Ila Dalmia FICA Research Grant and other opportunities

The Ila Dalmia FICA Research Grant 2013 The Ila Dalmia FICA Research Grant, instituted by FICA with the help of art historian and writer Yashodhara Dalmia in the memory of her sister Ila Dalmia, aims to provide an annual grant to support research on Indian modern and contemporary art. The grant will be for a sum of Rs. 2 lakhs and will focus on encouraging independent research by students and scholars in India. The application is open to individuals who are committed to researching in the field of visual arts with particular focus on Indian modern and contemporary art. This could include important first-hand research and archiving of art and art historical material, or a critical study of Indian art history, art criticism and practice, or an interdisciplinary analysis of the theory and practice in the visual arts, or studies in the related domains of curation, exhibitions, collection and the art economy. The recipient of the Grant Will be expected to complete their research within the one year period of the grant. Will be given the opportunity to travel to Delhi and present their paper at the annual Ila Dalmia Memorial Lecture to a public audience upon completion. Call for applications for the Ila Dalmia FICA Research Grant 2013 will be opened in June 2013. Click here for more details. Emerging Artist Award 2013 FICA is currently accepting applications for the Emerging Artist Award (EAA) 2013. The award is presented to young Indian artists who demonstrate extraordinary skill and promise in the visual arts. The EAA is presented by FICA in collaboration with Pro Helvetia - Swiss Arts Council, and Vadehra Art Gallery.The Award includes a 12-week residency in Switzerland and a solo exhibition in New Delhi.  Deadline for applications is 30 June 2013. Click here for more details. Other curatorial opportunities The 5th Gwangju Biennale International Curator Course: Deadline for applications 10 May 2013. Click here for more details.  Japan Foundation invites Indian curators for a 3-week programme in Japan. Deadline for applications is 10 May 2013. Click here for more details

FICA : Recipient of Emerging Artist Award 2011

FICA is pleased to announce the recipients of the Emerging Artist Award 2011 -

Sujith SN and Charmi Gada Shah


The Award is one of the three annual support programmes offered by FICA. Initiated in 2007, it seeks to promote young artists studying or practicing in India who demonstrate extraordinary skill and promise in the visual arts. The EAA 2011 is presented in collaboration with Pro Helvetia – Swiss Arts Council, New Delhi, and Vadehra Art Gallery, New Delhi, with additional support from Ms. Shalini Passi. The recipients of the award receive a ninety-day residency in Switzerland in summer 2012, and an exhibition at the Vadehra Art Gallery, New Delhi in August 2013.

The Jury: The recipients were selected by a jury that consisted of artist Bharti Kher, curator Gayatri Sinha, photographer and curator Sunil Gupta, Chandrika Grover of Pro Helvetia Swiss Arts Council in collaboration with Swiss curator Nadia Schneider Willen, and Radhika Chopra and Vidya Shivadas of FICA.

Sujith SN creates artworks that map out how spatial rhythms and territorial boundaries of modern urban landscapes inevitably lead to violence. His work addresses the relationship between politics and architecture and its effect on modern societies, and specifically how modern architecture has come shape the political, social, and cultural behaviors of its inhabitants. Having grown up in various cities in South India during a period of rapid urbanisation his practice is informed greatly by these spatial transformations. His work is further is inspired by his training as a draughtsman in the construction industry. Sujith received his BFA from College of Fine Arts, Trichur, and MFA from the Sarojini Naidu School of Fine Arts, Performing Arts and Communication in the University of Hyderabad and . His works have been exhibited as a part of various group shows including The Map is not Territory at Lattitude 28, Relative Visa at Bodhi, Indian Subway at Grosvner Vadehra, London, and several others at Sakshi Gallery and Gallery OED. He had his first solo show The City and the Tower at Sakshi Gallery in 2008. He was part of Khoj Kolkata artists residency in 2009, and has received various awards such as the Kerala Lalit Kala Academi State Award and a Merit Scholarship from the University of Hyderabad.

Charmi Gada Shah completed her Bachelors in Fine Arts from the L.S. Raheja School of Art, Mumbai, and her Post-Graduate degree from Chelsea College of Art, London. In 2009 she received the Art India ‘Promising Artist Award’. She has exhibited in group shows including The Staircase Project, at Kashi Art Residency, Cochin (2008), Relative Visa (2009) and Her Work is Never Done (2010) curated by Bose Krishnamachari, Mumbai, and Generation in Transition: New art from India, curated by Magda Kardasz at the Zacheta National Gallery of Art, Warsaw(2011). She has been shown at Art Gwangju, Korea, by Gallery BMB (2010), and Prague Biennale 5 - India Pavilion curated by Kanchi Mehta (2011). She lives and works in Mumbai. Shah's practice engages with the passage of time and the subsequent shifts that have occurred in the meaning and function of architecture. She often works with built spaces that are invariably either abandoned, neglected or in a state of disuse; through the process of revisiting them, and building or innovating on their outlines, Shah draws attention back to these spaces and their disjuncture in time and space. Employing different media, including drawing, sculpture, photography, film and architecture, she formulates a network of correlations that play on notions of memory, destruction and conservation. The works, as installations, become in-situ repositories of documentation, fiction and mimesis.

Image courtesy: (left) Charmi Gada Shah, The Common Wall; (right) Sujith SN, There Is No Brick In The Wall.

Information courtesy -

FOUNDATION FOR INDIAN CONTEMPORARY ART (FICA)

FICA Public Art Grant 2011 | Deadline extended

FICA Public Art Grant 2011 application deadline has been extended to 15 September 2011. Please send in your applications with all required documents by this date. Call for applications FICA PUBLIC ART GRANT 2011 The Foundation for Indian Contemporary Art invites applications for Public Art Grant 2011. The Grant is aimed at supporting artists interested in working in the public realm. We welcome proposals for projects with the specific intention of being sited or staged in the public domain. The project can be environmentally focused, community-based, or deal with critical issues related to the visual arts and the public. Through the grant, FICA aims to generate interest in public art projects in India, and mutually engage and initiate an open debate among artists, local communities and the public to look at shared environments in different ways. The winning proposal will be selected by a distinguished panel of judges. The recipient of the grant will receive a maximum of Rs. 3 lakhs for the project detailed in their application. The period of the grant is one year, starting from 01 January 2012. The artist will be required to document the project and submit the documentation and a report to FICA. The application deadline is September 1, 2011. For full details on the Grant, and the conditions and requirements for application, please download the Application Form here.

Kali Kamai - project installation and public viewing

Kali Kamai
project installation and public viewing


July 21 - 25, 2011
Shillong, Meghalaya
The Kali Kamai project by Wanphrang Diengdoh received the FICA Public Art Grant 2009.

The project has been in progress for a year now and will now take to the streets of Shillong to engage with the public. The Khasi term Kali Kamai translates as taxi or more literally as a ‘car for earning’, and is the popular local mode of transport in Shillong, Meghalaya where the project is located. The project involves the alteration of the local share-taxi making it into a mobile-site to firstly, study the relationships between the individual and the city, and secondly, address the city’s history of conflict and prevalent undercurrents of racial tension. The artist views the Kali Kamai as a one of the few truly public spaces in the city where ‘the fine lines of race are blurred and will use this site to interface with the public through interactive audio-visual installations and one-on-one conversations.

The Kali Kamai has been conceptualised and designed as a contemporary reflection on popular folktales that still exist in the oral tradition in the region. On each side of the vehicle we see painted the various narratives refering to Khasi folktale using contemporary references. The bulk of oral culture is still sustained by the people commuting in these public vehicles, though not direclty retold they emerge through reference and conversations that take place here, a space that Diengdoh has tuned into and has been documenting in the last year. To him this is the space where the links to histories, both personal and the community's, can be found. The documented material will be presented in the Kali Kamai on a touch screen, urging the passengers to explore and exchange stories during their journey across the city.

Wanphrang K. Diengdoh has a BA in Mass Communication from St. Antony’s College, Shillong and MA Mass Communication from MCRC, Jamia Milia Islamia, New Delhi. He is an independent photographer, has directed and edited a few short films and as a musician is part of Stitch, a Delhi-based rock band. His 36-minute short fiction film, “19/87”, made with Dondor Lyngdoh, won the best film, best cinematography and best screenplay in the competition section at the first Guwahati International Short Film Festival (GISFF), 2011.

Art Buzz (New Delhi) FICA

Foundation for Indian Contemporary Art
invites you to a talk by


Lucinda Hawksley

50 British Artists You Should Know


03 May 2011 | 6 - 8 pm

FICA Reading Room | D42 Defence Colony, New Delhi 110024

Lucinda Hawksley talks about her latest book "50 British Artists You Should Know" and looks at the course of British art, beginning with artists whose careers flourished under the reign of the great artistic patron Queen Elizabeth I through to artists who are working today, under Queen Elizabeth II. The talk will focus particularly on art from the 18th and 19th centuries, a time when England and India were inextricably linked.

Lucinda Hawksley is a regular lecturer at the National Portrait Gallery in London. She is an expert in art from the 19th and early 20th centuries, and the author of the critically acclaimed biographies "Lizzie Siddal, The Tragedy of a Pre-Raphaelite Supermodel" and "Katey, The Life and Loves of Dickens's Artist Daughter". Lucinda's newest book "50 British Artists You Should Know was published in April 2011". In October 2011, the publication of another new book will take place, it will celebrate the bicentenary of the birth of Charles Dickens, who is Lucinda's great great great grandfather.

Art Buzz (New Delhi) FICA - Emerging Artist Award 2011

The Foundation for Indian Contemporary Art invites applicants for Emerging Artist Award 2011.

The Award seeks to promote young artists studying or practicing in India who demonstrate extraordinary skill and promise in the visual arts. Selected by an independent jury of distinguished artists and professionals in the field, the recipient gets the opportunity to travel and work in an international residency and exhibit in a solo show in India.

FICA is pleased to be collaborating with Pro Helvetia-Swiss Art Council, New Delhi, Ms. Shalini Passi, New Delhi and Vadehra Art Gallery, New Delhi, for the Emerging Artist Award 2011.

The award includes:
• A twelve-week residency in Switzerland, round trip air travel from Mumbai or Delhi, a per diem during the time of the residency, and access to the residency’s technical equipments.
• A solo exhibition at the Vadehra Art Gallery, New Delhi.


All requirements and guidelines are mentioned in the Application Form.
Download Application Form from here.

Deadline: 31 May 2011


Completed applications to be sent to:
Foundation for Indian Contemporary Art
D178, Okhla Phase 1, First Floor, New Delhi 110020

Art Buzz (New Delhi) FICA

Three Takes on Contemporary Art

Conducted by Dr. Rakhee Balaram

Saturday, 16, 23, 30 April, 2011 | 4 - 6 pm

FICA Reading Room, D-42 Defence Colony, New Delhi 110020

A series of three lectures, comprising moments of art historical impact, that look at trends and developments in the West. These lectures consider various art historical movements such as Minimalism, Conceptualism, Pop Art, Performance, Fluxus, Feminism, Land Art, Neo-Expressionism, Young British Artists (YBA), and look at recent trends in Internet art, and art in Asia, such as Chinese and Indian art. The focus of the lectures will be a historical overview which will provide a broad understanding of major movements while looking at such developments through an Indian lens.

Dr. Rakhee Balaram holds two doctorates, in French Literature and Art History, from Cambridge University and the Courtauld Institute of Art in London. A specialist in modern and contemporary art, she has contributed to various publications on twentieth-century art and literature including Vivan Sundaram’s Amrita Sher Gil: A Self Portrait in Letters & Writing (Tulika 2010). She is currently a visiting professor at the School of Arts & Aesthetics, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi.

Registration fee for the series: Rs. 2,100/-

Due to limited availability of seats, registrations will be accepted on a 'first come first serve' basis. To register, please send your name, address, phone number and email, along with the registration fee (kindly note that the cheque will have to be made in the name of 'The Foundation for Indian Contemporary Art'), to Poonji Nath, FICA Reading Room, D-40 Defence Colony, New Delhi 110024. For more information contact Anica Mann at 011 65474005 or info@ficart.org.