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October 2002
Newsletter- October 2002
Contents:
I Independent Research Fellowship Presentations @Sarai
II Sarai @ Vidarte 2002, Mexico City
III Sarai @ Free Software and Liberal Arts Conference, Trivandrum
IV Sarai @ Linux Workshop, Kolkata
V Presentation @ Sarai
VI Films @ Sarai: Asian Film Cultures: Iranian Cinema
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I. Independent Research Fellowship Presentations @ SARAI
The last month saw the completion of presentations by the first group of
Independent Research Fellows of Sarai. Below is a synopsis of their
presentations.
Dalit Public Culture in Maharashtra
Sharmila Rege
Sharmila Rege's enquiry into Dalit public culture took her to Nagpur and to
areas in Mumbai where Ambedkarite Dalits often congregate. She has
extensively collected and documented materials available in these spaces
including cassettes, Ambedkarite calendars, books etc. She has also
interviewed performers and visitors to these local gatherings to build an
insight into a Dalit public "counterculture" that has rarely been studied.
Sharmila Rege is in the process of building an archive on Dalit counterculture.
Changing Identities? Urban neighbourhoods and caste formations in Delhi.
Akshay Mukul
Akshay Mukul has been researching 'biradiri' communities in Delhi,
specifically the Chandelas, who have a long history in Delhi; the Mirpuris,
who migrated to Delhi after Partition; and the Gawalas, mainly consisting
of Gujjar families who have been slowly settling in Delhi over the last
century. He focused on the changing identities within the communities and
their relationship to the power structures in the city.
Urban Landscapes : Publics & Public Time/Space Composites
Yasmeen Arif
Yasmeen Arif concentrated her study on the area around the Jama Masjid. She
has used early Delhi Master Plans, tourist guide books and interviews with
people living and working in the area to examine the layered spatiality and
temporality of one of the city's old landmarks.
II. Sarai @ Vidarte 2002, Mexico City
Ranita Chatterjee from Sarai curated a set of new media works from India
for Vidarte 2002, the Festival of video and electronic arts, held at the
Palacio Postal, Mexico City, from August 27 to September 7, 2002.
The festival had a competitive section open to artists from the Americas
and also showcased contemporary new media art works from Australia, Africa,
Israel, Eastern and Western Europe, as well as from the United States.
Participants included Bill Viola, independent video artist; John Hanhardt,
senior curator of films and media arts at the Guggenheim Foundation, New
York; David Ross, Director, Planning Committee, Rhizome; Benjamin Weil,
curator of new media at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art; Ars
Electonica (Linz) and Experimenta Media Arts, Australia.
She also participated in the conferences that were held in tandem with the
festival.
III. Sarai @ Free Software and Liberal Arts Conference, Trivandrum
Supreet Sethi and Tripta Chandola from Sarai participated in the conference
held on September 8, 2002. Discussions focused on the many ways free
software philosophy, open source and copyright issues are currently
perceived in India.
Some of the presentations included 'Free Software and IPR Paradigms' by
Satish Babu, President, Free Software Foundation, India; 'On Economics of
Free Software' by Alexandre Gaudeil, Research Student, University of
Toulouse, France; 'Omega: Philosophy and Practice' by John Plaice,
Developer and 'Freedom in Creativity and Creativity in Freedom' by Waagish
Shukla, Director, Mahatma Gandhi International Hindi University.
IV. Sarai @ Linux Workshop, Kolkata
The workshop held on September 18 and 19, 2002, was conducted by Mrityunjoy
Chatterjee and Pankaj Kaushal from Sarai and by Linux Users Group Calcutta.
An introductory talk on the history and philosophy of Linux was followed by
a demonstration of Linux based programs including the operating system Open
Office and Gimp, an image manipulation software. The participants, which
included software programmers, artists and film makers, also learnt to
install Linux on their desktops.
V. Presentation @ Sarai
Monday, October 7, 2002, 4.30 pm
Digital Arts, Sustainable Knowledge
by Michael Saup
Professor of Digital Media & Media Art, ZKM, Karlsruhe, Germany
This presentation is in collaboration with Max Mueller Bhavan, New Delhi.
VI. Films @ Sarai: Asian Film Cultures: Iranian Cinema
All screenings are on Fridays, 4:30 pm, at the Seminar Room, Centre for the
Study of Developing Societies, 29 Rajpur Road, Delhi -110054.
The films are listed in the order of screening.
October 4, 2002, 4:30 pm
Gabbeh
Director: Mohsen Makhmalbaf, Iran, 1996, 72 minutes
'Gabbeh' is a brilliantly colorful, profoundly romantic ode to beauty,
nature, love and art. Mohsen Makhmalbaf originally traveled to the remote
steppes of southeastern Iran to document the lives of an almost extinct
tribe of nomads. For centuries, these wandering families created special
carpets, `Gabbeh', that served both as artistic expression and
autobiographical record of the lives of the weavers. Spellbound by the
exotic countryside, and by the tales behind the Gabbehs, Makhmalbaf's
intended documentary evolved into a fictional love story which uses a
gabbeh as a magic story -telling device weaving past and present, fantasy
and reality.
On the banks of a stream, an old woman and her husband are washing their
Gabbeh. From this carpet comes forth a beautiful young woman aptly named
Gabbeh who shares her epic tale: she is desperately in love with a
mysterious horseman who follows her clan from afar. Delicately interlaced
with this simple and touching love story are the people whose lives are
shaped by the rhythms of nature, and who instinctively express the joys and
sorrows of life through song, poetry and the tales they tell in their
brilliantly-hued weavings.
October 11, 2002, 4:30 pm
Kandahar
Director: Mohsen Makhmalbaf, Iran, 2001, 85 minutes
Nafas is a young Afghan journalist who has taken refuge in Canada. She
receives a desperate letter from her little sister, who has stayed behind
in Afghanistan and has decided to end her life before the imminently
approaching eclipse of the sun. Nafas fled her country during the Taliban
civil war. She decides to go and help her sister in Kandahar and attempts
to cross the Iran-Afghanistan border
October 18, 2002, 4:30 pm
A Moment of Innocence
Director Mohsen Makhmalbaf, Iran/France, 1996, 78 minutes
As a teenager Makhmalbaf had been a member of a militant anti-Shah group
and at 17 he was arrested and imprisoned for an incident in which a
policeman was stabbed. Twenty years later, during the cattle-call casting
session that served as premise for Salaam Cinema that same policeman, now a
civilian, would unexpectedly turn up hoping to land an acting job.
Makhmalbaf refused him an audition, but later convinced the ex-cop to
collaborate with him on another film project: a reconstruction of the
events which had first brought them tragically together so many years before.
The wickedly original 'A Moment of Innocence' is both the comic record of
that collaboration and the intriguing result: a puzzlebox blend of
documentary and drama in which conflicting memories and long-hidden secrets
recast reality in ever new and revealing ways.
October 25, 2002, 4:30 pm
The Circle
Jafar Panahi, Iran, 2000, 90 minutes
Jafar Panahi's 'The Circle' focuses on the story of three women who have
just escaped from jail. The film anxiously and poetically flutters away
from one story to another, each telling the tale of a woman (or women)
afflicted with the pains of second-class citizenship. During the film's
90-minute time span, we never learn why the women were in jail or where
they are running to and who they are running from.
Carried by Panahi's panicky camera, the women seem to recognize the nature
of each others plight and find that their connections to each other can be
as emotionally liberating as they can be logistically dangerous.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
That's the programme for the month.
Cheers
Ranita
The Sarai Programme
Centre for the Study of Developing Societies
29 Rajpur Road, Delhi - 110054.
www.sarai.net
Contents:
I Independent Research Fellowship Presentations @Sarai
II Sarai @ Vidarte 2002, Mexico City
III Sarai @ Free Software and Liberal Arts Conference, Trivandrum
IV Sarai @ Linux Workshop, Kolkata
V Presentation @ Sarai
VI Films @ Sarai: Asian Film Cultures: Iranian Cinema
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I. Independent Research Fellowship Presentations @ SARAI
The last month saw the completion of presentations by the first group of
Independent Research Fellows of Sarai. Below is a synopsis of their
presentations.
Dalit Public Culture in Maharashtra
Sharmila Rege
Sharmila Rege's enquiry into Dalit public culture took her to Nagpur and to
areas in Mumbai where Ambedkarite Dalits often congregate. She has
extensively collected and documented materials available in these spaces
including cassettes, Ambedkarite calendars, books etc. She has also
interviewed performers and visitors to these local gatherings to build an
insight into a Dalit public "counterculture" that has rarely been studied.
Sharmila Rege is in the process of building an archive on Dalit counterculture.
Changing Identities? Urban neighbourhoods and caste formations in Delhi.
Akshay Mukul
Akshay Mukul has been researching 'biradiri' communities in Delhi,
specifically the Chandelas, who have a long history in Delhi; the Mirpuris,
who migrated to Delhi after Partition; and the Gawalas, mainly consisting
of Gujjar families who have been slowly settling in Delhi over the last
century. He focused on the changing identities within the communities and
their relationship to the power structures in the city.
Urban Landscapes : Publics & Public Time/Space Composites
Yasmeen Arif
Yasmeen Arif concentrated her study on the area around the Jama Masjid. She
has used early Delhi Master Plans, tourist guide books and interviews with
people living and working in the area to examine the layered spatiality and
temporality of one of the city's old landmarks.
II. Sarai @ Vidarte 2002, Mexico City
Ranita Chatterjee from Sarai curated a set of new media works from India
for Vidarte 2002, the Festival of video and electronic arts, held at the
Palacio Postal, Mexico City, from August 27 to September 7, 2002.
The festival had a competitive section open to artists from the Americas
and also showcased contemporary new media art works from Australia, Africa,
Israel, Eastern and Western Europe, as well as from the United States.
Participants included Bill Viola, independent video artist; John Hanhardt,
senior curator of films and media arts at the Guggenheim Foundation, New
York; David Ross, Director, Planning Committee, Rhizome; Benjamin Weil,
curator of new media at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art; Ars
Electonica (Linz) and Experimenta Media Arts, Australia.
She also participated in the conferences that were held in tandem with the
festival.
III. Sarai @ Free Software and Liberal Arts Conference, Trivandrum
Supreet Sethi and Tripta Chandola from Sarai participated in the conference
held on September 8, 2002. Discussions focused on the many ways free
software philosophy, open source and copyright issues are currently
perceived in India.
Some of the presentations included 'Free Software and IPR Paradigms' by
Satish Babu, President, Free Software Foundation, India; 'On Economics of
Free Software' by Alexandre Gaudeil, Research Student, University of
Toulouse, France; 'Omega: Philosophy and Practice' by John Plaice,
Developer and 'Freedom in Creativity and Creativity in Freedom' by Waagish
Shukla, Director, Mahatma Gandhi International Hindi University.
IV. Sarai @ Linux Workshop, Kolkata
The workshop held on September 18 and 19, 2002, was conducted by Mrityunjoy
Chatterjee and Pankaj Kaushal from Sarai and by Linux Users Group Calcutta.
An introductory talk on the history and philosophy of Linux was followed by
a demonstration of Linux based programs including the operating system Open
Office and Gimp, an image manipulation software. The participants, which
included software programmers, artists and film makers, also learnt to
install Linux on their desktops.
V. Presentation @ Sarai
Monday, October 7, 2002, 4.30 pm
Digital Arts, Sustainable Knowledge
by Michael Saup
Professor of Digital Media & Media Art, ZKM, Karlsruhe, Germany
This presentation is in collaboration with Max Mueller Bhavan, New Delhi.
VI. Films @ Sarai: Asian Film Cultures: Iranian Cinema
All screenings are on Fridays, 4:30 pm, at the Seminar Room, Centre for the
Study of Developing Societies, 29 Rajpur Road, Delhi -110054.
The films are listed in the order of screening.
October 4, 2002, 4:30 pm
Gabbeh
Director: Mohsen Makhmalbaf, Iran, 1996, 72 minutes
'Gabbeh' is a brilliantly colorful, profoundly romantic ode to beauty,
nature, love and art. Mohsen Makhmalbaf originally traveled to the remote
steppes of southeastern Iran to document the lives of an almost extinct
tribe of nomads. For centuries, these wandering families created special
carpets, `Gabbeh', that served both as artistic expression and
autobiographical record of the lives of the weavers. Spellbound by the
exotic countryside, and by the tales behind the Gabbehs, Makhmalbaf's
intended documentary evolved into a fictional love story which uses a
gabbeh as a magic story -telling device weaving past and present, fantasy
and reality.
On the banks of a stream, an old woman and her husband are washing their
Gabbeh. From this carpet comes forth a beautiful young woman aptly named
Gabbeh who shares her epic tale: she is desperately in love with a
mysterious horseman who follows her clan from afar. Delicately interlaced
with this simple and touching love story are the people whose lives are
shaped by the rhythms of nature, and who instinctively express the joys and
sorrows of life through song, poetry and the tales they tell in their
brilliantly-hued weavings.
October 11, 2002, 4:30 pm
Kandahar
Director: Mohsen Makhmalbaf, Iran, 2001, 85 minutes
Nafas is a young Afghan journalist who has taken refuge in Canada. She
receives a desperate letter from her little sister, who has stayed behind
in Afghanistan and has decided to end her life before the imminently
approaching eclipse of the sun. Nafas fled her country during the Taliban
civil war. She decides to go and help her sister in Kandahar and attempts
to cross the Iran-Afghanistan border
October 18, 2002, 4:30 pm
A Moment of Innocence
Director Mohsen Makhmalbaf, Iran/France, 1996, 78 minutes
As a teenager Makhmalbaf had been a member of a militant anti-Shah group
and at 17 he was arrested and imprisoned for an incident in which a
policeman was stabbed. Twenty years later, during the cattle-call casting
session that served as premise for Salaam Cinema that same policeman, now a
civilian, would unexpectedly turn up hoping to land an acting job.
Makhmalbaf refused him an audition, but later convinced the ex-cop to
collaborate with him on another film project: a reconstruction of the
events which had first brought them tragically together so many years before.
The wickedly original 'A Moment of Innocence' is both the comic record of
that collaboration and the intriguing result: a puzzlebox blend of
documentary and drama in which conflicting memories and long-hidden secrets
recast reality in ever new and revealing ways.
October 25, 2002, 4:30 pm
The Circle
Jafar Panahi, Iran, 2000, 90 minutes
Jafar Panahi's 'The Circle' focuses on the story of three women who have
just escaped from jail. The film anxiously and poetically flutters away
from one story to another, each telling the tale of a woman (or women)
afflicted with the pains of second-class citizenship. During the film's
90-minute time span, we never learn why the women were in jail or where
they are running to and who they are running from.
Carried by Panahi's panicky camera, the women seem to recognize the nature
of each others plight and find that their connections to each other can be
as emotionally liberating as they can be logistically dangerous.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
That's the programme for the month.
Cheers
Ranita
The Sarai Programme
Centre for the Study of Developing Societies
29 Rajpur Road, Delhi - 110054.
www.sarai.net