks about her involvement with theToulouse Hacker Space Factory, an alternative platform that explores free software and hardware, Do It Yourself philosophies, reappropriation of technologies, art and science, defense of rights and freedoms on the internet, computer security, media and citizen investigation, and politics and society. This meeting of diverse practices is structured around conferences, workshops, exhibitions, installations, performances, concerts, and workshops, as well as a 24-hour hacker residency. Through these events, it caters not only to its participants, but to general audiences as well: allowing everyone to discover, question, build and share a unique artistic landscape.
Aired on Nov 8, 2020 | 17.30 IST
Anushka Rajendran shares her experiences in developing digital exhibitions, and talks about the changes necessitated by this format and their effect on her curatorial process. She also talks about possible long-term impacts of these changes on the art world itself.
In conversation with Khayal and Proiti Seal Acharya | Aired on Nov 20, 2020 | 17.30 IST
Danushka Marasinghe sheds light on contemporary media arts in Sri Lanka, and discusses his background and the historical and societal influences on his work.
Moderated by Bruno Duparc, Head of the French Cultural Network in Sri Lanka and the Maldives | Aired on Nov 22, 2020 | 18.30 IST
Nepali artist Bidhata K.C. reflects on her foray into the media arts, in the context of contemporary arts in Nepal. She talks about ‘Aadhar’, her first experimental video piece, and reflects on her creative process.
Moderated by Anne-Laure Petit, Director, Alliance Francaise Kathmandu | Nov 28, 2020 | 18.30 IST
Jasmine and Aisha George (Hidden Pockets, Bangalore), and Natacha (In Common, France), shed light on how their respective projects leverage technology to benefit local communities. Jasmine and Aisha speak about their use of podcasts in regional languages to spread awareness about sex and reproductive health among school children, and community mapping initiatives that radically reimagine the configurations of urban maps. Natacha speaks about the significance of cooperative data libraries and their role in bringing such mapping initiatives under one roof.
Moderated by Proiti Seal Acharya, co-curator | Aired on Nov 7, 2020 | 17.30 IST
Pierre Jean Giloux discusses the concept of metabolism, a movement in Japan in the 60s, at the intersections of the biological, material, virtual and real world and how he interpreted in a visual form. He shares insight on his creative processes, and his ongoing project in India.
Moderated by Eva Martin, Director, Alliance Française, Trivandrum | Aired on Nov 10, 17.30 IST
Amay Kataria talks about his background, his fascination with repurposing technology, his work ‘Mom I’m safe’ and how it exists across multiple modes. He discusses the need for empathy on digital platforms and how digital artworks are able to mutate as required by circumstances.
In conversation with Khayal | Nov 21, 2020 | 17.30 IST
Parvathi Nayar talks about how she explores water as a subject in her practice, how to adapt physical works for a digital platform and the creative process behind her three part video series featured on <de>confine.
Moderated by Bruno Plasse, Director, Alliance Francaise, Chennai | Aired on Nov 27, 2020 | 17.30 IST
Beatrice de Fays and Mathieu Constans talk about their practice, situated between the material and the immaterial : their earlier performative works and the current work in progress, which fuses Augmented Reality and painting.
Moderated by Samuel Berthet, Director, Alliance Francaise, Hyderabad | Nov 29, 2020 | 17.30
Vincent Moon discusses the philosophy that drives his work, his views on the creative common license, the idea of ‘copyleft’, his engagement with ethnography, and his project with Priscilla Telmon Petites Planetes, which is an archive of films and music that they document, available for free. He also shares insights on their film Tajalli: Shahi Qawwals of Ahmer, which premiered on <de>confine.
Moderated by Thomas Simoes, Director of Alliance Francaise, Bhopal and Khayal, co-curator | Aired on Nov 7, 2020 | 18.30 IST
Justine Emard talks about her body of works (performances and video installations) and how they explore notions of coexistence between new technologies and humans, assigning concepts such as soul, life and rebirth to technologies (AI and humanoid). She presents a non-anthropocentric view, calling for a recalibration of human perceptions of robots and technology.
Moderated by Khayal | Aired on Nov 11, 2020 | 17.30 IST
Palash Bhattacharjee discusses his background, his artistic process, his influences and plans for the future. Nadia Samndani shares her experiences in organising the Dhaka Art Summit, and the rising global interest in South Asian art. Both speakers also shed light on the contemporary arts scene in Bangladesh, with a special focus on Chittagong.
Moderated by Dr. Selvam Thorez, Director, Alliance Francaise, Chittagong | Aired on Nov 22, 2020 | 17.30 IST
Faisal Anwar, in conversation with Premjish Achari, discusses his artistic process, focusing on data driven art and the ethical use of social media. He also shares insights on the possibilities for creating dynamic interactive art on digital platforms.
Moderated by Proiti Seal Acharya | Aired on Nov 28, 2020 | 17.30 IST
Curators of the festival, Khayal and Proiti Seal Acharya will deliver the closing note and announce the open call for media artists in South Asia in presence of M. Emmanuel LEBRUN-DAMIENS, counsellor for Education, Science and Culture at the French Embassy in India. The discussion with the counsellor shall throw light on the happenings of the festival and some ideas for future collaborations in the subcontinent.
Drawings by Parvathi Nayar, Handdrawn graphite on wooden boards: Neither one nor the other 1, Neither one nor the other 2, With which to cross the rivers, Ripple, Riptide (clockwise on desktop)
When legendary French-Swiss architect Le Corbusier designed the layout of Chandigarh, he never included Sector 13, because 13 is considered to be an unlucky number in European cultures. Furthermore, every sector of the city and their opposite sectors add up to 13 or its multiples. These superstitions, in the context of Chandigarh’s master plan are the starting point of a reflection on architecture and post-colonialism in this film. It traces the paths of sector 17, a commercial area in the centre of Chandigarh. The correspondence between Swiss architect Pierre Jeanneret and Corbuiser also features in the film.
Pierrick Mouton is a Paris- based visual artist whose work examines multiple narrative models that bring to light the roles of the subject and the author. His engages with film, installation and sound. In the process of crafting documentaries, he conducts immersive research with different groups and communities.
His work has been exhibited at Salon de Montrouge (Paris), Villa Belleville (Paris), Institut Français (Chandigarh), Rencontres internationales (Paris – Berlin) etc.
Researcher and Curator Anushka Rajendran will share her insights on curating digital exhibitions, and discuss the implications of the format for South Asian arts especially in the current times of crisis. What is the future of media and digital arts? With Khayal and Proiti Seal Acharya (Media Art South Asia) | 20th November, 5.30 pm
Anushka Rajendran is a curator and art writer based in New Delhi. She is the curator for Prameya Art Foundation (PRAF), a not-for-profit arts organisation based in New Delhi committed to approaches that enable audience-thinking for contemporary art in India. She is also the Festival Curator of the 2021 edition of Colomboscope and was assistant curator for Kochi-Muziris Biennale 2018. As a research scholar, Anushka is completing her PhD in Visual Studies at the School of Arts and Aesthetics, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi. Her research traces how the notion of ‘public’ has acquired alternative significance to contemporary Indian art since 2004. Her previous MPhil research focused on the adoption of installation art by artists in India in the early 1990s to address collective and personal trauma. For her curatorial practice, she has been awarded fellowships that supported residencies with Aomori Contemporary Art Center, Aomori, Japan; the International Studio & Curatorial Program (ISCP), New York (by Inlaks Shivdasani Foundation); and Theertha International Artists’ Collective, Colombo. Her contribution as an art writer and editor was recognized in 2015 when she received the Art Scribes Award for emerging/mid-career art writers of Indian origin.
Toulouse Hacker Space Factory with Pauline Fournier, Curator | 8th Nov 2020, 5.30 PM
For the past decade, THSF has been a meeting place for different kinds of hacker cultures. The festival has invited groups working on free software and hardware, Do It Yourself philosophies, reappropriation of technologies, art and science, defense of rights and freedoms on the internet, computer security, media and citizen investigation, and politics and society. This meeting of diverse practices is structured around conferences, workshops, exhibitions, installations, performances, concerts, and workshops, as well as a 24-hour hacker residency. Through these events, it caters not only to its participants, but to general audiences as well: allowing everyone to discover, question, build and share a unique artistic landscape.
Please note that the conversation will be in French.
Pauline Fournier is a French curator, who co-organised Toulouse Hacker Space Factory for five years. On her arrival in Toulouse after studying Arts and Culture, Pauline pushed and widened the scope of Tetalab, a Toulouse hackerspace, fanned by her curiosity about the field. Over the years, she observed, understood, helped, and co-organised several editions of the Toulouse Hacker Space Factory festival.
Natacha (Project Incommon), Aisha and Jasmine (Hidden Pockets) | 7th Nov 2020, 5.30 PM
Jasmine and Aisha George (Hidden Pockets, Bangalore) in conversation with Natacha (In Common, France), on leveraging technology to benefit local communities. Moderated by Proiti Seal Acharya, co-curator, Deconfine | 7th November, Saturday | 5.30 pm
Project Incommon
IN COMMON is a cooperative data library that allows civil society and social economy actors to map and share their data. The IN COMMON project brings together different community mapping projects, it aims to share information on community resources and to support the articulation of citizens’ movements around a shared platform.
IN COMMON aims to:
Natacha is active in free software communities, and in related academic and art practices. She has been an active member of several groups producing critical software, alternative social media and art installations in Europe, such as Experientiae Electricae, Constant vzw, and dyne.org. She recently co-founded the research organization Petites Singularites in Brussels, which concentrates on the specificities of free software and particularly its benefits to collective practices.
Hidden Pockets
Hidden Pockets Collective is an India based charity organisation run by young people focussed on rights based framework on abortion and adolescent sexuality. It conducts research and gathers community driven information on sexual and reproductive health and helps policy makers in making community assisted decisions.
Aisha Lovely George is the Fellow of the Unleash Innovation Lab,Copenhagen and the Fellow of Asia Safe Abortion Partnership (ASAP), India. She is also a Trained Peer Educator by Enfold, India. As an Executive Coordinator at Hidden Pockets Collective for the last 4 years she has budgeted, coordinated and executed various projects. As a trained counsellor and a trained sexuality educator, Aisha has been developing Comprehensive Sexuality Education (CSE) curriculums in India. She has been using audio podcast methods to educate young people in government schools and underserved communities. She has been awarded for her contributions by Digital Empowerment Foundation’s (DEF) Social Media for Empowerment Award and Population First’s Laadli Award.
Jasmine Lovely George is a lawyer, TEDx Speaker and sexual and reproductive health advocate who sees social value in technology. As a feminist activist she is working on Sexual and Reproductive Rights as a member of RESURJ – an international feminist collective. She founded the Hidden Pockets Collective and currently works as the Coordinator of Knowledge Production. The collective works within the intersection of sustainable development, health and cities. She is a fellow of Women Deliver, and also received the YCI Rise Up Fellowship.
6th November 2020 | 17h30 IST – 13h00 CET
The inaugural session of confine will introduce audiences to the festival.
Festival curators Khayal and Proiti Seal Acharya (Media Art South Asia)
will outline the key themes and share details about the artists, the online exhibition, the panel discussions and the workshop. The session will be attended by representatives of all partner organisations.
Hannah Loué, Charge de Projets – Département Numérique, French Institute Paris,
will introduce Novembre Numerique, the yearly initiative by Institut Francais to facilitate critical engagement with digital culture across the globe. confine is a response to the vision outlined by Novembre Numerique.
Jean-François Hans, Director, Asie Océanie de la fondation des Alliances Francaises,
will talk about the Alliance Francaise’s work in Asia, fostering intercultural exchanges within the region and beyond.
Gael de Kerguenec, Director, Alliance Francaise Ahmedabad
will highlight confine as one of the first collaborations between the Alliance Francaises across South Asia, and reveal plans to build on this for future events.
The session will end with a virtual walk through the exhibition, conducted by the curators.