:::: Primary-Participants ::::
February 18-19-20, 2011
Abha Iyengar (India)
Abha Iyengar is an internationally published freelance writer and poet. Her work has appeared in
several anthologies, magazines and literary journals, both in print and online. She is a Kota
Press Poetry Anthology contest winner. Her story, 'The High Stool' was nominated for the Story
South Million Writers Award. She has won several literary contests. She is a member of The Poetry
Society of India and 'Riyaz' Writer’s Group at The British Council, New Delhi. Abha is a social
activist who is against all forms of aggression and injustice.
She has contributed to popular anthologies in the U.S. 'The Simple Touch of Fate', 'Knit Lit Too'
and 'Chicken Soup for the Soul' are some of these. Her work has appeared in literary journals like
Moon dance, Raven Chronicles, Gowanus Books, Tattoo Highway,Tryst3, Bewildering Stories, Kritya,
river babble, Enlightened Practice, Poet Works Press, Fabulist, Door Knobs and Body Paint, Citizen
32, Arabesques Review among others. She is a member of The Poetry Society of India, Writing in
India, and 'Riyaz' Writer's Group at The British Council, New Delhi. She is editor with two
publishing houses, and also conducts creative writing and poetry workshops.
Abhinay Khoparzi (India)
Abhinay Khoparzi is good friends with technology, new and old, hard and soft, and loves putting
together old components for new uses. He is also a cinematographer, editor and music composer with
an agile hand for percussions. In the past, he has been a technology reviewer and continues to do
so at a personal level hence remaining updated in quick solutions for innovative needs. He is
currently developing a new software and technology platform for a first generation art-music product.
He is one of the founders of 3rd Thought Entertainment and 3rd Community.
Ami Dang (USA)
Ami Dang (aka Amrita Kaur Dang) from Baltimore, MD projects
alternating particles of South Asian and American sounds through
sitar, vocals, and electronics to create unique and experimental
ambient and pop music. As a South Asian-American musician and media
artist, she has studied Hindustani classical sitar and voice for many
years in New Delhi, India and Maryland, USA and completed her B.A.
from Oberlin College Conservatory of Music in Technology in Music and
Related Arts.
Her music combines restrictive raga riffs, freeform feedback loops,
global samples, and other contemporary techniques to create a
universal sound. Her haunting voice consumes a space with both tension
and ease while conveying tones from the hopeful to the dismal.
Dang's artistry extends to multimedia video, installation, and
performance art. As a second-generation Sikh American, much of her
work expresses stories of religious and personal conflict, hybrid and
transnational identities, and everyday life as brown woman in the USA.
Her debut album "Hukam" will be released on Ehse Records
(www.ehserecords.com) on February 20, 2011.
Andrea Pagnes (Italy)
The Venetian born Andrea Pagnes achieved his Master Diploma in Art Critic and Museology and his
Degree in Modern Literature and Philosophy in Venice, the Diploma of Social Theatre Actor in
Florence, and in Creative Writings in Rome. He published art essays, prose works and poetry
and worked as translator, journalist and independent curator and coordinator for site projects
for several Venice Biennials. As visual artist, he exhibited his paintings, sculptures and
installations on international level.
Since 2006, Andrea Pagnes works together with Verena Stenke as VestAndPage mainly in the fields
of Performance and Video Art. They found within these disciplines the perfect common ground to
investigate topics they are concerned: impermanence, fragility, transformation, memory activation
and a translative poetry.
Andrea Pagnes and Verena Stenke present their performances and videos at festivals, encounters,
biennials and exhibitions in Europe, Asia, the United States and South America like OPEN Beijing,
Deformes Chile, Graces Exhibition Space New York, at the Venice Biennial, Tacheles Berlin, BITEF
Theater Belgrade, PIPAF Manila, Body Art Encounter Caracas, Epipiderme Lisbon, Transmuted Mexico,
just to name some. They give lectures on their research and publications, as well as practical
workshops on performance art in renowned institutions worldwide like the New York University,
BITEF Theater Belgrade, Deutsches Institut Florence, UNEARTES Caracas, University of Santiago and
others. They are idea makers and coordinators of the current global art initiative 'FRAGILE-global
performance chain journey'. Their book 'The Fall of Faust – Considerations on Contemporary Art and
Art Action' has been published recently by VestAndPage press, Florence.
They live and work in Florence, Italy and Southern Germany.
Aparna Panshikar (India)
Aparna Panshikar was born into a family renowned for its passion and achievements in various forms
of performing arts, and had an early introduction to Indian Classical music from her mother Meera
Panshikar, a disciple of Padmavibhushan Kishori Amonkar and Pandit Bhaskarbua Joshi. Her own
individual singing style has been well received, and often awarded, by audiences as well as
connoisseurs in innumerable concerts around India and several other countries, with a repertoire
ranged from pure-classical to semi-classical forms and also experimentation in combining North and
South Indian Classical music, as well as several collaborations with international electroacousticians,
most notable including Lawrence Casserly (see below), with whom she has performed in several countries
since 2006.
Album releases so far include: HMV – 3 titles released as "HMV presents A Voice for the New Millennium",
2000; Inreco Records released a 'jugalbandi' (fusion) between Aparna singing the Indian Classical style
with Sudha Raghunathan singing the Carnatic Classical style of music, under the title 'UNITY' in 2000;
Mook Sound, South Korea published a fusion between Indian music composed and sung by her, and Korean
music played by leading exponents from that country, under the title 'Winds from Ayuta', in 2002.
This won the 'Critics Best New Release Award' in South Korea for 2002; Mook Sound went on to release
another title 'Diamond Sutra' and 'Punyapur ki Sarita' in 2003; Deep Emotions (Silk Road Communications)
released 'Shivoham' – a collection of verses by Adi Shankaracharya sung by Aparna, accompanied with
sarod and keyboard, 2004.
In addition to her albums and her work with Lawrence Casserley, she has also successfully worked
with Greg Turner – an American musician based in South Korea playing Indonesian gamelan(!), with whom
she first exchanged ideas, followed up with basic music pieces and finally created a song, without
ever meeting each other. She has also worked virtually with Kai Turnbull, of the Berklee College of
Music in Boston, USA, but Kai eventually came down to India and recorded classical pieces directly from
her, modified to suit western rhythm patterns as used in pop music. When she travelled to France for a
promotional tour of her album 'Shivoham', she worked with the composer and singer Rudolfe Burger to
create an experiment that resulted in a small concert for music lovers and connoisseurs. She has
participated in and led various seminars and discourses in recent years and is presently taken up with
establishing her dream 'Bandish ~ The School of Music', as an umbrella institution for supporting learning,
research and propagation of Indian music all over the world, and also as a convergence point for musicians
of all description.
Arun Mehta (India)
Arun Mehta is a software writer, lead developer of the Ruby on Rails based platform 'Skid', which
is designed to make it easy to develop new web-based modules to meet the growing communication and
educational needs of children, particularly those with mental challenges such as cerebral palsy and
autism.
His experience in human rights began with 15 years volunteering with Amnesty International, including
two as president of its Indian section. More recently, he has campaigned vigorously for the rights of
persons with mental challenges.
He has made academic contributions to address the communications issues of persons with autism. He is
chairperson of the computer engineering department and a professor, at JMIT Radaur, Haryana, India.
He is the founding president of the very recently started Bidirectional Access Promotion Society,
bapsi.org, which unites technological, legal and campaign efforts in promoting the ability to communicate,
of those who are chronically information poor.
Ashhar Farooqui (India)
Ashhar Farooqui aka Toymob, singer/songwriter/producer/traveler/photographer has been performing and learning
music for little over a decade. His work ranges form playing with bands, commercial ventures, studying and
practicing Indian Classical music to research work in folk music of India. Since 2008 he has been actively
involved in photography, expressing through the means of time-lapse and video.
He started writing original music with Envision in 1997. The music soon changed from Rock to Electronic by
2000. Envision finished in 2001 with 'Patterns and Moodswings', an electro acoustic album produced by Samrat
B. The time between that and 2007 was spend in tutelage under Sh.Manjeet Singh in Bhartiya Kala Kendra,
learning Classical Vocals, and building a career in music production. In 2007, Ashhar formed Teddy Boy Kill,
an electro dance music band with Samrat B. The years since have been about extensively traveling with Teddy
Boy Kill around the country and abroad. Through all this a lack of understanding indigenous music triggered
the desire for starting a self funded project on folk music of India. Ashhar writes a blog,
http://www.wordpress.com/folkdiaries, based on these travels.
Bettina Wenzel (Germany)
Since 2000 Bettina Wenzel develops intermedia-performances (voice/video/objects) and vocal compositions.
Recent examples include "inside out" performances (dance/voice/inflatable objects/video) presented in
Kochi/Trivandrum (India)," aufblasbarer Gesang IV" performance (voice/inflatable object/live-video), at
the 10th Anniversary of mex, Dortmund during the Festival open systems.
Examples of vocal compositions are: "Kolophon" (voice /4 CD-players) at Sprachmusik Musiksprache,
Kunstwerk Deutz, Cologne, "Illusion insoluble" (voice/tape) KGNM Musikfest, Cologne, "A & U" (voice/tape)
at BrückenMusik, Deutzer Brücke, Cologne.
As improviser and performer she worked in Vienna, Prag, Paris, Trondheim, New York, San Antonio, Los
Angeles, Bern, London, Mumbai, Delhi, Trivandrum, Kochi a.o.
From 1992 to 2000 she attended voice-training (Alfred Wolfsohn-technique) at the Centre Artistique Roy
Hart (Malerargues/France) with D. Rossignol, Jonathan Hart-Makwaia, Ian Magilton, Noah Pikes a.o.
Currently she works as vocal artist / composer in Cologne, Germany.
In 2009, she lived and worked during six month in Mumbai as artist in residence of Kunststiftung NRW
and Goetheinstitut Mumbai. She presented her performances at NCPA Mumbai in August 2009. She worked
together with the singer Aparna Panshikar and the filmmaker Shrikant Agawane.
In 2010, she presented her performance program "walls&waves" at Goethe Institut, Kolkata, India.
Curtis Bahn (USA)
Curtis Bahn is an improvisor, composer and researcher involved in relationships of body, gesture,
technology and sound. His musical background includes a PhD in music composition from Princeton
University, decades of experience as a jazz bass player in New York City, and study as a formal
disciple (shagird) of acclaimed sitarist, Ustad Shahid Parvez Khan. He has designed numerous
computer/sensor systems to transform the gesture of the body into sound and media, and works with
musicians and artists to help enable their work technologically as professor of music/media at
Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in Troy New York. He performs internationally with his
computer-extended sitar and dilruba (a small string instrument like an Indian 'cello'), and has
worked with dancers and musicians including Pauline Oliveros, Dan Trueman, and Merce Cunningham
and Trisha Brown Dance Companies. He is a member of Ajay Kapur's "Machine Orchestra", where he
performs and writes computer algorithms to teach the musical robots to improvise. He has presented
his music in venues ranging from small clubs and festivals to Lincoln Center, DIA Beacon, and the
India International Centre in Delhi.
Also see: http://www.karmetik.com/artists/music/tmo
Dhananjay V. Gadre (India)
Dhananjay Gadre is an inveterate inventor and innovator, of the inimitably Indian 'jugaad' sort,
producing an endless series of large and little electronic gadgets and geegaws on an ongoing basis,..
so as to exhuberantly and immediately share DIY directions on how to make almost every one of them
with the larger global jugaad community,.. whilst somehow at the same time serving as a full-time
electronics educator at the very prestigious Netaji Subhash Institute of Technology, in Delhi, and
also as a globally respected author of an ongoing series of books on programming electronic chips,
sold in several editions and translations all around the world.
Friedrich Glorian (Germany)
at present i compose music for contemporary and multimedia music-dance projects, perform my music live
on electric guzheng and percussion (postworld improvised music/live looping\fx), and with multimedia
musicdance projects, and do circledrumevents (community drumming) and innerSounds relaxation\healing
concerts on tibetan bowls and gongs.
being into music for many years with a wide experience in rock, fusion, world, experimental and
electronic, i had the opportunity to explore and practice sound healing, teach workshops and training
courses mainly in europe, but also for a short period in ethiopia.
listening to and working with sound is my main inspiration to create music, but i was always drawn to
and inspired by the visual arts, body expression, space\movement\dance and eventually found myself
training in experimental movement theater.
the encounter with theater and movement opened my eyes to music and its healing qualities and i got
interested in and studied overtone singing, yoga, body\breath awareness, healing aspects of sound
and color and indian music therapy.besides teaching workshops and training courses at various
institutions, training centers and festivals), i propose private tuition in overtone singing, north
indian vocal\percussion, and introduction into frame drum and cajon.
Ivanovitch (France)
Ivan (Rocky Rock) was born in 1977 in the suburbs of Paris, where he grew up and discovered the hip-hop
movement. He started writing graffiti in the early 90's, while practicing graphic design and producing
music for several projects. In 2006 he and his partner in crime POCH, released "Teenage Kicks", a book
covering 6 years of their painting collaborations.
His graffiti style is unconventional and free from traditional Hip-Hop representations, but he continues
to have fun ruffling the codes and making multiple incursions into different graphical worlds. Nowadays
he can be found painting or chasing old records in Europe, NY, Turkey, Mauritius, India or Brittany
where he lives and continues to do murals & exhibitions, compose music for TV(Canal+), write for
magazines (Brain mag), create designs for indie labels (Born Bad, Bombay connection ..) and mainstream
artists.
He loves cats, vodka and 60's psychedelic dreamy pop tunes.
Also see: http://www.myspace.com/rockyrock1
Lawrence Casserley (UK)
Lawrence Casserley has devoted his professional career as a composer, conductor and performer to real-time
electroacoustic music. In 1967 he became one of the first students of Electronic Music at the Royal College
of Music, London, UK, on the new course taught by Tristram Cary. Later he became Professor-in-Charge of
Studios and also Adviser for Electroacoustic Music at the RCM, before taking early retirement in 1995.
He is best known for his work in free improvised music, particularly real-time processing of other musicians'
sound, for which he has devised a special computer processing instrument. He has worked with many of the
finest improvisers, particularly Evan Parker, with whom he works frequently as a duo partner, in various
larger groupings and in the Evan Parker Electro-Acoustic Ensemble. He also works as a soloist, processing
sounds from voice, percussion and homemade instruments. CDs have been released by ECM, Konnex, Leo Records,
Psi, Sargasso and Touch.
Much of Casserley’s work has involved collaboration with other art forms, including poets such as Bob
Cobbing, and visual artists such as Colourscape artist Peter Jones. He is a Director of the Colourscape
Music Festivals, presenting contemporary music in the unique environment of the Colourscape walk-in
sculpture, and he also collaborates with Peter Jones on sound/light installations.
Casserley's 'instrumental' approach to live computer sound-processing is the hallmark of his work; the
Signal Processing Instrument allows him to use physical gestures to control the processing and to direct
the morphology of the sounds. This is the culmination of forty years of experience in the performance of
live electronic work; his earliest live electronic pieces were performed in 1969, and he has performed many
of the live electronic 'classics' of the 20th century; he has also collaborated with other composers to
realise their electronic performance ideas. He is noted for the breadth and variety of his collaborations,
which cross styles and generations.
Lawrence's visit to India and to CeC-2011 will be part of the celebrations for his 70th birthday in
August, 2011. He will be renewing his collaboration with Aparna Panshikar (see above), whom he met at the
first CeC in 2006.
Lionel Dentan (Switzerland/India)
Lionel Dentan started off playing the guitar, including studies at the Lausanne Classical Conservatory,
and then learned jazz and oriental music. He studied Turkish Saaz with Mousto Mustafa and is now training
in sitar in the style of the Imdadkhani Gharana. However, he is primarily an electronic composer and live
performer, playing synthesizers, laptops, saaz, rebab and sitar, in radical explorations of different
genres of music ranged from Hindustani classical through to Middle Eastern styles, via abstract electronic
and ambient sounds; intuitively and innovatively carrying his music wherever his mind takes him. From
Tabriz to Kyoto, via Baroda and a stop in Buffalo, his influences are as complex as his personality,
emerging eventually as highly individualized sounds and genres that he describes variously as, 'Schizophmusik,
Glitchcore, Ambient, Classicoabstract, Experimental Electro, and Lyricalnoisedeath ...'.
Lionel is perhaps best known today as a leading member of the band Da-Saz; a collective reborn in 1999 with
Suchet Malhotra, and now based in Delhi. The collective has come a long way over the years, with a variety
of ethnic and hybrid styles of projects and music, that all together aim to set out a platform for new
styles of urban music and traditional forms, through installations, jams, live performances and albums,
including the recent CD 'Sound Reasons' that they helped release in collaboration with Ish S., and Sarai.
With 4 main projects, Da-saz is a platform for contemporary ideas and generative thinking, articulating
historical timeframes that are immediately relevant to the present, whilst also presenting a unique
perspective upon modernity.
As a pawn in the decadent oasis of a technological society based upon consumption, that too often forgets
the soul and our earth, Lionel's work with Da-saz looks to express the need to be responsible for future
generations, through music, dance, creative expression, or any art form,.. as a prayer to the universe
that is both inside and outside all of us.
Also see: http://www.myspace.com/dasaaz
Lipika Bansal (Netherlands)
Lipika has studied International Communications and Science & Technology Studies, looking at the effects of
technology on society.
In her former job at Waag Society (www.waag.org) she have worked as a content developer. Lipika likes to
imagine how innovative technologies can be used in a meaningful way within a social context such as education.
She has worked on various cultural and educational projects like Global Gicana (https://holambra.wordpress.com/),
City Ragas (http://www.waag.org/project/cityragas). These are cultural exchange projects using mobile
technologies. Through mobile phones, people create visual dialogues by sending pictures back and forth within
a certain thematic, or they make various assignments for each other, which children have to answer in their own
city. parQ (http://www.waag.org/project/parq), is a cultural project, where people can leave messages behind
in a tree, the tree tweets these again to passersby. Viva la Vivo (http://vastal.waag.org/), is a project to
create awareness on biotechnology in a playful hands-on manner with artists. With the (UN)limited design contest
(http://unlimiteddesigncontest.org/en) in collaboration with the Fablab (http://www.fablab.nl/) we organised a
contest in which people can design whatever they like by making use of the fablab, the only thing is that your
design should be open. This means that you share your ideas so that others can improve or work further on the
design. The whole concept is based on Open Design.
Before, she gained experience with the Hole in the Wall project (http://www.hole-in-the-wall.com/). Lipika
designed educational interfaces for the kiosk. Furthermore she did research on social background and gender at
the kiosk by developing playful research methods by actively involving children with drawings, games, discussions
and video.
Lipika has recently started Pollinize and works both in the Netherlands and India on various projects, developing
creative solutions for social change, where science, technology and society meet.
Her specialties are: research, cultural and educational consultancy, content and concept development
Lisa Kori Chung (USA)
Lisa Kori Chung is a media artist and 2010-2011 Watson Fellow. She was born in Hawaii, grew up in Oregon, and
graduated with an independent major in New Media Studies from Oberlin Conservatory in 2009. Her work has
included a variety of media, including wearable speakers, audio circuits, binaural field recording, and video.
She has participated in classes at Harvestworks in New York City, was a founding member of the performing
group Women and Art Music led by Julia Christensen, and received a COST (European Cooperation in Science and
Technology) grant to attend the 2009 Summer School in Sound and Music Computing in Porto, Portugal. Most
recently, she helped organize the 2nd festival of the collective Sudamerica Experimental in Santiago, Chile
and was invited as a collaborator in the 2010 edition of the Interactivos? residency in Belo Horizonte,
Brazil. She is currently the recipient of a year-long independent travel and research grant about electronic
art that is tentatively located in Brazil, Chile, China, Germany, India, Japan, Malaysia and the Netherlands.
She hopes to gain (and share) an understanding of emerging art practices around the world.
Martin Gotfrit (Canada)
Martin Gotfrit is a composer/performer living in Vancouver, Canada where he teaches at the School for the
Contemporary Arts in Simon Fraser University. Martin has been performing with electronics since the early
1970s, most recently at CeC with the Computational Poetics Research Group (2007 & 2008).
Currently travelling in India with his family, Martin will be accompanied by his son Noah (bass/guitar)
at CeC 2011.
Miti Desai (India)
Creative Head of Miti Design Lab, Miti is an alumnus of Sophia Polytechnic - Mumbai, Portfolio
Center -USA & Bauhaus -Germany.
Miti's journey began with a linear exploration of Design in design school. But as she moved ahead, an
inner quest to understand design more holistically engulfed her. Holistic design, starts form nature
and is all over, the essence according to Miti is, to master the art of design, which in turn elevates
you to a level where you are able to design at the fullest, then be it designing a conversation, or be
it a designing a presentation, a product or an equation in a logical format, or a sound designed to its
fullest which results in music, or a dancer designing movements which is choreography… it is all a Design.
Working towards redefining the designer's role from being called a graphic designer to a designer, the
one who is able to gather and understand the true power of holistic design and then be able to enjoy and
experience it at the fullest, has driven Miti into the inner depths of Design. Her work is an experiment
towards the understanding of design as a whole along with the perception of the design industry and design
education.
In spite of several awards, medals and accolades that she received in the field of graphic design, the
urge to still go deeper in experiencing design strongly beckoned her. This when she came to the world of
Dance. The need to feel body design and internalize the principles of design led her to dance.
Having trained earlier in Bharata Natyam, she was looking for a spiritual approach to dance to satisfy a
deep inner quest. This she found when she came to Nateshvari, a dance school run by Mandakini Trivedi.
Now, she has dedicated her life to Mohini Attam. The passion to dance, to move, to express has completely
consumed her.
She displays an all round interest in the different aspects of the dance and has flowered into a complete
dancer. A fluidity of lines, an inner grace and innate understanding of form mark Miti's dance. There is
an absence of the need to impress or overpower; only a serene surrender and worshipful devotion are the
essence of her dance. Indian Dance has not only been the key to an artist's return to an Internal Design
Experiences but also a return to the Design of a cultural, its symbols and world-view.
Miti’s training in USA under the dean of Portfolio Centre – Mr. Hank Richardson, along with the current
training in Indian Classical Dance under Mrs. Mandakini Trivedi and Mr. Sharad Phatak , her Yoga Master
and guide have shaped her views on design & dance, which also translates into her life.
Nandita Kumar (India)
Nandita Kumar is a multi-faceted, multi media artist. She has received her Bachelors Degree from
Auckland University, in the Elam School Of the Arts, New Zealand and is currently completing her
Masters Degree in Experimental Animation at California Institute of the Arts, in Los Angeles. In
her work she explores the elemental process by which human beings construct meaning from their
experience. Her work transfigures and depersonalizes the 'theater' of the mind and taps into the
'echoic power' of locating the reflective self in others. It is the dynamic process of interplay
between events, self and culture. Her film metaphorically circumnavigates this experience and is
a personal meditation on her own process of reflection and interpretation.
The art of Animation has allowed Nandita a more range of expression in her attempt to decipher.
She uses the language of 'Poetic Surrealism' to express metaphoric journeys. Her current films
include The Linear of Nightmare and most prominently, The Birth of BrainFly which was exhibited
at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA) in conjunction with the Salvador Dali Exhibition;
at the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences in Los Angeles; 40th New Zealand International
Film Festival: HOMEGROWN films and at IAWRT, in India; Natrani, Ahemdabad, India.
Nandita Kumar's dedication to her work has earned her both the prestigious Ela Desai Scholarship
as well as the famed Jules Engle Scholarship award.
Nathalie Boseul Shin (Korea)
Nathalie is the curator of Total Museum of Contemporary Art. She was the chief curator,
Alternative Space LOOP also works as project manager, storyteller, independent curator, writer.
Nathalie was born in S. Korea where she studied Philosophy and Aesthetics. She started working
as a curator Lotte Art Gallery in 1998. From 1999 to 2000, we worked for '21C young artists group'
as a curator. At that time she curated "flag art festival" in the Yeouido Public Park, and "Coal Mine
Exhibition" in Gohan Coal Mine Village with over 100 artists from Korea and Japan. Her media
based career started in 2000 at art center nabi which is specialized by media art. She was one of
the starting members. Until 2002 she had organize symposiums and exhibitions at nabi as a
curator. She organized "Audio-Visual Matrix" at imA which was the media performing event. Since
2003 she has worked the exhibition team manager of media_city Seoul which is Seoul
International Media Art Biennale. She also organizes some exhibition such as "Forbidden Fruit",
"middle_corea", "the show must go on" as an independent curator. On September 2005. she
curated "digital playground" at Uijeongbu Arts Center with 18 international artists. Her lastest
project "middle_corea" will be presented at Stuttgart Kunstverein, Germany, on Feb 2006.
Another aspect of her career is lecturer. She had presentation at several workshops and
symposiums. In 2005, her presentation was done at transmediale, Germany and Gold Smith
College, UK. Besides she has written exhibition review or some essay for artists for art journal.
Her main interesting fields are media education, digital sublime, community program.
Olive Lopez (Switzerland)
Olive Lopez is a professional contemporary dancer driven by different influences and dance styles.
She was born in Neuchâtel, Switzerland, of Spanish and Italian parentage.
Her first contact with dance and music was in a total festive atmosphere when she was very little.
And, she has been in love with music, movement and the social aspects that come with it since then.
After highschool, at the age of 18, she went to The Netherlands to study in the Rotterdam Dance
Academy (Codarts, Hogeschool voor de Kunsten). From her second year at the Academy, she also
began to dance and tour on internship with professional companies such as Galili Dance (Groningen,
The Netherlands), and Dansgroep Krisztina (Amsterdam, The Netherlands). In her last year at the
Academy, she began to work as a professional dancer in the Noord Netherlandse Dans company, directed
by Stephen Shropshire.
After five years in The Netherlands, including a year and a half of performing professionally with a
dance company, Olive felt a need to quit everything there so as to be able to develop and also keep
up the personal intensity of her art practice. From September 2010, she has been in India, supported
by a scholarship from her hometown. The first four months of her stay have been taken up with formally
studying Kathak in Varanasi, and now, she is exploring and growing through exchange, new experiences,
and contacts with other professionals across different streams of creative practice, in Delhi.
Pankuj Parashar (India)
Pankuj Parashar, the well-known filmmaker from Mumbai, began his career as Gold medallist of the Direction
course at the very prestigious Film & Television Institute of India, in 1980. And, since then, his Mazaa Films
company has been in the business of production and direction of feature films, TV serials, documentaries,
corporate films, and computer graphics, snagging all of the major film-awards in the country along the way;
beginning with the Filmfare award for the best short in 1980 itself.
Pankuj is also an active special-effects counselor, an electronic-musician, and also a painter and
still-imaging artist.
Highlights of his filmmaking career include: Won the Filmfare Award for the documentary Malfunction in 1980;
directed 12 feature films including Jalwa with Naseeruddin Shah, Chaalbaaz with Sridevi, Sunny Deol and
Rajnikant, Rajkumar with Anil Kapoor and Madhuri Dixit and Tumko Na Bhool Payenge with Salman Khan and Sushmita
Sen; directed the cult classic Karamchand, which still counts as India's most popular and technically proficient
detective television serial; introduced superstar Akshaye Khanna with Himalaya Putra; produced and directed
Shakti, a 30-minute anthropological documentary on an esoteric snake cult festival in Rajasthan; produced and
directed over 400 television commercials, for many of the top corporations in India; produced & directed the
2004 Congress election films; won the CAG and RAPA Awards for best TV commercial for Colgate Fluriguard; won
the Ad Club Award for the White Eveready commercial; directed over 15 corporate documentaries, including the
bid for 1988 Commonwealth Games at the Seoul Olympics for the Ministry of Sports, Government of India, Sahara
Pariwar one hour corporate, TCS 30 minute profile for International clients; first Indian director to use computer
animation in films in 1986 for the titles in the movie Jalwa. Also directed the first Indian film to use virtual
sets and computer-generated backdrops and weapons in the movie Rajkumar in 1996; featured twice on BBC's
Tomorrow's World for bringing computer animation to the "level of the West" in Indian feature films in 1997 and
1998; trained the Computer Graphics personnel at Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), Mumbai in film animation and
computer graphics; directed Baba Films Productions' Tumko Na Bhool Payenge, starring Salman Khan, Sushmita Sen
and Dia Mirza in 2001, which celebrated a Silver Jubilee in theatres; directed a 50-minute documentary on Shri
Bhagawan Kalki, a globally recognized spiritual teacher from South India; directed a feature 'Sab Gol Maal Hai'
for the Children's Film Society of India (CFSI); directed a spiritual feature film called Banaras: A mystic love
story starring Urmila Matondkar, Dimple Kapadia, Raj Babbar, Naseeruddin Shah, Raj Babbar, Ashmit Patel. Invited
to IFFI festival in Goa, selected for Indian panorama 2006; produced and directed 'Karamchand 2006' for Sony TV.
Paola Lazo (Chile)
Paola Lazo has been playing piano since she was 9 years old, started composing at the age of 18, and
began to take music composition lessons at the age of 19, with the Chilean composer Carlos Riesco.
She then studied music composition formally at the Chilean University, under Rolando Cori and Aliosha
Solovera, after which she continued further with Gabriel Matthey. Meanwhile, she entered the SCD Centre
(an electronic music centre belonging to an authors’ rights society), where she first began to explore
electronic music with software programs such as Pro-Tools, Audios Culp, CoolEdit, CSound, and so on.
Several of Paola’s compositions have been performed in different music festivals, both nationally
within Chile and also internationally. At the same time, she has studied and played piano jazz with
bass and drums accompaniment, and also working presently as a piano teacher in different institutions.
In 2005, Paola composed a special 8-channel work called Osaxavala at the Elektroacoustic Institute of
Vienna Music University, as a project that then moved on to LIPM (the Research Institute for
Electroacoustic Music) in Buenos Aires. The work was also presented, along with a talk, in 2006 at
Visiones Sonoras in Mexico. Paola has also presented both music and video in other international
creative conclaves and festivals, such as Sonoimágenes Buenos Aires.
Amongst her various projects presently, Paola performs live on piano as a jazz trio with Milton Jara
on drums and Andres Gastello on bass. She has been a recipient of a Chilean Government Scholarship
to create an experimental work with sensors and processed Tibetan bowls, and is currently investigating
live-electronics and music from India.
Paola’s many public presentations and performances include appearances at the International Contemporary
Music Chilean University Festival; the International Contemporary Music Festival of the Chilean Catholic
University; SCD Auditorium; the Second Cycle of Electronic Music Concert; the Argentine Music Festival,
'Sonoimágenes'; the 3rd Chilean Electronic Music Concert, presented by CECH (Chilean Electronic Music
Community); the Chilean International Electronic Music Festival; Visiones Sonoras (Mexico); and so on.
Rashi Jain (India)
Rashi Jain, a Mumbai-based Ceramic Artist has trained under Ray Meeker and Deborah Smith at 'The Golden
Bridge Pottery', Pondicherry and 'The Valley School' (KFI), Bangalore. Over the past 8 years, she has
assisted many ceramic artists, exhibited in group and international shows in Delhi, Mumbai and Bangalore,
participated in workshops and art camp by the Lalit Kala Academy. She has also been shortlisted in the
top 10 ceramic artists for the annual nationwide 'Delhi Blue Pottery & Art India Awards for Excellence
in Ceramics, 2008.
She teaches at her workshop, 'Studio Karva', and at schools and colleges, where she has introduced innovative
learning and teaching skills using the arts and clay as a medium. Studio Karva hosts 'Open stage', started
in 2007, a forum where artists meet to share their skills and ideas, collaborate and exhibit their works.
Rashi has been correspondent for 'The Potters Newsletter', and contributed articles in 'The Indian Ceramic
Quarterly'. Besides the arts, Rashi has worked for the Indian and international youth environment movement
and represented the Indian Youth Delegation at the Cop15, Copenhagen, 2010. She has curated and organized
the street artists' event and a mass rally in Mumbai on the Global Day of Action, 24th October, 2010. for
'350.org'.
Rashi has co-founded (2007) and organises 'The Studio Potter's Market', at the Kala Ghoda Arts Festival,
Mumbai. The market has initiated a movement in India and led the way to many such markets in Bangalore and
Calcutta. It has proved to be a wonderful opportunity for established and budding ceramic artists to meet
and interact. Currently, she is working on a collaborative stop-animation film on the potter communities
of North East India.
Shankar Barua (India)
Shankar Barua has been many things in life before coming around to his present preoccupations as Managing Trustee
of The AeA, in which role he is also Curator of CeC 2010. These include adventure-travel writer & photographer,
asst. editor and designer of magazines, illustrator, publisher, pack-shot photographer, well-digger &
drought-relief worker, book-author, columnist, artist, musician, tea-taster, corporate consultant, advertising
copywriter, public speaker, photography workshop leader, public relations professional, TV anchorperson,
product prototyper, film-maker, and so on and on and on.
Whereas he continues to be some of these things still, his primary goals presently have to do with promoting
and empowering creative experimentation & innovation in countries such as India, on the back of the burgeoning
evolution and spread of technology.
Shazeb Shaikh (India)
Shazeb S. is the Founder of Conjure Arts and Media, an upcoming integrated arts business based out of Mumbai
and New York. With Conjure, Shazeb aims to put together an artist community with a wide focus across art
forms, media and genre to promote the works of established and upcoming global artists and their collaborations
to produce releases and exhibitions in film, music, writings, social projects, visual and installation art.
Though still in its first year (2010), Conjure has already produced a feature length film in India (Kshay)
and a medium length film (Stealing Suburbia) in New York besides looking forward to unleash its first global
integrated arts exhibition with the launch of a large format coffee table book titled Dispersed Diaries, which
brings together poetry, art, music and videos. With this financially-backed artist collective and arthouse
(Conjure), the motive is to create a new channel to market art internationally with a sound business-end
created by some of India’s top business strategy and management consultants. Shazeb is partnering this new
regrouping of artists and hopes to bring on multiple unique artists in different media while maintaining
the purity and essence of creativity.
In the past, Shazeb S. has established 3rd Thought Entertainment, an integrated-arthouse with a global artist
collective of 32 artists from 14 countries. Shazeb is a multidisciplinary artist with a body of work in art
(traditional and digital), music (IDM), and writings (classical poetry, epic poetry, prose) and films.
Shazeb is also a core member of The Wall Project, a Mumbai-based social arts project that has gained mass
involvement from the citizens and governing bodies of Mumbai city.
Shazeb is also Core Co-curator of CeC 2011.
Sheela Raj (India/UK/France)
Coming full circle.. I grew up in Delhi many moons ago and left as a teenager to pursue a dream, of modern
dance. London/New York/Paris: "been there done that". dancing with London Contemporary Dance Theater, Twyla
Tharp and Dancers, Merce Cunningham, my own company "Le Cercle", based in Paris, then solo work and much
research.. Theater with Peter Brook, Bob Wilson. East West center"Chakra", in the South of France: Return
to roots Guru Kelucharan Mohapatra: Pandit Durga Lal, Pandit Vinaya Chandra Maudgalya, Fahimuddin Dagar:
multiple blessings, and then Yoga, the "glue" binding all together.
This Yatra a long cherished dream sharing the many blessings with young artists in India. Olive and Shilpika
are like the twin souls of my identity, my mixed blood east/west. Friedrich a catalyst for creative
empowerment and trust.
We dedicate this performance to the memory of Merce Cunningham, my mentor and long time friend, and to his
all time collaborator John Cage who would have turned 100 this year, and to the magic of "Chance". (we know
you will both be smiling wherever you are)..... Sheela..
Shilpika Bordoloi (India)
Shilpika Bordoloi is a Contemporary Dancer and Choreographer with many years of experience in a
wide range of disciplines ranging fromClassical Manipuri, Bharata-natyam, Contemporary dance,
Modern dance, Organic movement, Dance-Theatre, as well as the martial arts,including Tai-Ji-Quan.
While exploring the nuances of Bharata-natyam she was part of her Guru Padmashree Leela Samson's
company, Spanda. Her desire to experiment with other Indian forms of Movement led her to work with
the Daksha Sheth Dance Company. She has also worked as choreographer with Theatre productions of
the National School of Drama, New Delhi. For her dance and movement is a way of life wherein the
journey of experimentation, discovery unfolds itself through the medium of the body. A
practitioner, performer, facilitator, teacher and always a student, Shilpika likes to work with
stories within her and is designing and exploring new directions in Movement.
Also see: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LbfJqZrKJxI & http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NOgi0RW1oeY
Song Hojun (Korea)
Hojun SONG is an artist who prefers to discover niches of technology and to mix them together.
By detecting these niches he uses them as means of social commentary or as objects to express
aesthetics. He likes to use microprocessors, sensors, PCB, and aluminum as textures and paints. He
has participated in a series of group exhibitions and has had two solo exhibitions. Currently, he is
using and implementing extreme technologies to create narratives and has been working on "the
strongest weapon in the world", "radiation jewelry", and "Open-Source Satellite Initiative."
Verena Stenke (Germany/Italy)
The German Verena Stenke studied Fine Arts and Makeup artistry. She trained in martial arts,
Contemporary, and Butoh dance, during her living in Berlin. In Florence she studied in intensive
laboratories in theater, rites, and dances of Sufism, as well as Social Theatre. She works in sound
and video, and evolved her personal way of performative expression integrating techniques of innovative
make-up artistry.
Since 2006, Verena Stenke works together with Andrea Pagnes as VestAndPage mainly in the fields of
Performance and Video Art. They found within these disciplines the perfect common ground to investigate
topics they are concerned with: impermanence, fragility, transformation, memory activation and a translative
poetry.
Verena Stenke and Andrea Pagnes present their performances and videos at festivals, encounters, biennials
and exhibitions in Europe, Asia, the United States and South America, like OPEN Beijing, Deformes Chile,
Graces Exhibition Space New York, at the Venice Biennial, Tacheles Berlin, BITEF Theater Belgrade, PIPAF
Manila, Body Art Encounter Caracas, Epipiderme Lisbon, Transmuted Mexico, just to name some. They give
lectures on their research and publications, as well as practical workshops on performance art in renowned
institutions worldwide like the New York University, BITEF Theater Belgrade, Deutsches Institut Florence,
UNEARTES Caracas, University of Santiago and others. They are idea makers and coordinators of the current
global art initiative 'FRAGILE-global performance chain journey'. Their book 'The Fall of Faust –
Considerations on Contemporary Art and Art Action' has been published recently by VestAndPage press, Florence.
They live and work in Florence, Italy and Southern Germany.
Vinny Bhagat (India)
Vinny Bhagat aka Shivnakaun is a sound artist and musician researching in the field of computational electro
acoustic music and audio-visual art and technology. His work explores digital sound generative and synthesis
methods, physical interaction, and models for performance and composition.
He is deeply interested in spontaneous art / music performances , distributed online performances and the
connection between sound and moving image in a live performance context.
Born in New Delhi – India , he studied Music Technology and Electronic Music at The Elder Conservatorium
Of Music.
Also see: http://www.myspace.com/vinnybhagat
Yoonsun Shin (Korea)
Yoonsun SHIN is a curator of Lab.preparat from 2004 to present. She is prefers to deal with social
issues as a curatorial theme in media art, like "Surveillance", "Echo Environment", "Data
Preservation" and so on. Currently, she was initiated with united 21 art space which is
against commercialization in Hongdae area and defend their gallery space and residency space
for art works. Also while working with Nathalie Boseul SHIN, she is forwarding media art projects
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CeC 2011 was part-funded by Pro Helvetia Arts Council of Switzerland
