'Not as far as it seems'
Safina Radio Project: Dhaka Art Summit Edition | 5-8 February
The Dhaka Art Summit 2016 edition of Safina Radio Project was sponsored by Alserkal Avenue.
With the subtitle Not as far as it seems, the Dhaka edition of Safina Radio Project takes questions of belonging and home as its departure point. Responding to the practices, curatorial premises and work on show at the Dhaka Art Summit 2016, Safina will explore common grounds within historical contexts, providing a cross section of origins and their interpretations.
Preprogrammed and commissioned pieces will open up a broad cultural context for Dhaka; literature, architecture, art and music content will bring to the fore the rich cultural undercurrents of one of Asia’s most complex cities, drawing listeners closer to Dhaka as a centre for cultural discourse.
Programme
Schedule
Aurélien Lemonier in conversation with Kashef Chowdhury
Aurélien Lemonier in conversation with Kashef Chowdhury. Lemonier is the curator of the 'Architecture in Bangladesh' exhibition as part of the Dhaka Art Summit 2016. In this dialogue with Dhaka based architect Kashef Mahboob Chowdhury, they discuss the legacy of Muzharul Islam, the influence of Louis Khan, along with Chowdhury's own work drawing on notions of ruralism as an alternative to urbanism.
Nada Raza in conversation with Iftikhar Dadi, Zihan Karim and Marzia Farhana
Iftikhar Dadi, Zihan Karim, Marzia Farhana and Nada Raza in conversation about The Missing One – 'Enchantment, alienation and dystopia become the plot for an exhibition curated by Nada Raza, inspired by the title of a Bengali sci-fi story (claimed to be the earliest written) by J.C. Bose in 1896.'
Introduction to the Critical Writing Ensemble, Dhaka Art Summit, 3 February
The Critical Writing Ensemble is being launched as part of the Dhaka Art Summit 2016 – curated by Katya García-Antón, Director of OCA, Office of Contemporary Art Norway together with Diana Campbell Betancourt, Artistic Director of the Dhaka Art Summit and Chandrika Grover, Swiss Arts Council Pro Helvetia.
Critical Writing Ensemble – Anshuman Das Gupta
Towards 2019: The futurity of a location
Das Gupta, curator and faculty member of the Art History department in Kalabhavan, Śāntiniketan (Visva Bharati University) discusses the singular approach of art pedagogy and its relation to text at Śāntiniketan as envisioned through its founder Rabindranath Tagore. Fostered through a pedagogical programme devised by Tagore’s right-hand man Nandalal Bose (1882–1966), Śāntiniketan represented the sum of ancient Indian theories of aesthetics, Tagore’s humanist and universalist ideals transcending demarcations of national borders, and the debates on nationalist and Pan-Asianist ideologies initiated by many a luminary in the orbit of the ashram: Okakura Kakuzō (1862–1913), Sister Nivedita (1867–1911) and Ananda Coomaraswamy (1877–1947). Śāntiniketan as a location/site has many acquired dimensions and this presentation will consider the location/site through some of its receptions by current scholars and past participants, thus producing a discursive horizon leading to many possible directions for its future, in particular when looking at its upcoming centenary year in 2019 and beyond.
In conversation: Lynda Benglis
Thomas Tavelli leading a conversation with Lynda Benglis – a unique insight into Benglis's practice, recorded for Safina Radio Project on 29 January in Sante Fe.
Lynda Benglis, Solo Projects, Dhaka Art Summit
'Colonising our own bodies' – Nikhil Chopra and Jana Prepeluh in conversation with Atish Saha, Yasmin Nupur and Manmeet Devgun
In conversation: Samsul Alam Helal (shortlised for the Samdani Art Award 2016) and Nabil Rahman
In conversation: Christopher Kulendrum Thomas
Sri-Lankan artist, Christopher Kulendrum Thomas in a conversation led by Tairone Bastien
In conversation: Monica Narula (Raqs Media Collective) and Maria Balshaw
Index of the disappeared – Mariam Ghani and Chitra Ganesh in conversation with Beth Citron
Hans Ulrich Obrist in conversation with Dayanita Singh
Hans Ulrich Obrist in conversation with Dayanita Singh as part of the TAKE Talk series.
Ahsan Sajid – A Noise Culture
Neon Lalon (Plateau Sigma)
Amputasjon
Souls of the Wheat
Fields of Rape
In conversation: Iftikhar Dadi and Nabil Rahman
In conversation: Stuart Comer and Amar Kanwar
Beatrix Ruf, Daniel Baumann and Diana Campbell Betancourt discuss the Dhaka Art Summit
The Missing One – poetry by Shazed Ul Hoq Khan Abir, Sayeeda Tahera Ahmad and Sadaat Ruhul
In conversation: Tony Korner and Shanay Jhaveri
Shanay Jhaveri in conversation with Tony Korner discussing the documentary on Nirad C. Chaudhuri, made by Ismail Merchant and James Ivory for the BBC in 1970 and the primary point of orientation for the Dhaka Art Summit film programme 'Passages'.
'A topic in search of a language' – Hammad Nasar and Sabih Ahmad in conversation
Sabih Ahmad leads a conversation with Hammad Nasar on his research and work with artists referencing the partition of India, 1947 and its resulting trauma.
Aaron Cezar in conversation with the winner of the Samdani Art Award 2016, Rasel Chowdhury
Shumon Ahmed in conversation with Nabil Rahman
In conversation: Ayesha Sultana and Nabil Rahman
Pre-Dhaka Art Summit
Mustafa Zaman - Dhaka, 1970s
A walk through Louis Khan's government housing project, on the outskirts of the parliament building, with artist Mustafa Zaman. Having grown up in these buildings, the artist takes us through the influences of those spaces and the imagery available to him in his youth on his work today. Mustafa Zaman is one of the solo projects at the 2016 Dhaka Art Summit.
Shumon Ahmed - 'What I have forgotten could fill an ocean, what is not real never lived'
An audio recording accompanied by pieces from Shumon Ahmed's work, ‘What I have forgotten could fill an ocean, what is not real never lived’. Shumon Ahmed will be showing as part of the Solo Projects at the Dhaka Art Summit 2016.
In conversation: Yasmin Jahan Nupur
Yasmin Jahan Nupur in conversation with Nabil Rahman for Safina Radio Project discussing her practice including installations, performance, socially orientated projects, the Dhaka Art Summit 2015 and her residency at Delfina Foundation, London. Nupur is part of the Performance Pavilion at the Dhaka Art Summit 2016.
In conversation: Ronni Ahmmed -
'You need vision to create vision, without it you can only create ideas'
Ronni Ahmmed in conversation with Nabil Rahman discussing his practice, the visionary and cosmic influences in his work along with the development of contemporary art in Bangladesh. Ahmmed is showing as part of The Missing One, curated by Nada Raza at the Dhaka Art Summit 2016.
Critical Writing Ensemble –
Excerpts from Anthology: Essays or
Poems, a book in progress by Quinn Latimer
The Critical Writing Ensemble will be launched as part of the Dhaka Art Summit 2016 – curated by Katya García-Antón, Director of OCA, Office of Contemporary Art Norway together with Diana Campbell Betancourt, Artistic Director of the Dhaka Art Summit and Chandrika Grover, Swiss Arts Council Pro Helvetia.
Critical Writing Ensemble – selection of soliloquys, written by Belinder Dhanoa, from the script for the Sculptural Installation and Theatre 409 Ramkinkars
The Critical Writing Ensemble will be launched as part of the Dhaka Art Summit 2016 – curated by Katya García-Antón, Director of OCA, Office of Contemporary Art Norway together with Diana Campbell Betancourt, Artistic Director of the Dhaka Art Summit and Chandrika Grover, Swiss Arts Council Pro Helvetia. This selection of soliloquys, written by Belinder Dhanoa, come from the script for the Sculptural Installation and Theatre 409 Ramkinkars (by Vivan Sundaram and the Vivadi Group) New Delhi, March- April 2015.
Critical Writing Ensemble – reading of a letter from Faiz Ahmed Faiz
followed by a text by his daughter
Salima Hashmi
A reading of one of the letters written by Pakistani poet Faiz Ahmed Faiz during his imprisonment between 1951 and 1955. The letters were addressed to his wife Alys, and were rediscovered by his daughter Salima Hashmi.
The reading of Faiz Ahmed Faiz's letter is followed by a text which Salima Hashmi wrote years later, during the 80s, when planning a visit to his father Faiz Ahmed Faiz during his exile period in Beirut.
In conversation: Munem Wasif
'Looking at the same things differently'
Munem Wasif in conversation with Nabil Rahman for Safina Radio Project discussing his recent exhibition exploring interpretations of Islam within his own family, Bangladesh and beyond; his ongoing work on 'Old Dhaka'; photography in Bangladesh today and his work on show at the Dhaka Art Summit 2016.
Land of Undefined Territory, premiering at the Dhaka Art Summit 2016, is partially supported by the Samdani Art Foundation.
