Kasauli Art Centre (working chronology) Founded in 1976 President: Prof. K.G. Subramanyan Vice President: Prof. B.N. Goswamy Treasurer: K.V.K. Sundaram Secretary: Vivan Sundaram Founding Members: Prof. Gulammohammed Sheikh, Romi Khosla, Geeta Kapur, Dr. Anuradha Kapur From 1976 until 1984, the Punjab University Museum gave a small grant in exchange of artworks that were produced in Kasauli as well as from artwork donations from artists’ own collection. The remaining funds were contributed by the family of Vivan Sundaram. Majority of the works produced at Kasauli are in the Museum of Punjab University. Timeline: 1976 Artist Workshop (3 week workshop, May-June) Participating artists: Paramjit Singh, Vinod Dave, Gieve Patel, Manu Parekh, Madhvi Parekh, Srilekha Sikander, Archana Shastri, Arpita Singh, Nalini Malani 1977 Artist Workshop (4 week workshop, May-June) Participating artists: Nagji Patel , Bhupen Khakhar, D.L.N. Reddy , Chandrakant Bhatt, Mrinalini Mukherjee, Amitava Das, Jogen Choudhury, A. Ramachandran, Ghazanfar Zaidi Weaving Workshop: Conducted by Kinhari Lakhia (textile designer) and Om Prakash (weaver) “In 1977, the Weavers Service Centre, sent a weaver to set up a pit-loom at the camp site, so that artists interested in weaving or designing could directly work with the professional weaver. The other aim was to encourage local persons to take the craft (no weaving exists in the area). Since then the WSC has regularly deputed a weaver to the workshop”- Vivan Sundaram, 1985. 1978 Artist Workshop (3 week workshop, May-June) Participating artists: Anil Karanjai, Meera Mukherjee, Ranbir Singh Kaleka, P. Gopinath, Gogi Saroj Pal, Latika Katt, Shail Choyal, Juliet Reynolds (critic) 1979 Artist Workshop (3 week workshop, May-June) Participating artists: John Davies (Great Britain), Pranabranjan Ray (critic), Dhruva Mistry, Nilima Sheikh, Nagji Patel, Valsan Kolleri, Gulammohammed Sheikh, K.G. Subramanyan, Kanchan Das Gupta?? Kasauli Art Centre Seminar ‘Marxism and Aesthetics’, organized with Social Scientist Participants: G.P. Deshpande, Sudhir Pradhan, P. Govind Pillai, Saeed Mirza, Sadanand Menon, Chandralekha, Geeta Kapur, Vivan Sundaram, Romi Khosla, Kalpana Sahani, Rajender Prasad and Madhu Prasad, Hiren Gohain, Mihir and Malini Bhattacharya, Sandeep Pendse, Prabhat Patnaik. Prasanna (Rajan)? Selected participants of this seminar subsequently comprised of the editorial board of the Journal of Arts and Ideas that was to be launched in 1982. 1980 Artist Workshop (3 week workshop, May-June) Participating artists: R.P. Jain (musicologist and critic), Ranbir Kaleka, Mala Marwah (critic), Sudhir Patwardhan, Nalini Malani, Manu Parekh, Gieve Patel, Biplabi Samadhar, Bhupen Khakhar, Arwed Gorella (German), Madhavi Parekh, Jayashree Chakravarty, Virendra Patel, K.M. Adimoolam, Laxma Goud, Mickey Patel Kasauli Art Centre Seminar on Thomas Mann’s ‘Dr. Faustus’ (part of artist workshop) The idea for this informal seminar was first proposed by Bhupen Khakhar who had then recently finished reading the book. - Prof. Jyotindra Jain had spoken on Wagner - Arwed Gorella has spoken on Thomas Mann 1981 Artist Workshop (3 week workshop, May-June) Participating artists: Paritosh Sen, Michael Anderson (Great Britain) , Ken Kiff (Great Britain) , Manu Parekh, Geeti Sen (critic), Shamshad Husain, Siegfried Neuenhausen (German), Arpita Singh, Ved Nayar, Krishen Khanna, Sudhir Patwardhan, Bernard Moninot (French), Jaqueline Duriac (French). Art historian Geeti Sen was also present Kasauli Art Centre, Experimental Theatre presentation Presenters: Maya Rao, Ein Lall, Ragini Kumar, and Michael Anderson Bharat Natyam performance during the Workshop by Rasika Khanna 1982 Artists Exhibition ‘Indische Malerei Der Gegenwart’, Worpswede, Hannover, Hamburg, Bayreuth (June – December) Participating artists: Nalini Malani, Jogen Chaudhury, DLN Reddy, Sudhir Patwardhan, Manu Parekh, Vivan Sundaram, Nilima Sheikh Indo-German Artists Workshop in the Art-school in Braunschweig (July-August) Participating artists: (German) Peter Nagel, Inge Mann, Johannes Brus, Arwed Gorella, Peter Tuma, Ulli Weiss, Hinnerk Scharder (Indian) Nalini Malani, Jogen Chaudhury, DLN Reddy, Sudhir Patwardhan, Manu Parekh, Vivan Sundaram, Nilima Sheikh, Vivan Sundaram The Indian artists stayed in Tuscany and outside Arezzo for 10 days and travelled to several well-known centres of art, led by Arwed Gorella. 11th – 14th June 1982 - Kasauli Art Centre Seminar, ‘Current Problems in Indian Aesthetics’, organized in collaboration with Journal of Arts and Ideas and Social Scientist, supported by ICSSR and Sangeet Natak Akademi Participants: Maya Rao, Bansi Kaul, Arun Khopkar, Vivan Sundaram, G.P. Deshpande, M.S. Prabhakar, Sudhir Bedekar, Anuradha Kapur, Madan Gopal, Rati Bartholomew, Balraj Pandit. Journals of Arts and Ideas founded. 1983 Kasauli Art Centre Indo-German Artists Workshop (3 week workshop, September) Participating artists: (German) Peter Nagel, Inge Mann, Johannes Brus, Arwed Gorella, Peter Tuma, Ulli Weiss, Hinnerk Scharder (Indian) Nalini Malani, Jogen Chaudhury, DLN Reddy, Sudhir Patwardhan, Manu Parekh, Vivan Sundaram, Nilima Sheikh, o Prof. Jyotindra Jain invited to speak on Indian art. o Dr. B.N. Goswamy present for informal evening talks Documentary film on the workshop titled ‘Summer Guest’, by Navina Sundaram. The film covers the journey that the German artists made to Ajanta, Ellora, their visit to the Faculty of Fine Arts in Baroda, with their final destination in India being Kasauli Art Centre Workshop. This workshop was initiated by the German sculptor Seigfried Neuenhausen, June 1983, Seminar on Film Convenors: Ashish Rajadhyaksha, Arun Khopkar, and Kumar Shahani Participants: Ketan Mehta, Ashish Rajadhyaksha, Madan Gopal, J.P.S. Uberoi, Arun Khopkar, Kumar Shahani, Madan Gopal Singh, Gulammohammed Sheikh, Ayappa Paniker, Neela Khopkar, Ranbir Kaleka, Kalpana Sahni, Romi Khosla, Paresh Mehta, Amrit Ganger, Rashmi Doriaswami. Films screened: -Battleship Potemkin by Sergie Eisenstein, -Bhavni Bhavai by Ketan Mehta, -films by Tarkovsky , -films by V. Shantaram Journal of Arts and Ideas, no. 5 (Oct – Dec 1983) was dedicated to this seminar. Lecture on ‘Goethe and Colour’ delivered by Jeet Uberoi. 1984 Kasauli Art Center Sculpture Workshop (3 Week workshop, October) Participating artists: K. Madhusudhan, K.P. Krishnakumar, Alex Mathew, Khushbash Shehrawat, Ashokan Poduval, N.N. Rimzon, Prithpal Singh Sehdev Ladi, Seigfried Neuenhausen, Vivan Sundaram, N. Pushpamala, Ranjana Thapleyal. The Sculpture Workshop in 1984 culminated into a significant exhibition at the Rabindra Bhavan, New Delhi, in 1985 curated by Vivan Sundaram. The show, titled 'Seven Young Sculptors', represented most of the artists who had participated in this Workshop. Artist and art historian Anita Dube was also present during the workshop. 1985 ‘Seven Young Sculptors’, Rabindra Bhavan, New Delhi, 30th October – 13th November, 1985 Curator: Vivan Sundaram (Secretary, Kasauli Art Centre) Participating artists: K.P. Krishnakumar, Alex Mathew, Asokan Poduval, N.N. Rimzon, Pushpamala N., Prithpal Singh Sehdev Ladi, Khushbash Shehravat A catalogue was produced on the occasion of the exhibition with an introduction by Anita Dube. Majority of artworks shown in this exhibition are now in the Museum of Punjab University collection. 1986 Novelist Amitav Ghosh had made a visit to Kasauli Art Centre for 2-3 weeks working on a novel. Artist K.P. Krishnakumar was invited as artist in residence by Kasauli for a couple of months. Here, Krishnakumar prepared works for his Geneva exhibition. Pictures of Krishnakumar’s stay in Kasauli were taken by Vivan Sundaram in September 1986 (available on AAA website) 1987 May – June 1987, Kasauli Art Centre theatre production ‘Shankuntalam’ (Hindi) Director: Prasanna, for Ensemble ‘86 Actors: Deepak Chibbar, Bani, Eeshan among others. Premchand’s story titled ‘Aatma Ram’ was rendered into a solo theatre performance Director: Dinesh Khanna Posters by: Madhusudhan 1988 Kasauli Art Centre Workshop with artists from Himachal, conducted by Nalini Malani (3 week workshop, May-June) Participating Artists: Nalini Malani, B.V. Suresh, Alex Mathew, and local artists Sapna Himachal sponsored this workshop of artists and theatre persons. June 1988, week-long National Seminar titled ‘A Critique of Contemporary Culture’, Kasauli Art Centre Convenors: Geeta Kapur and Ashish Rajadhyaksha Participants: Kumar Shahani, Gulammohammed Sheikh, Arun Khopkar, Susie Tharu, Mohan Maharishi, V.K. Krishna Menon, Kumkum Sangari, Anuradha Kapur, Madan Gopal Singh, Anup Singh, Vivan Sundaram, Sanjaya Baru, Sudipta Kaviraj, Ravinder Kumar, Ashish Rajadhyaksha, Geeta Kapur Journal of Arts and Ideas, no. 19, and no. 20-21, were dedicated to the seminar. For the publication in the Journal, the seminar was titled ‘Dialogues on Cultural Practice in India’, with two subtitled for the two successive issues, ‘Critical Framework’, and ‘Inventing Traditions’. Discussion on ‘New Education Policy’ Screening of Om Darbadar by Kamal Swaroop, venue: Hall below the stage Kasauli Art Centre Theatre performance, ‘Raja Bhratrahari’ (Punjabi) Director: Neelam Mansingh Venue: Kasauli Amphitheatre 1989 Kasauli Art Centre theatre production ‘Ghar aur Bahar’ (Hindi), based on Rabindranath Tagore’s novel Ghare Bhaire Director: Anuradha Kapur Actors: Usha Ganguli was the lead role, Vidya Rao, Jeetendra Shastri, Shelke and Ravinder Sahu, etc. Script: Gitanjali Shree Music: Piyush Mishra and Aatmaram