— HelloWorld!

Sampad ExchangeLab: British-Indian artists invade Madrid

The Sampad ExchangeLab is a research project exploring how the South Asian arts sector can better engage with digital technology.

From 6 – 21 October 2011, four British-Indian artists will be visiting Madrid to work with Medialab Prado and Matadero as well as other organizations (Plataforma HelloWorld!, Off Limits, CNC/Sala Mirador, SISMO Festival de creación in situ), collectives, artists and programmers to experiment and create new work.

The group includes:

• Piali Ray, director of Sampad, a leading development agency for South Asian arts and a trained classical Indian dancer and choreographer.
• Anusha Subramanyam, artistic director of dance theatre company Beeja, and a Bharatanatyam dancer, choreographer, teacher and dance movement therapist.
• Divya Kasturi, a Bharatanatyam and Khatak dancer, carnatic vocalist, former presenter and director for Indian Television and qualified electronics engineer.
• Saranjit Birdi, a contemporary multimedia artist, working with drawing, painting, sculpture, photography and film, and a street-jazz dancer and qualified architect.

The ExchangeLab is part of an ongoing programme of placements organised by Sampad, a cultural organisation based in Birmingham, UK. Throughout 2011, 15 members of Sampad staff and external artists working in the field of South Asian arts are carrying out two-week placements in Madrid, in order to broaden how Sampad works digitally across its artistic programme, and also in relation to education and outreach, audience engagement and development, and how it works operationally.

The project is funded by the Leonardo de Vinci Mobility Programme.

Sampad. South Asian arts
www.sampad.org.uk

Performance o presentations programme:

Tuesday 11 October 2011 /20h.30
- Double Bill: The language of Indian dance with question and answer session.
CNC/Sala Mirador - Performance. Free access.

• Anusha Subramanyam will perform a double bill of two of the most popular Indian dance forms, Bharatanatyam, a classical dance with ancient origins in the devotional and creative life of South India where it evolved in temples, communities and royal courts.
• Divya Kasturi will perform a combination of Bharatanatyam and Kathak exploring the concept of time and space through body kinaesthetics, rhythm and emotions. Kathak is a dance style using storytelling, literally “the art of storytelling”.

Thursday 13 October 2011 / 19h.
- British South Asian arts: Past, Present, and Future by Piali Ray, Director of Sampad, UK.
Medialab-Prado - Presentation. Free access.

Piali Ray will give a historical and cultural overview of South Asian arts in Britain, the influence of sampad upon changing cultural policy, and the future for arts originating from India, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka. The will be followed by a short presentation of classical Indian dance by artist Divya Kasturi.

Wednesday 19 October 2011 / 20h.
- An Inner City Life: Presentation of works by Saranjit Birdi
Off Limits. Presentation. Free access

Saranjit Birdi will present a selection of his short video, animation and performance works followed by a question and answer session.Recent interests have moved to investigating territoriality, stereotype and social freedoms. This line of enquiry resulted in video and live performance works – Interrogation, Ramble, Capture, Paint Box, and Bombed – A Moonlight Sonata. Some of the works are influenced by his Indian and Sikh culture but result in a contemporary British expression emerging from a multi and inter-cultural foundation. He also explores issues of conflict. Saranjit Birdi

Wednesday 19 October 2011 / 21h.30
- Performance by Anusha Subramanyam
Restaurante India "Momtaz Mohol". Performance and indian dinner: 10 €

Places:

SISMO Festival
Matadero Madrid. Centro de Creación Contemporánea
Paseo de la Chopera,14
tea-tron.com/sismo
Metro Legazpi

Medialab-Prado
Calle Alameda, 15 (Plaza de las Letras)
medialab-prado.es
Metro Atocha

CNC/Sala Mirador
Calle Dr. Fourquet, 31
www.cnc-eca.es
Metro Lavapiés

Off Limits
Calle Escuadra, 11 bajo
www.offlimits.es
Metro Antón Martín

Restaurante India "Momtaz Mohol"
Calle de Lavapiés, 27
Metro Lavapiés o Antón Martín

Coordination:

Plataforma HelloWorld!
www.tea-tron.com/helloworld