Tag Archives: DAI

Collection of photos from Kolkata and Santiniketan, by DAI students

DAI students

the grounds of Jorasanko Thakur Bari, Tagore’s House in Kolkata

on the train to Bolpur

rice fields

The Kala Bhavan campus, Visva Bharati University, Santiniketan

At Visva-Bharati studios

At Santiniketan

Santiniketan

The Kala Bhavan campus, Visva Bharati University, Santiniketan

Santhal Family sculpture by Ramkinkar Baij, 1938

Wendelien van Oldenborgh photographing the Santhal Family Sculpture

Santhal family, sculpture

Visva Bharati University, Santiniketan

The Kala Bhavan campus, Visva Bharati University, Santiniketan

Subramanyan Mastermoshai Studio murals, Visva Bharati University, Santiniketan

Gabrielle Schleijpen on ‘The Home and the World’

Gabrielle Schleijpen talks about Internationalism and being at home through her experience of running DAI, which does not have a home.

Gabrielle Schleijpen

photo by Malthe Stigaard

Trained as an artist Gabriëlle Schleijpen’s lively interest in the intersections between art and theory, the poetical and the political, soon led her to break away from the ‘splendid isolation’ of the studio – to become a full time educator and curator of discursive programs and research projects. Alongside her position as the director of the Dutch Art Institute, school for art, research, experiment, roaming, curating, performance, writing and publishing, she is also the curator in chief at the Studium Generale Rietveld Academie, a cross disciplinary, rambling theory program. Gabriëlle Schleijpen is furthermore active as a chairwoman at the boards of If I Can’t Dance I Don’t Want To Be Part Of Your Revolution and MetropolisM.

Gabriëlle lives and works between Arnhem and Amsterdam.

Other links:
Voice creature of transition
Where are we going Walt Whitman

Wendelien van Oldenborgh

Wendelien van Oldenborgh develops works, whereby the cinematic format is used as a methodology for production and as the basic language for various forms of presentation. She often uses the format of a public film shoot, collaborating with participants in different scenarios, to co-produce a script and orientate the work towards its final outcome. With these works, which look at the structures that form and hinder us, she participated in various large biennials, and in smaller dedicated shows. Recent presentation include La Javanaise in the 12th Biennial of Cuena (EC) (2014) Après la reprise, la prise in ‘Art Turning Left’, Tate Liverpool (2013); Cinema Bete & Deise in ‘Dear Art’ by What How and for Whom, Calvert 22, London (2013); Supposing I love you. And you also love me (2011) in ‘Speech Matters’, Danish Pavilion, Venice Biennial 2011. Van Oldenborgh has exhibited widely including in Transit Display Prague (CZ), RAW Material Company Dakar (SN) van Abbemuseum Eindhoven (NL), Muhka Antwerp (B), Generali Foundation Vienna and Museum Muzeum Sztuki in Lodz (PL) as well as the 4rth Moscow Biennial 2011, the 29e Bienal de Sao Paulo 2010 and at the 11th Istanbul Biennial 2009.

Wendelien van Oldenborgh has been awarded the 2014 Dr A.H. Heineken Prize for Art.

‘A Well Respected Man’ or a book of echoes

Workshop 2: Santiniketan, West Bengal, 30 January -7 February 2014

The second workshop takes place in Kolkata and Santiniketan, Tagore’s experimental school in West Bengal, in collaboration with Visva-Bharati University and the Dutch Art Institute.

photo by Wendelien van Oldenborg

With: Andrea Phillips, Grant Watson, Anjalika Sagar, Anshuman Dasgupta, Wendelien van Oldbenborg, Rustom Bharucha and students from the Dutch Art institute.

[PDF] ‘Curating, Pedagogy – some thoughts for Santiniketan‘, by Andrea Phillips.

The second workshop took place in collaboration with DAI and Vivsra Bharati staff and students and involved an extended research visit to historical sites of Tagore’s life and work in Kolkata, engagement with the contemporary legacy of his learning community at Santiniketan, detailed investigation of the works made by artists for the Santiniketan campus both during and after Tagore’s life as well as time learning about the Santhal community whose livelihoods and culture are bound into the Santiniketan and Sriniketan environment.

We spent most of our time walking and listening to the knowledge of those members of the research group based at Santiniketan, Kolkata and New Delhi, and their colleagues. Members of the research group ate together and discussed questions and ideas every evening. On the last evening in Santiniketan we had a summary discussion.

Itinerary:
Thursday 30 Jan: Victoria Memorial museum, Kolkata.
Friday 31 Jan: KG Subramanyan exhibition, Gallerie 88; Rabindra Bharati Museum, Josanko, Kolkata.
Saturday 1 Feb: seminar with Rustom Bharucha, Santiniketan.
Sunday 2 Feb: lecture by Rustom Bharucha on Another Asia, Santiniketan.
Monday 3 Feb: visit to Tagore’s houses on the Visva-Bharati campus; visit to the Tagore archive; lecture by Shiv Kumar, [title].
Listen to Anshuman Dasgupta talk about Visva-Bharati Campus’ murals
Tuesday 4 Feb: presentations by Dutch Art Institute and Kala Bhavan students; studio tour; presentations by Wendelien van Oldenburg and Anjalika Sagar.
Weds 5 Feb: Santhal Informal School; Santhal Museum.
Thurs 6 Feb: Sriniketan Institute for Rural Reconstruction.
Sriniketan – Craft as an Education of Living, by Kim Schonewille
Friday 7 Feb: Sanchayan Ghosh exhibition, Experimenter; Indian Museum, Kolkata.

Listen to the research group final discussion in Santiniketan

[PDF] Notes from Workshop 2, Santiniketan 6 Feb 2014.

Eona McCallum photos of Kolkata and Santiniketan

Santiniketan, photo by Eona McCallum

Listen to Anshuman Dasgupta talk on Santiniketan’s Murals as he takes the group around the campus.

Wendelien van Oldenborgh photos of Kolkata and Santiniketan

Santiniketan Pictures

At Visva-Bharati studios, courtesy of DAI

see DAI’s report on this meeting

Grant Watson

Grant Watson is Senior Curator and Research Associate at the Institute of International Visual Arts in London (Iniva). As curator at the Museum van Hedendaagse Kunst Antwerpen (MuHKA) 2006 – 2010 his projects included Santhal Family positions around an Indian sculpture, Cornelius Cardew, Search for the Spirit, Textiles Art and the Social Fabric and the Keywords lecture series. He was previously the Curator of Visual Arts at Project in Dublin between 2001 and 2006 where he focused on solo commissions from contemporary Irish and international artists as well as themed projects such as a series on communism that included an exhibition, book and radio programme. Watson has worked with modern and contemporary Indian art since 1999, researching this subject for Documenta 12, as well as co curating Reflections on Indian Modernism a series of exhibitions, talks and events at the Office for Contemporary Art Norway (OCA). The touring exhibition Nasreen Mohamedi: Notes is the first instalment of this programme. Watson studied Curating and Visual Cultures at Goldsmiths College London where he is currently a PhD candidate.