KIPAF
2014 invites fellow performers/artists to participate in this issue of
performance festival to be held in Kolkata from 23rd to 26th of January, 2014.
Curatorial
Note
Every
Indian city has its specific forms and activities of everyday and mundane,
emerged/emerging in the process of modernization of urban space. The uniqueness
of those specific forms has been in constant existential tussle with the newer
and, more exploitative forms of capitalism, from quite some time now.
Figuratively the city of Kolkata today stands between an aspiration for neo
liberal future—to be a global city, and an imagination which revolts against
the idea, along with anxiety about the widespread violence that would ensue.
Available political discourses represent this moment of flux to make a case in
favor of or against development. We at KIPAF see this ‘tussle’ as living proof of the politically conscious, represented in
their mundane expressions of resistance, as the city seeks to live up to
another surge of global modernism. One of the sites for widely experiencing
this politically rich content is Kolkata’s street culture. We offer you a
platform to explore this political edge in the ‘mundane expressions of bared
souls’ of the city by delving into the everyday, and articulating through your
performances how the city symbolizes ways of resisting as well as negotiating
identity—the very material condition of being human, as well as its foreclosures.
This
year we plan to continue with our emphasis on movement as a way of being, and
remember the travels of Parvez Kabir, a fellow artist and faculty at
Kalabhaban, Shantiniketan, who left us rather suddenly this year. We shall use
interactive spaces of everyday life as our platforms, move from one place to
another, through serpentine alleys, performing as we go. We shall study the
travels between life and death in the city’s old architectural inheritances—the
ruined remains. We shall travel by tram, which too shares with Kolkata the
paradox of being anachronistic as well as indispensable. We shall take over roof tops to recreate
interactive spaces for performance, and perform at the Ganges ghat.
Performers
independent will host and arrange for accommodation and food of the guest
participants at our homes and studios. We cannot however provide travel
expenses to and from Kolkata.
KIPAF 2014 : our annual
commune to expand the circle of friends
Our
position:
We
don’t ask for project proposals from artists. We would like to invite everybody
interested. Unfortunately as our resources are limited we have to stop at a
certain point. So please touch us as soon as you want. We are open to receive
small notes and visuals from the participants briefing their existing work and
if they are planning anything for KIPAF-14.And of course, they do not need to
stick to what they send. They can do whatever in the festival. But, this will
expand our archive of communication and space for dialogue, and also help in
planning the festival little better in terms of logistics and scheduling etc.
We
don’t aim to create any commodity or service.
We
try to create an atmosphere for communication among artists and friends and
also with the place and its people. We presume that art rises or falls out of
atmospheres.
Performance
art offers us a medium where diverse disciplines can meet. We try to work with
the bare minimum as far as money is concerned.
We
organize KIPAF with small contributions and donations from friends and public
bodies. We think it necessary to keep this festival as a place to practice art
and interaction outside the patronage of big capital.
We
are unable to offer the artists remunerations or travel expenses to and from
Kolkata. We take responsibilities of the artists’ stay, food and local
conveyance in Kolkata.
We are basically trying to work with the science and art of our traditional hospitality and local fair ( shadhu-shanga ) practices in our present art and urban contexts.
email
address: kipaf2013@gmail.com
For
More information contact
Syed
Taufik Riaz (+919674259397)
