JOIN USIn a move to steer the arts scene forward in Bengaluru, India Foundation for the Arts unveiled its second edition of ‘Project 560’, where they select grantees so that artists can work on their projects concerning public space intervention.
Project 560 seeks to rediscover Bengaluru and connect artists to the citizens through unique artistic interventions across the city.
It is an opportunity for artists to innovatively use found and non-proscenium spaces, envisaging them through different lenses and bringing them alive through performance.
The artists who have received grants through these projects are Anuradha Venkataraman, Archana Prasad, Mangala N, Prathibha Nandakumar, S Ramanatha and Shaunak Mahbubani.
Anuradha Venkataram worked towards creating a dance and theatrical performance that engages with the psychological, sociological and political understandings of war and its diverse representations within the museum space.
Archana looked at an installation of an old-fashioned telephone booth-like structure under the Yeshwanthpur flyover that functioned as a story-telling machine, which recaptures a rapidly transforming Malleswaram, through recorded interviews of its residents.
Mangala also worked on a multi-sensory artistic experience at one of Bengaluru’s oldest restaurants, The Vidyarthi Bhavan, located in Gandhi Bazaar. Shaunak Mahbubani worked on a series of multi-disciplinary artistic interventions, including performances and installations, in Chikpet’s 100-year old Mohan Building, through an engagement with the multi-layered narratives of the space and its inhabitants.
Prathibha worked on her poetry performance, ‘ondu lessu ondu plussu’, a photo exhibition and an installation at the site of an old Bengaluru coffee shop.
At this intervention – ‘Mini Coffee’ – she provided a glimpse into exploring the coffee culture and many other contributions of the City. Ramanatha received a grant for a theatrical performance inspired by the life and works of theatre legend BV Karanth, at Karanth's former house in Girinagar. These performances will culminate with a three-day festival in December 2015.