Artalaap

Artalaap
  • 4.8 (5)
  • VISUAL ARTS
  • MONTHLY

Delve into the discourse around the aesthetics, politics, and infrastructure of visual art. Artalaap is a podcast on visual culture focusing on modern & contemporary art from the South Asian subcontinent. Art critic Kamayani Sharma interviews artists, curators, writers, researchers, arts organisation professionals, and culture workers. Come for the images, stay for the insights!

  1. Ep 21: Vestibular Criticism ft. Geraldine Tedder

    11/08/2025

    Ep 21: Vestibular Criticism ft. Geraldine Tedder

    On this special Artalaap episode, Kamayani Sharma speaks to Kunsthalle Winterthur director Geraldine Tedder about writing and curating practices through the metaphor of the vestibular system. They talk about how criticism and curating can help stabilise and situate ourselves in the contemporary, and about the many forms that the relationships between writing, speaking and listening can take. Through of all this, they reflect together on how repairing, caring and loving can be modes of creating knowledge. Click ⁠⁠here⁠⁠ to access the episode transcript. OUR GUEST   Geraldine Tedder is a curator and writer based in Zürich. She is director of Kunsthalle Winterthur. CREDITS   This episode was produced as part of the Art Writers’ Award 2024 residency at Villa Sträuli, Winterthur with the support of Pro Helvetia and TAKE On Art magazine.   Producer: Square Wave Studios, New Delhi Brand design & artwork: Mohini Mukherjee Episode graphics: Amir Bin Rafi Transcription: Priya Thakur Special thanks: Merly Knörle Izquierdo, Nicole Bachmann, Damian Christinger, Bibliotheken Winterthur Additional support: Raghav Sagar Audio courtesy: Vernouillet by Blue Dot Sessions [CCBY-NC 4.0]   LINKS Geraldine Tedder — 'You Are Probably Completely Oblivious That This Text Actually Is About You', 2020. https://brand-new-life.org/b-n-l/you-are-probably-completely-oblivious-that-this-text-actually-is-about-you/ — 'Notes on Furniture' in collaboration with Chantal Kaufmann, audiobook, 2020. Kamayani Sharma — 'Loving with Language: Reflections on Writing Alongside Art', 2019. https://media.journoportfolio.com/users/19952/uploads/eb1d39a0-fa71-4665-bf97-6af6ec3740c1.pdf — Book review of Arshi Ahmadzai's 'Nafas: Isolation Diaries', TAKE On Art [South Asia], 2024. https://media.journoportfolio.com/users/19952/uploads/853acf00-eedd-4c65-b232-f7b10aaa46c4.pdf — Artalaap Ep. 17: Tales of Silence, podcast, 2022. https://open.spotify.com/episode/3Ee8hbSAE8DzWASUhrlkLc?si=E2YY4HctRSSg1z3hY6KK6Q Other Art Writers’ Award 2024 blog for TAKE On Art magazine: ⁠https://takeonartmagazine.com/blog/⁠ Kunsthalle Winterthur: ⁠https://kunsthallewinterthur.ch/⁠   CONTENTS 00:00 – Introduction & Context   02:00 – Defining ‘Vestibular’ & Episode Themes   03:00 – Writing, Orality, and Critical Positions   08:00 – Orality as Challenge to Print Culture   12:00 – Performativity, Misinformation & Media Forms   15:00 – Podcasting as Critical Practice   18:45 – Curatorial Conversations & Gossip as Subversion   21:45 – Oral Histories & Restoring Lost Voices   24:30 – Care in Curating & Opening Processes   28:30 – Breaking Down Curatorial Authority   29:45 – Spatial Metaphors & the Vestibular   36:45 – Erotics, Love, and Reparative Reading 42:00 – The Transcript as Inter-Script   45:00 – Collaborative Writing & Challenging Structures   46:45 – Demystifying Institutional Realities   48:00 – Closing & Reflections Click ⁠⁠here⁠⁠ to access the full list of works cited and time-stamped contents summaries.

    50 min
  2. Ep 20: Portrait of a Citizen - '2024: Notes from a Generation'

    18/08/2024

    Ep 20: Portrait of a Citizen - '2024: Notes from a Generation'

    On this Artalaap episode, Kamayani Sharma speaks to Prarthna Singh and writer Snigdha Poonam abouttheir multimedia project 2024: Notes from a Generation. In five years, the two artists travelled all over Indiaphotographing and interviewing people between the ages of 18 and 25, who would vote the national elections of 2024.   We talk about how to conduct photoshoots and interviews with a diverse swathe of Gen Z Indians from all overthe country, what it means to assemble and frame an audiovisual archive of citizens and why hope was so central to this long-term project of seeing and listening. Click here to access the Image Guide. Click here to access the time-stamped transcript.   OUR GUESTS Prarthna Singh’s work explores questions of feminineidentity and gender, especially as it intersects with the fraught politics of nationalism in contemporary India. Her work has appeared in publications worldwide including TIME, The New York Times, The Guardian and the BBC. She has exhibited internationally, most recently at the National Portrait Gallery, London. Her self-published book, Har Shaam Shaheen Bagh: One Hundred Days of Resistance was named one of the best photo books of 2022 by LensCulture.   Snigdha Poonam is a journalist and writer investigating trends in India's politics, culture, and society. She has worked for The Hindustan Times and The Caravan in Delhi, and The Hindu in Bangalore. Her articles and essays have also appeared in The New York Times, The Guardian, The Economist, Granta, The Atlantic, CNN, and The Financial Times. Released in 2018, her first book, Dreamers: How Young Indians Are Changing Their World, has won awards and nominations worldwide.   CREDITS   Producer: Square Wave Studios, New Delhi   Images courtesy Prarthna Singh   Design & artwork: Mohini Mukherjee   Promo artwork: Jasper Levi Production associate: Amir Bin Rafi   Additional support: Raghav Sagar & Anu Balasubramaniam   Audio courtesy: Vernouillet by Blue Dot Sessions [CCBY-NC 4.0]   CONTENTS   00:00 - 00:37 Welcome to the episode.   00:37 – 01:02 Image Guide link.   01:02 - 03:34 Introduction   03:34 - 07:48 How did the project begin?   07:49 - 14:57 Organising the logistics of photoshoots& interviews   14:58 - 20:57 The politics of the photographic portraitin the era of the selfie.   20:58 – 23:22 Developing portraits through words.   23:23 – 26:47 Frames of citizenship and listening in.   26:48 – 31:15 Excerpts and comments about the audioclips of soundscapes from the exhibition.   31:15 – 33:30 Matters of trust.   31:31 - 35:43 The temporality of the portrait.   35:44 – 38:25  What’snext for the series?   38:35 – 39:28 – Closing comments by the host. REFERENCES Ariella Azoulay, The Civil Contract of Photography, 2008. Snidgha Poonam, Dreamers, 2018. Kamayani Sharma, "Prarthna Singh: 100 Days of Resistance", Aperture, Summer 2021. https://archive.aperture.org/article/2021/2/2/prarthna-singh

    39 min

  3. 22/09/2022

    Ep 19: Family Archives - 'Film Pictorial' (1941-1947)

    On this Artalaap episode, I, Kamayani speak to Jayant Parashar about his family's legacy -- a pre-Independence film magazine called Film Pictorial, started in Lahore by his grandfather and great-uncle, RK Parashar and ML Parashar. A well-regarded periodical of the 1940s, Film Pictorial shut down once the brothers moved to Delhi after the 1947 Partition. We talk about how Jayant came across the magazine, its role -- similar to other high-profile film publications of that era -- as a snapshot of South Asia's urban cinema culture straddling India and Pakistan's Independence as well as the scattershot, digital preservation of lost archives through which we reconstruct and respond to that era. LEARN MORE ABOUT OUR GUEST HERE: Jayant Parashar is a Mumbai-based cinematographer and musician. Film Pictorial (1941-1947) was an English-language magazine on Hindustani cinema co-founded and edited by his grandfather and great-uncle in Lahore. Credits: Producer: Squarewave Studios, New Delhi Executive Producer: Kanishka Sharma Production Associate: Priya Thakur Images courtesy Jayant Parashar via Surjit Singh Design & artwork: Mohini Mukherjee Marketing: Dipalie Mehta Additional support: Raghav Sagar Patreon support: Shalmoli Halder Audio courtesy: Vernouillet by Blue Dot Sessions [CC BY-NC 4.0] CONTENTS 0.00-02.30 – Introduction 02.30- 07.40– Discovering a family legacy. 07.40- 15.00 – Back issues of Film Pictorial on the internet. 15.00 - 18.51 – The Parashar brothers and their engagement with the pre-Independence film industry. 18.51 - 27.34 – The wide range of topics the magazine has explored, both serious and light-hearted versus the present day reporting on the film industry. 27.34- 31.37 – Film Pictorial after the Partition, and the value of vintage film magazines in the present. 31.37- 33.28 – How family legacies impact worldviews.

    35 min

  4. 19/08/2022

    Ep 18: Remembering the Present - The 1947 Partition

    On this Artalaap episode, I, Kamayani Sharma, speak to artist Pritika Chowdhry, whose solo exhibition 'Unbearable Memories, Unspeakable Histories' featuring her anti-memorials to the Partition is currently on view at the South Asia Institute, Chicago. We talk about the politics of memorialising the 1947 South Asian Partition, the aesthetic challenge of representing collective trauma and the influence of feminist historiography on understanding the Partition. We also touch upon drawing parallels with other colonial divisions of territory as well as ongoing civil conflict in the global south, and the limits of testimony in the contemporary period. You can learn more about the exhibition here: https://www.saichicago.org/exhibition/pritika-chowdhry-unbearable-memories-unspeakable-histories or at the South Asia Institute, Chicago's Instagram page @southasiainstitute. Click here to access the Image+ Guide & view the material being discussed in the podcast: https://sites.google.com/view/artalaap-podcast-resources/episode-18. For a time-stamped list of Contents, click here: http:/bit.ly/3CeUTWz LEARN MORE ABOUT OUR GUEST HERE: Pritika Chowdhry is a feminist and postcolonial artist, curator, and writer whose work is in both public and private collections. Chowdhry has exhibited nationally and internationally in group and solo exhibitions in the Weisman Art Museum, Queens Museum, Hunterdon Museum, Islip Art Museum, Visual Arts Center of New Jersey, DoVA Temporary, Brodsky Center, and Cambridge Art Gallery. Her work has been written up in various scholarly publications, including the journals GeoHumanities, Social Transformations Journal of the Global South, and Progress in Human Geography, in addition to news outlets such as CBS, NBC, and Hindustan Times. She is the recipient of Vilas International Travel Fellowship, Edith and Sinaiko Frank Fellowship for a Woman in the Arts, Wisconsin Arts Board grant, and Minnesota State Arts Board grant. She has presented her studio research projects at various national conferences, such as International Arts Symposium at NYU, The Contested Terrains of Globalization at UC-Irvine, and the South Asian Conference at UW-Madison. Chowdhry holds an MFA in Studio Art and an MA in Visual Culture and Gender Studies from UW-Madison and has taught at Macalester College and the College of Visual Arts. Born and raised in India, Chowdhry is currently based in Chicago. Credits: Producer: Squarewave Studios, New Delhi Executive Producer: Kanishka Sharma Intern: Priya Thakur Images courtesy Pritika Chowdhry Design & artwork: Mohini Mukherjee Marketing: Dipalie Mehta Additional support: Raghav Sagar Patreon support: Shalmoli Halder Audio courtesy: Vernouillet by Blue Dot Sessions [CC BY-NC 4.0]

    59 min

  5. TRAILER

    Summer break!

    With two seasons behind us, ARTalaap is taking a hiatus over the summer.  We will be back soon with all-new programming -- stay tuned! Follow us for updates and information on Instagram at @art.alaap and on Twitter @rtalaap.  You can write to us with feedback, suggestions and requests for guests at: artalaap.podcast@gmail.com. Thank you for your support!

    4 min

  6. 14/04/2022

    Ep 17: Tales of Silence

    On this episode, I Kamayani speak to Arshi Irshad Ahmadzai whose solo exhibition 'Naguftaha-e-Havva' ('The Unspoken Words of Havva') is currently on view at Chatterjee & Lal, Mumbai as well as online on the In Touch platform.  https://www.artintouch.in/exhibitions/13-chatterjee-lal-arshi-irshad-ahmadzai-naguftaha-e-havva-the-unspoken-words-of-havva/  We talk about journeying from a small town to a career in the visual arts, the evolution of a distinct figural language, the possibilities of abstraction as an aesthetic mode during a period of repression and Arshi's engagement with time and space in her process-based practice. We also touch upon the use of text as image, the spiritual aspect of art-making, the gendering of material and the abiding influence of Zarina and Nasreen Mohamedi.  Learn about our guest:  Arshi Irshad Ahmadzai born in Najibabad, graduated with a Bachelors of Fine Arts (2011) from Aligarh Muslim University and later pursued a Masters in Fine Arts from Jamia Millia Islamia (2013). She won the Inlaks Fine Art Award in 2019. Working with a range of mediums including painting, printmaking and photography, Ahmadzai’s artistic practice is centred around women. Her knowledge of Urdu, Persian and Arabic allows her to understand the nuances of language, which find their way into her work. She lives and works in Weimar, Germany.  Click here to access the Image+ Guide & view the material being discussed in the podcast: https://sites.google.com/view/artalaap-podcast-resources/episode-17  Click here for the time-stamped Contents page: bit.ly/3Ofjmyn Click here for the English-language transcript: bit.ly/37PeIGT Credits:  Producer: Varun Kapahi  Executive Producer: Kanishka Sharma  Intern: Priya Thakur  Images: Chatterjee & Lal, Mumbai; Blueprint 12, New Delhi; Shrine Empire, New Delhi.  Design & artwork: Mohini Mukherjee  Marketing: Dipalie Mehta  Additional support: Raghav Sagar, Shalmoli Halder, Arunima Nair, Jayant Parashar.  Audio courtesy: Vernouillet by Blue Dot Sessions [CC BY-NC 4.0]

    1h 2m
  7. Ep 16: Indigenous Horizons - The 4th Kathmandu Triennale (2020)

    23/03/2022

    Ep 16: Indigenous Horizons - The 4th Kathmandu Triennale (2020)

    In this episode, I, Kamayani Sharma speak to the curators of the 4th Kathmandu Triennale titled "2077" -- Sheelasha Rajbhandari and Hit Man Gurung. They worked alongside Artistic Director Cosmin Costinas to mount the ongoing edition. (originally scheduled for 2020 but deferred due to the COVID-19 pandemic). The Triennale features hundreds of artists from around the world at five venues across Kathmandu.  We talk about the Himalayan cultural zone, modern and contemporary Nepali art, decolonial curatorial approaches and the idea of indigenous worlding through aesthetics. We also touch upon the logistics of organising the Triennale in a multilingual & stratified context, the matter of continued economic support from the West, the need for government funding and the place of South Asia as a "region" in a "global" art configuration.   You can learn more about the Triennale through their social media – @kathmandu.triennale on Instagram and Facebook.  Learn about our guests:   Hit Man Gurung’s works are concerned with some of the most pressing socio-political issues of Nepal, including internal and international mass migration, the legacy of the decade-long Maoist insurgency in the country, as well as the recent pervasive effects of global capitalism in Nepal. Deeply concerned with the impact of these larger forces on individuals, communities, and society at large, Gurung infuses his paintings, documentary photo collages, performance and installation works with political conviction and personal poetry. Gurung participated in major national and international art exhibitions. He is a co-founder of artist collective ArTree Nepal.   Sheelasha Rajbhandari is interested in exploring alternative and plural narratives by learning the value of folktales, folklore, oral histories, mythologies, material culture, performance, and rituals and placing them as evidence, along with references to mainstream history and narratives. Her long term research projects and artistic practice often juxtapose these contradictions and synthesise the knowledge and experiences that result from individual and collective discourses. Through her works, she frequently tries to encounter the simple yet socially forbidden and taboo subject matters, with a focus on women’s struggles, celebrating their resilience. Her works have been a part of major international exhibitions. She is a co-founder of artist collective ArTree Nepal.   Gurung and Rajbhandari have been working collaboratively on multiple projects, including “12 Bishakh - Camp.Hub'' Post Earthquake Community Art Project, in which they were Co-Artistic Directors. They are also co-contributors to several books including ‘Breaking Views’, ‘Absolute Humidity’, a.o.   Click here to access the Image+ Guide & view the material being discussed in the podcast: https://sites.google.com/view/artalaap-podcast-resources/episode-16.   Click here for the time-stamped contents.   Credits:   Producer: Varun Kapahi   Executive Producer: Kanishka Sharma   Intern: Priya Thakur   Images courtesy Kathmandu Triennale   Design & artwork: Mohini Mukherjee  Marketing: Dipalie Mehta   Additional support: Raghav Sagar   Audio courtesy: Vernouillet by Blue Dot Sessions [CC BY-NC 4.0]

    1h 8m

  8. 20/02/2022

    Ep 15: Sarkari Sci-Fi - FD & the films of Pramod Pati

    On this episode, it's gonna be just me, ARTalaap creator and your host, Kamayani Sharma. I talk about my work on the cinema of cult Films Division auteur Pramod Pati -- through archival audio footage, clips from Pati's films, original commentary (and joking into the void.) In light of the Indian government's recent widely-criticised move to merge public film units, I dive into an important moment in the history of the Film Division (FD) through the practice of one of its filmmakers. I discuss how the sound design of Pramod Pati's experimental shorts, produced by the Indian government at the end of the 1960s, have a science-fictional quality. This sonic sci-fi is indicative of the futuristic ambitions of the Indian state modernising the mediascape during this era, through the technologies of radio, TV and cinema. This episode is an adaptation of my essay "Archeology of an Experiment: The sci-fi cinema of Pramod Pati" from the Oct. 2015 issue of 'Studies in South Asian Film and Media' (citation below.) Learn about the host: Kamayani Sharma is an independent writer, researcher, podcaster and translator. Her writing has appeared in Artforum, Vox, Momus, Aperture, Frieze, The White Review, Art Monthly, ART India and The Caravan. She has contributed to edited volumes including 'South Asian Gothic: Haunted cultures, histories and media' (University of Wales Press, 2021). A Kalpalata Fellow in Visual Culture Writing 2022 for Scroll.in, she was a recipient of the Inlaks Shivdasani Foundation: TAKE On Writing Travel Grant 2015, critic-in-residence at Dharti Arts Residency 2018 and a finalist at the International Awards for Art Criticism 2020. Sharma runs South Asia’s first independent visual culture podcast ARTalaap. Click here to access the Image+ Guide & view the material being discussed in the podcast: https://sites.google.com/view/artalaap-podcast-resources/episode-15 Credits: Producer: Varun Kapahi Executive Producer: Kanishka Sharma Intern: Priya Thakur Images: Films Division Special thanks: Amol Ranjan Design & artwork: Mohini Mukherjee Marketing: Dipalie Mehta Additional support: Raghav Sagar, Shalmoli Halder, Arunima Nair, Jayant Parashar. Audio courtesy: Vernouillet by Blue Dot Sessions [CC BY-NC 4.0] ORIGINAL ESSAY: Sharma, Kamayani, Archeology of an experiment: The science-fiction cinema of Pramod Pati, October 2015, Studies in South Asian Film and Media 6(2):147-164. DOI:10.1386/safm.6.2.147_1f

    34 min
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About

Delve into the discourse around the aesthetics, politics, and infrastructure of visual art. Artalaap is a podcast on visual culture focusing on modern & contemporary art from the South Asian subcontinent. Art critic Kamayani Sharma interviews artists, curators, writers, researchers, arts organisation professionals, and culture workers. Come for the images, stay for the insights!

Information

  • Creator
    Artalaap
  • Years Active
    2020 - 2025
  • Episodes
    23
  • Rating
    Clean
  • Copyright
    © Artalaap
  • Show Website
    Artalaap