Curatorial Intensive South Asia (CISA) fellowship programme conceived and initiated by Goethe-Institut / Max Mueller Bhavan New Delhi in collaboration with Khoj International Artists’ Association. The fellowship is targeted at young curators from South Asia whose practice is situated in the field of the visual arts.
The 2024 edition of Curatorial Intensive South Asia (CISA) was reimagined as a month-long, fully-funded, in-situ research residency program at Khoj Studios in New Delhi, India.
Acknowledgements
Khoj Team
Director
Pooja Sood
Head of Programs
Manjiri Dube
Curatorial & Programs Team
Gauri Pathak, Gulmehar Dhillon, Isha Bhattacharya
Media & Production
Arpit Kaur Bhatia, Suresh Pandey
Admin & Accounts
V.P Manoj, Govind Bhandari, Lokesh Gaur
Canteen
Rajesh Gupta, Karma, Phulmata
Fellow
Aditi Somani, Ruchika Dhillon
Support Staff
Arun Chhetri, Pancham Kerketta
Mentors
Latika Gupta and Shuddhabrata Sengupta
Tutors
Leonhard Emmerling, Pooja Sood, Ravi Agarwal, Mahavir Bisht, Sneha Raghavan, Sukanya Baskar, Tanvi Mishra, Vidya Shivadas, Vishal K Dar, and Urvashi Butalia
Publication Design
Shweta Mehta
No part of this publication maybe reproduced in any form or by any means without the prior permission of both the copyright owner and the mentioned publisher of this publication.
Sprouting limbs, withering appendages. Borders drawn, redrawn. Species settle in, turn native. A garden plant becomes a cash crop.
Labour is contracted out—the contractor hired by another contractor. Regimes topple. A despot’s statue crashes down. A coalition forms, fractures, reforms. The market surges, crashes.
Languages form, dialects vanish. Scripts are etched, erased, rewritten. Algorithms wrestle chaos into code, but entropy outpaces command.
The bubble swells. The bubble bursts. The planet spins, hurls forward.
Objects fracture, landscapes shift. Depth is an illusion. Nothing is ever fully revealed. Nothing holds steady
In this heady mix of constantly changing realities, metaphors of existence are reimagined. Boundaries are redrawn. Definitions are reconsidered. New languages are conceived, shaped by the need to make sense of a world in flux. Even as we seek anchors, we reject well-trodden shores.
No Steady State emerges from instability. Constantly shifting landscapes, evolving identities, and changing historical contexts form the basis of this inquiry. Through installations, moving images, found materials, and speculative interpretations, these five exhibitions trace fractures, explore in-between spaces, and refuse fixation. They subvert the status quo to imagine alternate ways of being.
This exhibition invites us to dwell in uncertainty, to ask: What remains? What disappears? And what forces shape our perception of permanence in a world that refuses to hold still?
Pavini Sukarchakia
Gayatri Manu
Erfan Ghiasi
Erfan Ghiasi
Alienation : The case of the indigeneity and indegenous peoples of Bangladesh
Subjectivity is the very existence of the self, the core element of a being or subject. However, some factors or phenomena are identified which cause them to become alienated from themselves, from their existence. The identity crisis of the indigenous peoples is one such phenomenon
If one considers only the people as indigenous who were living in a country prior to the colonial settlement, then what will be the case with Asia, Africa or Latin America? This debate ran from the UN to the local administrative bodies of the indigenous peoples and finally came to the resolution that there should not be a definition of indigenous peoples but an approach of self-identification based on the specific space, time and contexts.
Generally, the indigenous peoples are identified as, but not limited to, the people who have close attachment to their ancestral land and its natural resources and live in conformity with their traditional social, economic, political and cultural practices and institutions which are sharply distinct from the dominant people/communities/ ethnicities/groups who holds power in the state mechanism.
Adit Dewan
As the indigenous peoples are marginalised in the state’s power structure, they demand protection through self-determination within the state structure which the states do not recognise rather claim that all of the people are indigenous to the land. That’s what is happening in Bangladesh and some other countries. In Bangladesh, the state does not recognize the indigenous peoples rather states that, at the first place, through constitution, people of Bangladesh shall be known as Bangalees as a nation. Bangalee is the largest and dominant linguistic and cultural group which comprises 98 percent of the total Bangladesh population. The state/government even imposes restrictions on the use of the word indigenous and defines them as tribal, minor race, ethnic sect and communities.
However, according to the Bangladesh Indigenous Peoples Forum, there are more than 50 indigenous communities in the country. As the state denies to acknowledge the existence, validity and legality of them and their distinct socio-cultural elements as well as customary laws and institutions and imposes restrictions on the use of the word, it alienates them from the state mechanism as well as from their very being. Not only their protests but also their existence become anti-state. This makes them meaningless, powerless and dehumanises them through inflicting a big existential crisis on them. In this backdrop, oppression and exploitation continues. However, peoples do resist and protest, continue to maintain their life even within restriction and produce art and cultural artefact as part of their existence or to achieve subjecthood.
Participating Artists : Tufan Chakma, Riggi Nokrek, Paddmini Chakma, Joydeb Roaza, Jayatu Chakma, Arnab Dewan and Adit Dewan addressing those matters.
Adit Dewan is a filmmaker and curator from Bangladesh. He belongs to the Chakma indigenous community of the Chittagong Hill Tracts. He is a co-founder and currently the director of the Hill Film Festival. He is also working as the Programme Curator at the SHALA_Neighbourhood Art Space, Dhaka. He is a recipient of the Seed Award and Moving Narratives Fellowship award from the Prince Claus Fund, Netherlands and received Curatorial Intensive South Asia (CISA) Fellowship from Goethe-Institut New Delhi and Khoj International Artists’ Association. His curatorial practice focuses, but not limited to, indigenous language, culture and politics of Bangladesh and loves to look for the meaning, power dynamics, existence etc. combining the human, animal and natural worlds. Not Only the Ants’ Story (2024) is his recent film.
घर : An Ecological Speculation Within the Web of Life
The term ghar, घर derived from Hindi and Sanskrit, translates to “home” or “house,” encapsulating a space where individuals or families live, connect, and engage in daily life. It signifies a realm of belonging, comfort, and security, deeply tied to the emotions and practices of domesticity.
This exhibition adopts an ecological perspective, broadening the notion of घर (ghar) to encompass our shared planetary home. The term “eco,” originating from the Greek (household), underscores the inseparable ties between Nature and Society. Instead of viewing these realms as distinct and oppositional, the project explores their interwoven relationships, revealing a dynamic network of connections between human and inhuman actors.
Located at the intersection of speculative realism and geohistory, घर : An Ecological Speculation Within the Web of Life challenges the long-standing dichotomy between Culture and Nature—a division stemming from Cartesian subjectivity and perpetuated by modernity.
Challenging this binary, the exhibition embraces a more inclusive and realist ecological perspective that acknowledges the intricate fabric of life on Earth. Philosophical frameworks by Deleuze and Guattari inspire the exhibition’s approach, offering an alternative lens to view external reality.
Through their concept of Plateaus as “continuous regions of intensities,” the project brings together diverse perspectives from Eurasia’s geographical Plateaus —the Persian Plateau, Anatolian Plateau, the Deccan, Al-Jazirah Plateau, and the Hardangervidda Mountain Plateau. These geographical terrains are presented as interconnected network of Earth’s dynamic flows, movements, and intensities.
घर : An Ecological Speculation Within the Web of Life redefines home as not just a personal or familial space but as an ecological metaphor for coexistence and reflection. It urges viewers to pause and reconsider their relationship with the world, proposing a shift from an Anthropocentric perspective to one that recognizes the interconnectivity of all living and non-living entities.
In doing so, the exhibition envisions a more inclusive, holistic image of Earth—one that transcends boundaries and binaries, embracing the complexity of life rooted in the earth and its histories.
Based in Tehran, Erfan Ghiasi is a cultural practitioner, educator, translator, and curator-out-of-necessity working with various mediums including photography, installation, interventionism, and socially engaged art. Within his work, Ghiasi delves into the intersections of geography, (counter-)narratives of control, and the politics of space, all viewed through the lens of Speculative Realism. Additionally, he is recognized as the co-founder and curator of both the Tehran Summit and the Tehran Biannual, and is a member of the Barbarian Collective showcasing his commitment to fostering contemporary aesthetic and philosophical discourses and cultural exchange within his community and beyond.
Pest Politics
What crawls, what stays, what reigns
Three hundred million years ago, Pangaea shattered. Ice held, then melted. Continents drifted. Creatures moved. We followed.
Now, land is carved into grids, sky sliced into flight paths, sea patrolled in waves. Satellites trace migrations. Drones track crossings. Borders hold—until they don’t. A creature steps over —its name shifts. Native. Invasive. Pest.
A butterfly that drinks blood—marvel or menace? A fly on the wall, waiting to be swatted. The elephant, sacred in the wild, condemned in the fields. A pest is that which does not serve. So we intervene. Each correction a mutation, each extermination a redesign.
We open a can of worms. Spin a web of laws. When the vermin cannot be killed, it is sanctified. We catalogue. We breed. We eradicate. A registry emerges, tracking termites burrowing deep.
Beneath the shifting soil, something else stirs—spliced, spored, self-seeding. Not native. Not invasive. Something unknown.
This exhibition unpacks the politics of pests—how power decides which lives are tolerated and which must be removed. From seed banks to invasive creepers and monoculture plantations, it unravels the entangled histories of preservation and control. It examines the fundamentalist rhetoric that divides species into native and foreign, exposing the shifting justifications for intervention. Through video, sound, and research, the works explore the blurred boundaries between adaptation and eradication, questioning what it means to coexist with the species we attempt to manage.
Gayatri Manu is a writer and curator with experience in the field of reporting, publishing, and cultural programming. She creates exhibitions and programmes at Science Gallery Bengaluru. She completed her Master’s in Creative Writing and Literary Arts from Ambedkar University Delhi, where she focused on literary devices and narrative techniques employed in the Speculative Fiction genre. Her writing has appeared in Firstpost, The Better India, The Ladies Finger and Yahoo India.
The exhibition our sincerest lies delves into the very human tendency of longing for realities beyond our tangible reach. It engages with the myths we create in response to the complexities of the social, historical, and cultural contexts within which we exist, while contesting the ones that have an enduring stronghold on our perception of reality.
Myths are stories that we, as a civilization, tell ourselves when it becomes increasingly difficult to comprehend the world around us. However, their creation anew or reinterpretations of old ones allow us to envision alternative futures, subvert dominant narratives, or reclaim agency over our experiences. They become modes through which we can postulate alternate ways of experiencing the world.
The five artists in the exhibition address concerns that are imminent in their surroundings. Responding to the uncertainties of our climatic futures, volatile political environments, tightening invisible borders, and oppressive structures, they dream up resistances while inhabiting illusion.
Through their work, fragile ecosystems become metaphors for strength and resilience. They permit derealization from our anthropocentric obsessions with immortality, while revealing the accompanying capitalistic façades. A longing for companionship and warmth sublimates temporal and spatial boundaries. Recollection of syncretic pasts conjures harmonious futures. Poetry gives way to whispers of revolution.
our sincerest lies exists within these interstices, charting the many ways in which we try to conceive of a world that is more desirable than the one we currently inhabit, despite the limitations of our time.
Participating Artist : Dumiduni Illangasinghe, Rabiya Asim, Poojan Gupta, Malik Irtiza, Maya Mima
Mariyam Begum is a curator, archivist and researcher. Her focus lies in the exploration of ecology and language in South Asian art. She has curated exhibitions featuring Sri Lankan contemporary practitioners and ongoing archival projects include the Udayshanth Fernando collection as well as the archives of HA Karunaratne, Chandraguptha Thenuwara and Jagath Weerasinghe. Mariyam holds a Master’s in Art History from Kala Bhavana, Visva Bharati (Santiniketan), India.
This Seat Is Reserved
A site for gathering and community
A marker of power and function
A throne
To support
An object of utility
The locale of sensation
A dictate towards representation
Offering you a seat the table, This Seat Is Reserved is an invitation to reflect on the chairs’ ubiquity in our everyday lives. Through a process of meaning-making, the artists in the exhibition engage in an ideological dismantling, reflecting on their own personal histories and art practices to posit our understanding of the chair across different contexts, moments in history, its various uses, functions and affect.
Gesturing towards playful representation and material exploration
- uncover the objects ability to act as a medium through which complex ideas and desires are transferred reconsidering its role as a site of power, a tool for city building, an offering towards equitable future, or as an instrument of oppression
Pavini Kaur Sukarchakia
What narratives do these objects hold, and how do they shape our collective memory?
Whose presence is acknowledged, and whose absence is overlooked?
How do we engage with these objects as markers of authority, access, and exclusion?
Discover the objects’ ability to act as a medium through which desires are transferred, power is projected, cities are built, behaviour is directed, and answers are found.
Pavini Kaur Sukarchakia is an arts writer-researcher, ceramist in training and the Assistant Curator at TRI Art & Culture, a multidisciplinary art and culture center in Kolkata. In her current role, she develops exhibition-based community programs contributing to the center’s curatorial strategy and advances its nonprofit mission. Drawing from her previous experience in cultural research, critical discourse, and arts-based community program development, Pavini’s interdisciplinary focus lies in sensitizing and critically contextualizing art, culture, design, and phenomena. She believes consistent engagement with the arts through diverse artistic formats, disciplines, and mediums can contribute towards a more meaningful and impactful experience for audiences and communities.
22 March 2025 | 4-7 PM IST | Project Space, Khoj Studios
Film Screening of Life Is Still Not Ours (2015) by Arnab Dewan
24 March 2025 | 4-6 PM IST | Online
Ecologies of Containment and Poetics of Dispersion in Tehran
with Dr. Ahmad Moradi and Dr. Hilal Alkan
Moderated by Erfan Ghiasi
Public Programming
25 March 2025 | 7:30 - 9 PM IST | Online
Off the Grid: Informal and Alternative Art Spaces in Iran with Dr. Pamela Karimi moderated by Erfan Ghiasi
25 March 2025 | 5-6 PM IST | Project Space, Khoj Studios
Where Imagination Dies
A conversation with Sarnath Banerjee
Moderated by Mariyam Begum
26 March 2025 | 7:30 - 9 PM IST | Online
Infrastructures of Resonance: Easier Said than done! with Nato Thompson moderated by Erfan Ghiasi
28 March 2025 | 6 - 7 PM IST | Project Space, Khoj Studios
The Many Lives of an Object
A conversation with Sarita Sundar & Navdha Malhotra
Moderated by Pavini Kaur Sukarchakia
Khoj is a not-for-profit contemporary arts organisation based in New Delhi. Through our programs we support and incubate emerging, experimental and transdisciplinary creative practices and pedagogies. Since our inception in 1997, we have been committed towards building global networks and solidarities, especially in the subcontinent. We believe that art is of intrinsic value to society; it is a crucial form of inquiry that provides unique insights and drives change through affect.
