For the 1st cycle of Mobility First’s new collaboration grants, launched in February 2021, 323 artists & cultural professionals from 44 ASEM countries submitted a total of 105 joint proposals, of which, 30 are from arts organisations and 75 from individual pairs or threes. From this pool, 15 collaboration proposals have been selected, 7 from arts organisations and 8 from individuals. In total, 56 artists & cultural professionals (31 Asians and 25 Europeans) will receive collaboration grants from this cycle of Mobility First.
These are the selected proposals from organisations and individuals.
- Forging Resilience and Mutual Independence: Public Practices in the Everyday
By international Forum for InterMedia Art (iFIMA)
Collaborators: Susanne Helmes (Germany), Dominique Jacqueline Lämmli d’Aujourd’hui (Switzerland), Chen Kang Lee (Malaysia), May Ling Hui (China), Tsetsegbadam Batbayar (Mongolia), Khin Thehtar Latt (Myanmar)
A 3-episode webinar series that offers opportunities for participants and online audiences to generate knowledge and strategies for real world scenarios and to re-examine the issues and conditions in relation to their art practices and activities in the everyday. The shared and mutually generated experience and knowledge from the online discussions and exchanges will act as research materials to initiate and form platforms for further artistic and textual productions. Through this project, new connections can be initiated for networking and future collaborative projects across the region
- WE ARE OCEAN_Venice-Jakarta-Stockholm The Walk
By ARTPORT_making waves
Collaborators: Anne-Marie Melster (Germany), Pietro Consolandi (Italy), Fabio Cavallari (Italy), Tita Salina (Indonesia), Irwan Ahmett (Indonesia), Åsa Andersson (Sweden)
A collective project where the collaborators undertake three walks in different cities in Asia & Europe highlighting the importance of ocean health and the impact of our anthropocentric activities on the ocean. They will collect images, videos, impressions of the walk which they can transform into contributions to the project also by poems, short stories, drawings etc. The project connects three cities and links the activities of 5 artists from these regions without the need to be physically in one place. The project creates an area of global exchange of experiences in which the participants will have the impression that they feel their entanglement with all three places. The artistic walking activities can be performed in each city individually and independently but will in its gathering create a place of common thinking. The outcomes will be summarised in a short film and a virtual conference connecting all three cities.
- Curating on the Web – Subverting the mechanisms and traditional models of producing and distributing contemporary art and culture
By Walkin Studios
Collaborators: Vivek Chockalingam (India), Marialaura Ghidini (Italy), Gaia Tedone (Italy), Vidya Shivadas (India), Padmini Ray Murray (United Kingdom)
A 2-day webinar and virtual conference “Curating on the Web” focusing on curatorial interventions that challenge mechanisms and traditional models of producing and displaying contemporary art, and offering new ways of imagining the system of contemporary art and ‘being online’. The webinar includes presentation of the results of an international research collaboration between 5 arts and design professionals and 6 guest practitioners, guided discussions, and a series of interactive activities to build critical and practical skills in digital curation.
- Time & Realities
By Undecided Productions
Collaborators: Marie David (France), Long Hoang Nguyen (Viet Nam), Elise Luong (France), Thao Linh Dinh (Viet Nam)
An international collaboration between artists and curators that proposes to journey together, both physically and virtually, on the Reunification Express train in Vietnam with the aim of producing new works that would be presented offline and further distributed virtually. The project is also an artist residency and mentorship programme. The framework allows curator-artist pairs to develop their co-productions before and after the journey, and notably allows the opportunity to do intensive field research together.
- Between You and Me
By Directors Cut Theatre Company Ltd
Collaborators: Heather Ward (United Kingdom), Lazaros Pasdekis (Greece), Eliza Williams (United Kingdom), Varun Gupta (India), Himali Kothari (India), Nikhil Katara (India)
6 artists from Asia & Europe – a painter, a writer, an actor, a sound engineer, a producer-director and a musician – will come together to construct a new performance with the aim of exploring the intersection between theatre, fine art, music, movement and text, bringing research and stories from their own cultures and communities. The project also seeks to highlight the concept of distance and barriers (physical, cultural and ideological). The breaking of these barriers will create possibilities for the artists to develop a pedagogy to create new works in this new normal.
- Taking the Harkat Virtual Interactive Stage Global
By Harkat Studios
Collaborators: Karan Talwar (India), Michaela Talwar (Germany), Aditi Kashyap (India), Sheba Alexander (India)
A virtual gathering and workshop of new media artists from Asia and Europe to explore and exchange ideas on the possibilities of the internet – including existing digital tools, innovation and ideation – in facilitating continuing cultural exchange between the two regions. The outcomes of the workshop will be channeled to develop collaborative performances that harness the strength of the internet and explore the triangular relationship between the audience, the performer and the stage in the post-internet context.
- Library in the Forest
By ODD
Collaborators: Cristina Bogdan (Romania), Mriganka Madhukaillya (India), Aman Chandra (India), Ani Dalal (India), Deepshikha Pegu (India)
An experimental educational session in the Kazaringa forest in Assam, India to function as a lab where thinkers, artists, designers and scientists come together to exchange knowledge leading to a more integrated educational and cultural experience. The session brings together educators in the field of creative media, film, psychology, design, journalism, philosophy, biology, environment & sustainability, and architecture. For the long-term, the collaborators aim to establish a permanent space in Kaziranga and offer a larger selection of transdisciplinary education that blends indigenous knowledge with the understanding of the contemporary world to the community.
- (Virtual) case clinics for arts and culture organisations
Collaborators: Matina Magkour (Greece) and Aishwarya Tipnis (India)
An international cultural exchange initiative based on peer-to-peer mentorship model. Two virtual case clinics will focus on generating new ideas and ways to approach the transformation of business models in arts organisations and how to work with communities in this new normal. The outcomes will be published in a short guide or handbook.
- Lithuanian – Indian Folktales Exchange Program for Schools
Collaborators: Veronika Guzelyte (Lithuania) and Babita Das (India)
A series of workshops that would allow students to maintain their connection to their heritage as well as provide a window into another culture through folktales and stories. The collaborators, both art educators from Asia and Europe, designed this intercultural project to promote intercultural respect, creativity and ethnic identity by strengthening intercultural understanding in schools. The outcomes of the workshop will be published as an artbook.
- Finding Your Voice
Collaborators: Corinne Enquist (Croatia) and Sugato Bhaduri (India)
A knowledge exchange project focusing on music & well-being- how music & spirituality can be used to unlock artistic expression and creativity. A written text that highlights the effects of music and directed artistic activity on self-expression, creation and health will be published.
- Let It Be
Collaborators: Sukla Bar (India), Jean-Frédéric Chevallier (France) and Jaba Hansda (India)
A videodance that weaves together contemporary performing arts outdoor and cinematographic experimentation for online viewers. ‘Let It Be’ would be a kind of “film-theatre” – a combination of different present elements, enhancing the strength and beauty of each as well as the surprising aesthetic effects that their multiple combinations unexpectedly bring up.
- Healing With Sound
Collaborators: Pranta Shatabdi Majumder (Germany) and Proggna Paromita Majumder (Bangladesh)
A short film featuring sound & narration that will be used as material for sound healing workshops. Vocal tones of Indian classical music will be used to evoke emotions and transmit the experience to the audience. A collaboration between a singer-composer and a writer, ‘Healing With Sound’ aims to connect art with well-being using sound, narration and meditation.
- Frozen Jungle
Collaborators: Pekka Pylkkanen (Finland), Visa Mertanen (Finland) and B.C. Manjunath (India)
An online musical concert featuring an original arrangement by 3 composers from Asia and Europe. The core of the project is about sharing the different experiences and artistic practices among this highly capable group of musicians, coming from different stylistic backgrounds and cultures. Tackling physical distance using video, multi-camera shooting and video screen sharing combined with high-quality audio recording, the collaborators aim to create an intimate atmosphere and feeling of a real live concert.
- reflections / refractions
Collaborators: Hai Dang Ho Nguyen (Viet Nam), Nhung Nguyen (Viet Nam) and Andrew Health (United Kingdom)
An artbook that explores how memories are formed and reformed. Artworks are also presented with accompanying poetry and soundscape using found material. Drawing inspiration from Kimberly A. Wade and Maryanne Garry’s hot air balloon experiment in 2002, the project raises the question of whether we are but reflections of our experience and tries to answer what constitutes a unique individuality. Using old material to create a new experience, the project is an experiment of how one person can relive certain memories time and time again, each time different from the last.
- Portraits
Collaborators: Jana Bednárová (Slovakia) and Alakesh Dutta (India)
Paintings on canvas featuring wild forest and the local communities around them, and documented on short film. The wild nature is a place for contemplation which dissolves the geographical and physical boundaries. The project will work with the idea to portray the fragments of wild nature and convey the story and importance of understanding the relationship between humans and nature. The collaboration on painting and music will result in a short video, which will be an opportunity for the artists to see their medium in a new perspective.
Follow their progress on mobilityfirst.ASEF.org and on Instagram @culture_asef!
Read more details of the results here