Archana

Photos of 'Through the Looking Glass' - A Retrospective Exhibition from 17-2-10 to 3-3-10]


Artist Statement & About "Through the Looking Glass"

I have been working with the [*www.bcp.wikidot.com Bangalore City Project (BCP)] since late 2007 and its now a big part of my life in the art space. When the time for my session at Samuha came up, my initial intention of doing a group show with a couple of my artist friends seemed less relevant. Instead, the idea to do a retrospective exhibition of the efforts of BCP began to take root. Krupa Rajangam and I worked closely with the support of the Goethe-Institut/Max Mueller Bhavan, and to put together this exhibition.

The Bangalore City Project comprises a group of concerned individuals and organisations from different fields, including art, culture, urban planning and architecture. It aims to create awareness about art and culture in the City of Bangalore, by initiating discussions and programmes on a neutral platform - to publicise the importance of cultural infrastructure, as well as the history and importance of various places in the city that remain silent and veiled. One of it's objectives is to help create a unique identity for the City, a concept that will bear special significance for the future, as Bangalore grows into an important metropole.

On looking back BCP can be seen as a social and cultural experiment, currently either poised to become a permanent fixture on the city's cultural landscape or destined to occupy a venerable place in the archives. 'Through the Looking Glass' is an exhibition that looks at the previous projects of BCP and enquires into their success or failure, and in fact queries into the relevance of the BCP's existence itself

The exhibition included:
- Information Panels dedicated to each BCP Urban Space Event
- Photographs by BCP stakeholders of the various neighbourhoods
- 'Through the Looking Glass' - a short film introspecting the BCP experiment
- 9 Short films by eminent artists and concerned citizens around the BCP theme
- A panel discussion on Generating Awareness of Urban Heritage lead by Dr. Evelin Hust (Director,Goethe-Institut, Bangalore), Ayisha Abraham (Visual Artist), Meera K (Founder - Citizen's Matters), Satya Prakash Varanashi (Director, INTACH), Sumitro Ghosh (Architect) and Varadharajan.


Biography

Archana Prasad studied her Bachelors in Painting and Masters in Art History at CKP, Bangalore. She also has a Post-Graduate Diploma in Animation from NID, Ahmedabad.

Having spent close to 3 years as a Design Researcher at Microsoft Research India, Archana left the IT world in late 2007 to pursue art full-time. During 2008 she had exhibitions of her work in Berlin, Cologne, Naples as well as in Bangalore.

Apart from her formal studio work in drawing, animation and painting, she explores the world of art through multiple ways. Her previous association as lights and video performance artist with Bangalore’s upcoming bands – Lounge Piranha and Bobbleheads explore the performance video art space. She has performed at more than 50 events and has toured across several Indian cities with these bands. Additionally she has initiated an experimental docu-performative sound and video public intervention project - CitySignals.

Archana is actively engaged with community art practices including running the online communications for the Bangalore City Project that aims to explore ways by which people can connect with the city through cultural practices. She is also the Executive Editor of Art & the City, an online journal on the state of the contemporary arts in India. It is instituted by the Goethe Institut, Bangalore.

She is the Co-initiator and Facilitator of Samuha an artist initiative and collective that launched on 22.6.09. She is Co-Founder of Jaaga, a community based art-architecture project. Archana also spends a significant amount of time with the Crafts Council of Karnataka as a designer and member. On weekends she likes to jam with her sci-fi tripping band - The Manjunauts. Recently she has started Poetry Across Borders - a poetry reading circle that has an live online link with Melbourne and Berlin.

Archana is a Fellow of the Art Think South Asia program. She was selected as one of nine people by the Goethe-Institut in collaboration with c/o Pop as a video art representative of the electronica music scene across South Asia in 2008. She was the recipient of the German Language Scholarship at Goethe-Institut/Max Mueller Bhavan - Bangalore in 2008, and has studied German till the A2 level.


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