The Mittal Institute Presents the 2021-22 Arts Program Report
The Mittal Institute releases its 2021 – 2022 Arts Program Report.
Category : Arts Program
LMSAI Symposium Preview: Partition through an Artistic Lens
Iftikhar Dadi is the John H. Burris Professor in History of Art at Cornell University. He joins the Mittal Institute’s annual symposium for a discussion on Partition’s impact on the arts in a panel chaired by Jennifer Leaning, Professor of the Practice at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health and faculty lead of the Mittal Institute’s Partition research, along with discussants Bhaskar Sarkar of UC Santa Barbara and Nadhra Khan of Lahore University of Management Sciences. LMSAI spoke with Professor Dadi about his work and art.
Grants and Fellowships: Upcoming Mittal Institute Funding Deadlines
The Mittal Institute supports Harvard faculty and students as well as in-region scholars with unique opportunities to advance understanding of South Asia. FOR IN-REGION ARTISTS TO COME TO HARVARD Visiting Artist Fellowship – Apply by May 24, 2022 The LMSAI...
Fellowship for South Asian Artists Provides Unique Research Opportunity at Harvard
The Mittal Institute’s Visiting Artist Fellowship (VAF) is part of a thriving Arts Program at the Institute that seeks to expand opportunities to connect South Asia’s rich and varied artistic culture to the Harvard community, as well as enhancing the arts in South Asia through access to Harvard’s vast resources. As part of this program, the VAF provides a unique opportunity for outstanding mid-career visual artists from South Asia to come to the Harvard campus. We spoke with the Institute’s Arts Program Manager, Sneha Shrestha, to learn more about the VAF program, what makes a successful candidate, and how she hopes the program will grow in the future.
Murty Classical Library of India: New Translations of World Classics
The Mittal Institute sat down with Dr. Sharmila Sen, Editorial Director of Harvard University Press, to learn more about the Murty Classical Library of India collection and the new volumes published this winter. Harvard University Press, founded in 1913, has published many bestsellers and critically-acclaimed books for general readers and scholarly/professional audiences. Dr. Sen strategizes and oversees Harvard University Press’ overall book acquisition program.
Transforming the Art of Learning: The Work of Pre-Texts with Doris Sommer
Professor Doris Sommer, a Mittal Institute Steering Committee member, recently visited the Indian city of Pune to launch the Pre-Texts project, a pedagogy based on interpretation through the arts. She is partnering with Professor Yugank Goyal of FLAME University in Pune, where the project is being housed. Pre-Texts is an arts-based training program for teachers of literacy, critical thinking, and citizenship. While the number of readers has grown worldwide, reading comprehension stays alarmingly low because students need to use texts in order to understand them. With Pre-Texts, students master texts by using them to create visual and performative arts.
Welcoming Pakistani Artist Mehwish Abid: New Visiting Artist Fellow
The Mittal Institute welcomed a new VAF Artist, Mehwish Abid, to campus this week, for the start of her eight-week research fellowship at Harvard. The program connects artists from South Asia with Harvard’s intellectual resources, and allows a platform for mid-career artists to conduct independent research that explores critical issues in South Asia through the lens of art and design.
From Pigments to the Politics of Paintings: Prof. Jinah Kim Presents Technical Session to South Asian Art Conservationists
The Mittal Institute’s Conservation Science Research and Training Program (CoSTAR) program is an attempt to bridge the gap between art history, museology, art conservation, and conservation science, with the aim of strengthening the practice of conservation science in India. Module 1 of the CoSTAR program began in April 2021 and consisted of a nine-week lecture series. Module 2 of the program was launched in November 2021.
Event Recap: Research Agenda of Harvard Art Museums’ Straus Center for Conservation and Technical Studies
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.
VAF Spotlight: Bunu Dhungana on Gender Norms in Art and Artistic Expression
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.
Architecture of Practice: Research, Reflections and Reformulations
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.
Visiting Artist Fellow Pragati Jain Reflects on Being a Practicing Artist and Woman in India Today
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.