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1/ pop·up : NIV Art Centre
First iteration at NIV Art Gallery, New Delhi, with a group of five artists- Sonam, Tatjana Henderieckx, Charlot Van Geert, Priyesh Gothwal, Priyank Gothwal. Each displaying their preliminary ideas, like rough sketches. This exercise served as a ground to play & explore the effects & potentials of an idea in its nascent form. -
1/ pop·up : NIV Art Centre
Each artist showed their preliminary drafts an exercise that gave us the scope to play around and create a space for dialogue, critique and dissemination. -
1/ pop·up : NIV Art Centre
The nature of first draft is to keep mutating and remain in flux; it tries to retain a porosity through the ephemerality of a pop-up-- a draft, always-in-progress. -
Period: to
pop·ups-so-far--
The 2nd iteration took place in July 2019, at a residential space in Delhi with Sonam, Priyank Gothwal, Priyesh Gothwal, Divya Singh, Suvani Suri & Neeraj Patel. -
first draft's 1/ pop·up show featured in Emergent Art Space
First Draft: a two day Pop-Up Show | New Delhi, India
May 4, 2018 | by Shalmali Shetty
During the Building Bridges exhibition in New Delhi, last February, Sonam Chaturvedi and Tatjana Henderieckx joined with three other artists, Charlot Van Geert from Belgium and Priyank and Priyesh Gothwal from India, to put up a new, experimental exhibition, sharing ideas, drafts, projects, and showing them to the public. -
Scan to read the article on first draft's 1/ pop·up show featured in Emergent Art Space
Scan to read the article on first draft's 1/ pop·up show featured in Emergent Art Space -
2/ pop·up : terrace/6464
The second iteration took place on 13th of July at the terrace of a residential space in Vasantkunj, with Neeraj Patel, Suvani Suri, Divya Singh, Priyank Gothwal, Priyesh Gothwal and Sonam.
It followed the same intent as the first one with a separate group of artists and displaying at a residential space instead; the works became co-habitants within the existing home-environ, architecture, belongings- thereby using the available resources. -
2/ pop·up : terrace/6464
Through a first draft pop-up the drafts get a ground for meaningful and constructive critique, cross-connections and fuel for reworking and developing them further. -
2/ pop·up : terrace/6464
The show was on for only two days, as a pop-up, something that pops up and vanishes in no time. We take barely a day to set up the display-- it pops up for 2-3 days-- and swoosh.. its gone! -
1/ 𝘧𝘪𝘳𝘴𝘵 𝘥𝘳𝘢𝘧𝘵·ings : a potluck of things
The first gathering at a residential space, the prompt was to bring an object to the table you would like to share with others, and these served as anchors as well as boats that allowed to wander in the flow of conversations/chats/gossips..
A relaxing evening of meeting people, of friendships, of sharing, connecting, laughing, eating, drinking, playing, having chai & pakodas, running to take shelter from the rain, sharing intimate & vulnerable moments with mutual trust, warmth & kindness. -
1/ 𝘧𝘪𝘳𝘴𝘵 𝘥𝘳𝘢𝘧𝘵·ings : a potluck of things
There was a pre- positioning of the participants, the way the bodies were choreographed in the space, around a table, set forth an informal space, not knowing each other made them conscious and shy. Slowly, the formalness receded as the objects that served as a trigger, unfolded layers of conversations, stories, anecdotes, personal outpouring, trust, care, laughter, playfulness.. forming an intimacy as the evening sunk into night > sleepover > morning.
+ Aarushi, Sumedha, Akshay, Sonam, Anarya -
1/ 𝘧𝘪𝘳𝘴𝘵 𝘥𝘳𝘢𝘧𝘵 ·ings : a potluck of things
The objects ranged from old pieces of chalk from childhood to medicine strips prescribed during Covid, a handwritten list of vegetables to a tiny cat figurine and so on. Alongwith the objects, the bodies of the participants served as an archive of all that was associated with them, thereby re-enacting them together through this draft-ing process. The role of a drink /beverage and food, played an integral role in shifting the performance of intimacy. -
Period: to
gatherings-so-far--
Forging through the pandemic and its resulting isolation, the pop-up shows evolved into a series of gatherings, called 𝘧𝘪𝘳𝘴𝘵 𝘥𝘳𝘢𝘧𝘵·ings. We meet in small groups of 6-8 people at residential/non-commercial spaces whereby we think & share through a pre-decided collective prompt. The conversations could sprout into more connections & extensions, whereby we need not create, yet being open to any form of residue left behind and/or taken forward, to branch into slow gatherings of sorts. -
2/ 𝘧𝘪𝘳𝘴𝘵 𝘥𝘳𝘢𝘧𝘵 ·ings : 'about fall'
Evening of sharing experiences, stories, anecdotes, jokes, around the texts, visuals, sound pieces or objects each person had brought in response to the prompt -- about fall. Many strings of thoughts and conversations developed while the 'fall' also kept reshaping and mutating into various forms- suspending, flying, lingering, repeating, drifting, rebirthing, losing, drowning, rising, love, freedom and so on.. -
2/ 𝘧𝘪𝘳𝘴𝘵 𝘥𝘳𝘢𝘧𝘵 ·ings : 'about fall'
For the second gathering of first draft·ings, we took Linklater’s depiction of the fall as a prompt and named the session- 'about fall'. Visitors were invited to bring any signifier/ representation/ story.. anything they would like to share related to this prompt. -
2/ 𝘧𝘪𝘳𝘴𝘵 𝘥𝘳𝘢𝘧𝘵 ·ings : 'about fall'
The conversations evolved around- night-fall, sunset, falling of a star and the light reaching us years after it has died, fall as an end but also an inevitability towards a beginning, falling asleep, light from our devices falling on us as we lie down, refraining us from sleeping, dreams of falling and flying, floating on water- are a few residues that lingered from the evening. -
3/ 𝘧𝘪𝘳𝘴𝘵 𝘥𝘳𝘢𝘧𝘵 ·ings : movie excerpts
The winter evening turned out to be a cozy and intimate space where we lied down under blankets, sipping chai/rum with pakodas and 🍕, looking at the sky turning dark, spotting Jupiter-Saturn-Venus and talking about the movies from the technicalities of the camera, movement, cinematography, screenplay, to the depiction of relationships, childhood, slowness, healing, death, their absurdity and surreality, gender and racial biases that have always dominated mainstream cinema. -
3/ 𝘧𝘪𝘳𝘴𝘵 𝘥𝘳𝘢𝘧𝘵 ·ings : movie excerpts
The pastel colored palettes from The Colors of Pomegranates (1969, dir. Sergei Parajanov) were music to our eyes and led us to watch more than just a clip from the film, ‘Can we watch a little more’? all of us submitted to the urge..
Watched movie clips from ›
· Marriage Story (2019)
· Scenes from a Marriage (2021)
· Paterson (2016)
· The Seen and Unseen (2017)
· The Colors of Pomegranates (1969)
· Minari (2020)
· I Lost my Body (2019)
· Delicatessen (1991)
· Kill your Darlings (2013) -
3/ 𝘧𝘪𝘳𝘴𝘵 𝘥𝘳𝘢𝘧𝘵 ·ings : movie excerpts
(..watched movie clips from) ›
· Idiot (1991-)
· Pina (2011) documentary
· Food (1992), Darkness, Light, Darkness (1989)
· Tere Naam (2003)
Borrowing from the Slow Thought Manifesto, the gatherings revealed the nature of the meetings as ‘playful’. Play creates its own time, rules and sense of order. Reiterating the ‘cinders’ that arise in first draft·ings, intimacy thus, comes as something disguised and not-so-evident, much like play. The gatherings offer a space for respite and letting go. -
4/ first draft·ings -- a meeting to listen·share·experience
While we continue drafting around the idea of coming together, we find ourselves oscillating between the ceaseless chain of rise and fall, hope and fear, anxieties and exhaustions, lingering at the threshold of the virtual and physical realms. After a pause for a siesta over the past few months, which was propelled by the increased ambivalence around meeting people, we are resuming the gatherings of first draft. -
4/ 𝘧𝘪𝘳𝘴𝘵 𝘥𝘳𝘢𝘧𝘵 ·ings : listening experience
In the fourth session that took place on the 5th of March, we gathered at a new location /a beautiful terrace-garden. The prompt was to bring short sound pieces around listening to our surroundings and capturing the sonic environment of the last two months of isolation. The evening turned out to be an intense series of discussions and serious fun! -
4/ 𝘧𝘪𝘳𝘴𝘵 𝘥𝘳𝘢𝘧𝘵 ·ings : listening experience
The approach towards this session is to shift the sense of visual to sound, from being seen within the virtual boxes to being heard and understood. Thereby, in order to generate a space for compassionate listening, we came together each bringing a short sound piece capturing our sonic spaces of isolation, leading towards a listening session. -
Trial gathering : gifting
The gifts ranged from drawings, books, diary, wrappers within wrappers of consumable items, lamp, pendrive with IG password of a secret account and more. -
Trial gathering : gifting
co-gatherers were Payal Arya, Akshay, Sumedha, Sonam, Priyesh, Anarya and Priyank -
Trial gathering : gifting
In this iteration, we propose gifting as a method for the gathering where participants attempted to form relations through the act of giving to question the established modes of exchange and consumption.The primary intention is to share and develop conversations around our experiences of giving/receiving– as a childhood memory, as a sacrifice, as gratitude, as a prank, as a recovery method to repair relations, as a way to reminisce the giver and more– in addition to the objects gifted. -
5/ 𝘧𝘪𝘳𝘴𝘵 𝘥𝘳𝘢𝘧𝘵 ·ings : to wander.
To walk, wander, pause, deviate, talk, sit, lie down, search, loiter, dance, laugh, smell, look back, zone out, run, gasp, listen, be lost...
As we gathered for the fifth draft·ings, we took a walk in Sanjay Van for about 1.5 hours, taking multiple halts/breathers and sensing the space together while also talking about our connections, experiences and memories around walking/wandering. -
5/ 𝘧𝘪𝘳𝘴𝘵 𝘥𝘳𝘢𝘧𝘵 ·ings : to wander.
Do we still get the time to walk together, with friends/ strangers? To wander aimlessly? To pause and rest? To find and be found, to collect and scatter, to imagine and contemplate?
We were accompanied by a group of 10 co-walkers:
Padmanabhan, Sumit, Roshini, Annika, Harsh, Sumedha, Priyank, sonam, Akshay and Priyesh -
5/ 𝘧𝘪𝘳𝘴𝘵 𝘥𝘳𝘢𝘧𝘵 ·ings : to wander.
We sat together and talked about our experiences
memories related to walking at Sanjay Van.
Sanjay Van seemed unfamiliar and different from its virtual version on google maps and photos. ‘Has anyone come here before and will be able to take us around’? As we stepped forward, we soon found ourselves following a participant into the woods, through canopies, lakesides, crooked paths, fireflies, and landing up at a Dhaba just outside as the evening receded. -
6/ 𝘧𝘪𝘳𝘴𝘵 𝘥𝘳𝘢𝘧𝘵 ·ings : snoozing
We had a large group this time, and the location was a hotel's terrace, the gathering was hosted by Kunj. Participants:
+ Kunj, sonam, Sumedha, Priyesh, Anarya, Priyank, Akshay, Gautami, Sourav, Adil, Arindam and Hano. -
6/ 𝘧𝘪𝘳𝘴𝘵 𝘥𝘳𝘢𝘧𝘵 ·ings : snoozing
We found ourselves passing a tiny metal box that once contained Cherry Blossom shoe polish, it had been replaced with something by Priyesh. ‘It’s not important what is in the box, it's just something that helps me sleep. You all are free to hold it and pass it around’. He said when we were trying too hard to guess from its weight and sound. -
6/ 𝘧𝘪𝘳𝘴𝘵 𝘥𝘳𝘢𝘧𝘵 ·ings : snoozing
Heavy with the sound of snoozing alarms and deferred sleeps, with conversations and yawns, sharing memories, objects, music, movies and more, the night went on with a series of stories and references and challenges to not fall asleep.
While an alarm is usually set to wake up from sleep, first draft's snoozing session used it as a reminder to not fall asleep, to snooze the fall, but also to let it sneak in as tiny slippages/ naps.. here and there.. -
first draft's feature in @newindianexpress
first draft's pop-shows and gatherings were covered by @anjanichadha in The New Indian Express's daily paper @themorningstandard.
Anjali writes how the collaboration is making an alternative space beyond institutional structures and building a community of people across disciplines to foster exchange of ideas, friendships and 'reimagining the idea of intimacy' in our present virtual realms. -
7/ 𝘧𝘪𝘳𝘴𝘵 𝘥𝘳𝘢𝘧𝘵·ings : shared spaces
The idea of a ’space’ traversed into the multiplicity of its meanings-- a space that is here yet not here, that could only exist in the future, or does not exist anywhere but is a mental image, a time, a body and its changing shadows at dusk, a space standing between occupation and abandonment; the intimacy and silence of a co-habited space at night, the history, culture and ecology of a shared place one is attached to and preserves, and their various possibilities.. -
7/ 𝘧𝘪𝘳𝘴𝘵 𝘥𝘳𝘢𝘧𝘵·ings : shared spaces
This gathering explored the idea of a ’space’ which traversed into the multiplicity of its meanings-- a space that is here yet not here, that could only exist in the future, or does not exist anywhere but is a mental image, a time, a body and its changing shadows at dusk, a space standing between occupation and abandonment; the intimacy and silence of a co-habited space at night, the history, culture and ecology of a shared place one is attached to and preserves. -
7/ 𝘧𝘪𝘳𝘴𝘵 𝘥𝘳𝘢𝘧𝘵·ings : shared spaces
last gathering in Vadodara, moments in-transit, moving in-and-out of spaces that each person shared during the long evening. -
Callscapes, a gathering by first draft w/ –out-of-line– as an invitation to respond to the spatiality of a call.
a gathering by first draft w/ –out-of-line– at FICA, New Delhi as an invitation to respond to the spatiality of a call. The act of calling extends the environs of the callers into an intimate third space-- callscape, where each of the spaces spill into one another– cross-connect, translate, interrupt, synchronize, encrypt or decrypt...to create a mutuality. -
Callscapes, a gathering by first draft w/ –out-of-line– as an invitation to respond to the spatiality of a call.
The prompt of this gathering was to share the habits, gestures, vocabularies, memories, experiences that mark the callscapes of the participants. -
Callscapes, a gathering by first draft w/ –out-of-line– as an invitation to respond to the spatiality of a call.
The @fica_india reading room space took various forms as the evening progressed, with the group slowly shuffling around and tuning to the conversations and the performative-- cross-connections, hiccups and hybridity of the open phone-lines intersecting the gathering.