Shalini Passi Art Foundation at India Art Fair 2019

EE News Desk Jan 23, 2019

For the 2019 edition of India Art Fair, the Shalini Passi Art Foundation presents an array of exploratory and avant-garde work, from performative interventions to video art, in keeping with the Foundation's mission to encourage innovative and experimental new work. Highlights of the Foundation's program during India Art Fair 2019 include: a dedicated video art booth at the fair; an absurdist performance art piece by the contemporary Indian artist Mithu Sen; and an announcement of the shortlisted artists for the inaugural MASH FICA Award, supported by the Shalini Passi Art Foundation, which has been created to support exceptional work in New Media.

For the Shalini Passi Art Foundation, the contemporary artist Mithu Sen will present LUNCH IS CANCELLED, a performance piece curated by Dr. Arshiya Lokhandwala, which investigates the ambivalent nature of hospitality between guest and host. Through the immediate, immersive, and unpredictable nature of performance, the artist encourages her audience to think about how art relates to people and the wider social world, which she uses to explore the topic that she refers to as "radical hospitality" - a recurring theme in her work. The piece will take place at the Foundation's lunch on Wednesday 30 January as part of the IAF Parallel program for 2019.

On-site at India Art Fair, the Shalini Passi Art Foundation is pleased to present Conundrums: Video Art from India at the MASH Video Space curated by Dr. Arshiya Lokhandwala. Conundrums showcases the most significant video work of eight leading South Asian artists - Anita Dube, Jitish Kallat, Mithu Sen, Pushpamala N, Ranbir Kaleka, Raqs Media Collective, Sonia Khurana, and Surekha - who through their work explore the challenges they encounter in contemporary society, including issues of nationalism, fundamentalism, and racism.

During India Art Fair 2019, MASH (My Art Shalini) - in collaboration with FICA (Foundation for Indian Contemporary Art) - will be announcing the finalists and the recipient for the inaugural edition of the MASH FICA Award.

The announcement will be made on 3/02/2019 at the NSIC Exhibition Grounds, New Delhi.

The award is dedicated to supporting artists working in New Media, focusing on work that engages with a range of sources both within the arts and the wider field of information technologies, communications, and entertainment.

The Jury for the MASH FICA Award 2019 comprised of eminent artists Shilpa Gupta and Ranbir Kaleka, Sabih Ahmed, Researcher, Asia Art Archive, Shalini Passi, art patron and Founder, MASH and The Shalini Passi Art Foundation, and Vidya Shivadas, Director, FICA. The jury was delighted with the large number of applications, which showcased the myriad ways in which new understandings of media are informing different disciplines and practices today.

The Foundation's activity surrounding India Art Fair 2019 is the start of a full program of events for the forthcoming year, including a number of talks and lectures with eminent speakers from a range of different artistic disciplines, and a large-scale survey show to take place at the end of the year.

For more information, see www.shalinipassiartfoundation.com and www.mashindia.com.