In the “Research Agenda of Harvard Art Museums’ Straus Center for Conservation and Technical Studies” conversation, panelists discussed how short and longstanding research projects related to technical art history at Harvard Art Museums are generated, take shape and benefit from a deeply collaborative approach between Conservators, Scientists and Curators.
Last week, the Harvard community had the opportunity to virtually meet the Mittal Institute’s two newest VAF artists – Bunu Dhungana and Pragati Jain – through their Art Exhibition: Women in South Asia: Expectations, Burdens and Obligations. Both artists shared their motivations, their craft, and their creations in moving, personal reflections (the full event video is above). As VAFs, these two mid-career artists from South Asia are spending the semester at Harvard, engaging with faculty and students, participating in art exhibitions, and completing research projects. The Mittal Institute checked in with Bunu Dhungana to learn more about her artistic motivations.
RMA Architects 1990-2020. Curated by Kaiwan Mehta. A project produced by Goethe-Institut / Max Mueller Bhavan and the Architecture Foundation. The exhibition will show at Gallery MMB, Goethe-Institut / Max Mueller Bhavan Mumbai from 27 October to 31 December, 2021. Monday to Saturday, 11:00 am to 7 pm.
Last week, the Harvard community had the opportunity to virtually meet the Mittal Institute’s two newest VAF artists – Bunu Dhungana and Pragati Jain – through their Art Exhibition: Women in South Asia: Expectations, Burdens and Obligations. Both artists shared their motivations, their craft, and their creations in moving, personal reflections (the full event video is above). As VAFs, these two mid-career artists from South Asia are spending the semester at Harvard, engaging with faculty and students, participating in art exhibitions, and completing research projects. The Mittal Institute checked in with Pragati, to learn how her experience at Harvard is transpiring and what projects she is working on. An interview with Bunu will be forthcoming in December.
Conservation Science Research and Training Program, CoSTAR, aims to build up a temper of scientific studies for the conservation of art objects in India in conjunction with art historical studies. The three-year program is a collaboration between the Mittal Institute, Harvard University, Harvard Art Museums, and the Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Vastu Sangrahalaya, Mumbai. Launched in December 2020, CoSTAR is envisioned as a series of theory and practical modules covering various topics in Conservation Science.
Art is a lifeblood of society, and its place at the Mittal Institute is stewarded through an Arts Program that offers such programming as the annual Visiting Artist Fellowship (VAF). This eight-week research fellowship at Harvard connects artists from South Asia with Harvard’s intellectual resources. The Fellowship provides a platform for four mid-career artists to conduct independent research that explores critical issues in South Asia through the lens of art and design. Interested applicants can now apply to join the Spring 2022 cohort – applications are due on Tuesday, August 10, 2021.
The Mittal Institute recently concluded the 2020–2021 Visiting Artist Fellowship, which annually brings four mid-career visual artists to Cambridge to engage with Harvard faculty and students, participate in art exhibitions, and perform research using Harvard’s intellectual resources to further their art practice. Due to COVID-related programming changes this year, the fellowship was reimagined, bringing 13 of the top applicants from India, Bangladesh, Pakistan, and Nepal to the virtual world for a series of four online seminars curated to support the artists’ long-term practice. In these courses, the artists participated in thought-provoking discussions centering on art history, creative writing, urban design, and more, with both their peers and the expert facilitating the class. For the final installment of the VAF Lecture Series, the Mittal Institute welcomed Asim Waqif, a Delhi-based artist whose international work revolves around architecture, ecology and design.
In a conversation with the Mittal Institute this week, Naiza Khan, a visual artist who splits her time between London and Karachi, explored the impact of the pandemic on her creative processes and methods of making art. This past year, COVID-19 drastically changed the landscape of possibilities for modes of working and presented new opportunities to engage in making work alongside other artists.
A brief history of the South Asian Poets of New England (SAPNE) and an interview with one of its core committee members
Harvard Professor Jinah Kim’s research, which was the topic of the Mittal Institute’s latest VAF Lecture Series, examines the role of women in South Asian art from a historical perspective, and attempts to understand how this depiction impacts the politics of gender and social status of women in the modern era.
This past Fall, the Mittal Institute began a program, Conservation of Culture, designed to support scholarship in art and conservation management, partnering with the Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Vastu Sangrahalaya (CSMVS) Museum in Mumbai, the Harvard Art Museums’ Straus Conservation Center, and Harvard’s Graduate School of Design.
The profound and inspirational work of our artists has not stopped despite the COVID-19 pandemic. In this magazine, we spoke with each of our fellows to discuss the inspiration behind their career as an artist, what they hope to learn during their time as a Visiting Artist Fellow, and their thoughts on the artwork they have each presented in this magazine. In the magazine’s pages, you will read the artists’ thoughts on these subjects in their own words, and we hope that it will inspire you to enter their world and see their work through their eyes.