events - programmes

Thursday, May 13, 2010

An evening with Gieve Patel

The artist will be available for discussion from 5.00 pm onwards
Walkthrough of his exhibition will begin at 05.30 pm onwards at Chemould Prescott Road

Wednesday May 19, 2010 at 7.30 p.m.

KHOJ International Artists’ Association and Harper Collins Publishers India in association with Chemould Prescott Road

Presents the launch of
THE KHOJ BOOK: 1997-2007: CONTEMPORARY ART PRACTICE IN INIDIA
at Chemould Prescott Road, Mumbai

The book will be released by Gieve Patel

Tuesday, April 13, 2010

Aftermath of Desire: Kashmir, Kashmiris and the Burdens of Representation
- Lecture by Dr Ananya Jahanara Kabir

at Jnanapravaha, Queens Mansion,
3rd floor, G.Talwatkar Marg (Above BMB gallery)
Fort, Mumbai - 400 001
06:00 pm onwards

For more details log on to www.jp-india.org

Wednesday, April 7, 2010

A walkthrough with Nilima Sheikh of her exhibition,
"Each night put Kashmir in your dreams"
at Chemould Prescott Road
from 4.45 pm to 5.45 pm

Followed by a lecture by Saleem Beg on
Cultural Resources of Kashmir – Mapping and Conservation
at Jnanapravaha, Queens Mansion, 3rd floor, G.Talwatkar Marg (Above BMB gallery)
Fort, Mumbai - 400 001
on Wednesday, 7 April, 2010
6:00 pm onwards

For more details log on to www.jp-india.org

Metamorphisis: A personal journey in clay
A lecture by Madhvi Subrahmanian

Madhvi Subrahmanian will discuss methods and processes in the feild of ceramics, from traditional to contemporary practices. She will focus on conceptual ideas, the development of her practice and her current works on view at Chemould Prescott Road.
The exhibition continues until Saturday, February 13, 2010

At Jnanapravaha, Queens Mansion, 3rd floor, G.Talwatkar Marg (above BMB gallery)
Fort, Mumbai - 400 001
on Friday, January 22, 2010
at 6:00 pm

Asia Society and Chemould Prescott Road Presents
An illustrated talk by Maya Kóvskaya
Discussant: Tejal Shahv

On Chinese Contemporary Art – video performance and conceptual photography.

At Chemould Prescott Road
On Thursday, 29 October, 2009
6.30 pm onwards
Registration opens at 6.00 pm

Maya Kóvskaya (PhD UC Berkeley) is a Beijing-based art critic, curator, translator, scholar and consultant with over a decade of experience living in China.

Asia Society, Jnanapravaha and Chemould Prescott Road present
"Defining Asian Contemporary Art" with Chaitanya V Sambrani
on 22nd July, 2009 at 6:30 pm at Jnanapravaha.

Registration will commence at 6:00 pm.
RSVP at programs@asiasociety.org.in

Contemporary Asian art: where can you find it? What makes it "Asian"? What makes it "contemporary"?
Since the early 1990s, the lineaments of international contemporary art have been transformed by the emergence of dynamic "new" art cultures in Asia and other parts of the non-Euroamerican world. This illustrated lecture seeks to situate the production of these "new" practices in terms of modernist histories in several Asian contexts, and their consumption and dissemination under the cultural politics of art institutions-museums and biennales-in a constantly shifting "international" arena.

Chaitanya Sambrani completed his masters degree at the Faculty of Fine Arts, Baroda, and his PhD at the Australian National University, Canberra, where he is Senior Lecturer in Art Theory. Among other things, he teaches courses on modernist and contemporary art practice across India, Indonesia, China and Japan.

Jnanapravaha, 3rd floor, Queens mansion, G Talwatkar Marg, fort, Mumbai - 400001

Under The Surface: Anant Joshi, Tushar Joag, and Hema Upadhyay

"Under The Surface" presents new installation works by Bombay/Mumbai-based artists Anant Joshi, Tushar Joag, and Hema Upadhyay, each exhibiting for the first time in Vienna at Krinzinger Projekte in collaboration with Chemould Prescott Road, Mumbai. These artists prioritize real, pressing problems of urban India in their practices, often through the disguise of playful imagery drawn from sources including popular cartoons, toy action figures, and comic book fantasy. In their installations conceived specifically for Krinzinger Projekte, all three artists draw their viewers into subversive and cynical warnings on sinister realities lurking beneath attractive and fun surfaces - by using plastic or wooden toys and pop-up books as their primary medium.
Anant Joshi's "Tampering with the Muse Trap" is a multi-part installation composed of agglomerations of reworked plastic toys. Joshi fashions the toys into semi-abstracted forms including a "Smiley Castle" and a "Smiley Tower," with the plastic figure "Smiley" as Joshi's starring, ironic muse. Melting the toys into new shapes disables their conventional function as entertainment for children and comments on the excessive waste and inanity of fabricating the toys in overheated and dangerous factory conditions in places like China and India. The series uses dramatic spectacle to convey Joshi's revulsion for the accepted, subtle violence and rituals of ordinary urban life.
Tushar Joag's project builds on his work as an artist-activist through the mock corporation UNICELL that he "founded" in 2004. UNICELL publicizes common problems in Bombay by mimicking the problems of a single-bodied governmental bureaucracy, and publicizes fanciful solutions that could never be implemented. In these works, Joag uses the form of colorfully illustrated, open pop-up books to comment on the irresponsible redevelopment of Bombay without consideration for the city's heritage or socio-economic needs. When opened, "Suitcase of the Urban Planner" shows a haunted replica of Bombay's historic and central Crawford Market (a grand century-old wholesale market), which the government has recently threatened to move out of the city and into the fast developing satellite township of Bombay, known as "New Bombay." . Shifting Crawford Market would result in the loss of thousands of jobs and revenue, and would be an irreparable loss for the city's history.
Hema Upadhyay's practice confronts issues of displacement and belonging for an emigrant to Bombay, with her work often privileging impressions of the urban landscape and the performative gesture. In "Cell," Upadhyay painstakingly constructs a large-scale abstract form from flat wooden puzzle pieces sourced in Chinese markets. "Cell" ironically denies the expectation that a completed puzzle should depict a recognizable image, instead highlighting the fragility, individuality, and mutability of each piece. Sourcing the pieces from China reflects on the changing capital and availability of imported goods in India, and the loss of one's own identity in a global market. Upadhyay's construction at once evokes a womb-like "formless form" in which organic cells intermingle and adapt in the body, and a claustrophobic prison cell in which the viewer as consumer is locked into a role in a commercial market.
These interlinked projects explore the dynamic possibilities of Krinzinger Projeckte's space, enticing viewers to engage the installations from multiple perspectives and distance so that what seems readable at first and on the surface as elements of fun and games are, on closer looking, provocations about personal boundaries/identities, social/urban violence, and political action. Together, these three artists compose a trenchant and subtle commentary on some of the most pressing anxieties facing urban India today, and offer an innovative context to see contemporary art from Bombay/Mumbai in Vienna.

Beth Citron

Vernissage: Presentations and Screenings:
Friday, 14 November, 6.00 pm – 9.00pm, at Jnanapravaha
Saturday, 15 November, 11.00 am – 6.00 pm, at Chemould Prescott Road and 6.00 pm onwards, at Jnanapravaha

Over two days, ten artists, critics and enthusiasts present a "recuration" of the 40 Years of German Video Art, (http://www.40jahrevideokunst.de) a collection being circulated by the German Cultural Foundation. These respondents bring to the archive their own urgencies and preoccupations, and suggest that this "package" can be re-read as a history of encounter and entanglement between various disciplines, geographies, schools of thought, agents and artforms.

For further information please log on to http://camputer.org/event.php?id=45

Desmond Lazaro studied under the master pichhvai artist, Bannu Ved Pal Sharma for over 12 years. The first part of the talk focuses on traditional methods and materials of Pichhvai Painting, a subject often ignored by contemporary dialogue, but as Lazaro will suggest, it is a vital part of our artistic diaspora. It lead to a PhD in the subject, culminating in a book published by Mapin titled Materials Methods and Symbolism in the Pichhvai Painting Tradition of Rajasthan.
This will be followed by a discussion lead by Dr. Naman Ahuja, who is the associate professor of Indian Art at J.N.U. New Delhi.

Lazaro will then do a informal walk, through his current exhibition at Chemould Prescott Road, where he uses traditional techniques of miniature and Pichhvai painting in which this new work introduces contemporary imagery wherein 'context and meaning' inevitably shift.

Jnanapravaha, 3rd floor, Queens Mansion, (Above Yantra),
G. Talwatkar Marg, Fort, Mumbai - 1
www.jp-india.org

In response to Vivan Sundaram's installation, Twelve Bed Ward, Rehaan Engineer has directed an extract from Howard Barker's "UND" [1999]
(Click to view Vivan's exhibition details)

The text is a compelling study in self-deception and manipulation, a poetic examination of misplaced hope, the complexities of self-image, and individual complicity with evil.

In this extract for a solo performer is played by Radhika Mital

A woman waits for a guest. The guest is late. Time passes. Will he come? The tea grows cold. She continues to wait. Has he abandoned her?

Running time, approximately 30 minutes.

Following the performance, Vivan Sundaram will speak about aspects of performativity and collaborations within his own art practice, especially including his videos. Rehaan Engineer will participate.

Vivan will go on to speak about the exhibition, Trash, and his continuing project to map the city from different vantage points, filters, lenses. He will situate this exhibition in the larger body of his work.

Artist's talk, approximately 30 minutes.

Indian Aesthetics
Oscillating between the twin codes of pop and agitprop, Jitish Kallat's work addresses the classic themes of survival and the endless narratives of human struggle.
The artist will present an illustrated lecture and then lead the audience on a 'walk through' of his exhibition at the adjacent Chemould Prescott Gallery.

The film will be followed by a discussion with Pushpamala and the well-known film maker Mani Kaul The film will be held at the Little Theatre, NCPA, Mumbai from 6.30 onwards. Please be seated by 6.15. Click for more details.

Recently retired as Principal Cellist of the Bavarian State Opera under Maestro Zubin Mehta, Mr Friedrich Kleinknecht is in India to introduce the cello and share his musical expertise with young music students at the Mehli Mehta Music Foundation. Mehroo Jeejeebhoy needs little introduction to concert audiences in Mumbai. She is an accomplished pianist and has performed often with several visiting musicians. Her interest and passion for music led her to establish the Mehli Mehta Music Foundation. She is the moving spirit behind the Foundation's annual chamber music Festival 'Sangat'. Among the works Mr Kleinknecht and Mrs Jeejeebhoy will perform, is the, The Swan by Saint-Saens.