Nagarika

NAGARIKA, which is devised as an interactive, online archive of Indian Somatic Traditions and Contemporary Expressions was launched on February 1, 2023. This archival project is a collaboration between Attakkalari Centre for Movement Arts and the Goethe-Institut / Max Mueller Bhavan Bangalore. 

NAGARIKA will be developed in collaboration with Chris Ziegler, media artist (Germany), Kunihiko Matsuo, digital artist (Japan) and others between January 2023 and December 2024. This project has been funded by the Goethe-Institut.

The project aims to create an integrated, yet continuously evolving, interactive, modular online digital information system on Indian physical and performance disciplines, both contemporary and traditional. It will survey and research into contemporary dance and movement arts expressions in India, as well as relevant sources of physical and performance traditions and then dissect, document, categorise, contextualise, and store that information in an easily accessible format using tools of digital media, AI and other evolving technologies.

By documenting, archiving and contextualising various physical and performance practices, we hope that it will gradually evolve into a body of tangible knowledge. This will lay the foundation to stimulate further investigations, analysis and knowledge production, giving rise to a vibrant movement arts scene in India, which then can link with international peers.

NAGARIKA is aimed at those who are engaged with performing arts, particularly dancers, choreographers, students and teachers of dance, researchers, scholars and members of other archives. It will also reach out to faculty and students of educational institutions as well as artists and technicians from ancillary disciplines such as stage technologies, AI and VR, light, set and costume designers, arts managers, producers, art lovers, media and the general public to broaden its impact.

NAGARIKA will provide opportunities for artists from diverse physical and performance disciplines to deposit their works of art, knowledge, expertise, skills and experience as part of an integrated platform, thus stimulating transdisciplinary exchanges, collaborations, knowledge production and creative works of art. The aim is to document a few contemporary choreographies / artists, as well as two traditional forms, and set up a functioning online archive to which more disciplines, artists and art works can be added in the future. The archive will also be linked to Attakkalari’s other activities, especially the education portfolio.
NAGARIKA - Trailer