Join us for yet another engaging session from our artist talk series: THE FABULATION PROJECT. It is a series of conversations and encounters exploring contemporaneity in the arts practices, that are also a work of story making for a 'people to come', stories which they shall inherit. In an attempt to contextualise contemporary art practice this series of talks engages with story teller and story making as central and crucial to the discourses. So, we try to unravel layers of an artist’s body of work and look for what they narrate (or choose not to) about the times we live in. 

The program will be followed by light refreshments. 

Join archaeologist, art historian and curator Anica Mann as she presents her photo-works and engages in conversation with social anthropologist Sarover Zaidi and architect, urban planner Rafiq Kidwai. 

The talk series has been initiated by Neha 'Zooni' Tickoo, Curator, KNMA.

Anica Mann

Anica Mann is an art historian, archaeologist and curator who works with the Archaeological Survey of India. She completed her MPhil in Classical Indian Religions at the University of Oxford, she studied Indology at Kyoto University, Japan as a MEXT Scholar. Her MA at School of Oriental and African studies focused on the transmission of Indian Knowledge systems across South East Asia with a special focus on Cambodia. She was Global Heritage Fund Fellow. Anica has been associated with Contemporary and Modern South Asian art for years. She worked with Vadehra Art Gallery, DAG Modern and curated the Yooung Collector Programme for India Art Fair for the years 2022 and 2023. She is the founder of an Archival Project - Delhi Houses that documents modernism of Delhi through its residential architecture and intangible culture it inhabits.

Sarover Zaidi 

Sarover Zaidi is a teacher, writer, and academic, and has studied philosophy and social anthropology. She works at the intersections of critical theory, anthropology, art, architecture, and material culture studies. She has extensively worked on religious architecture, and urbanism in the city of Bombay and co-runs a site on writing the city called Chiragh Dilli. She currently works on carceral cities, religious iconography & modernist architecture in south Asia. She has previously taught at the School of Planning and Architecture, Delhi. She volunteers at the Muslim Women's Forum for the past five years, and has recently been teaching at Sewagram, Wardha. She currently teaches at the Jindal School of Art and Architecture, O. P. Jindal University, Sonipat, India.

Rafiq Kidwai

Rafiq Kidwai an independent architect and exhibition designer. Kidwai is a specialist in art exhibition space planning and design. 

Kidwai comes with an experience of over 45 years as an architect and Exhibition Designer. He has been associated with the design and execution of over 300 trade shows and Art exhibitions. Sas a Consultant for DAG \, the exhibitions he was most satisfied with are. 

GHAIRE BAIRE 9- A Museum on the Art of Bengal in the Old Currency Building Kolkata. Creation of a museum space in a 200-year-old heritage 30,000 sqft building, by creating interior spaces with temporary  walls and lighting systems, in a limited time period. 

March to Freedom-reflections on India’s Independence - An ongoing show at the Indian Museum Kolkata by DAG. Temporary walls were installed inside existing galleries to create spaces conducive for greater visitor interaction through activities. 

Kidwai loves to work with the existing spaces and reinventing them with the use of additional walls and creative lighting while respecting and retaining the original structure. He likes to create flexible layouts and not controlling the visitor movement. He also believes in Museums that technology should be used as an aid to enhance the sharing of knowledge about the objects on display. 

Residential Architecture is what interests him the most as he feels houses connect most with people and their desires/needs. He loves to work on renovations of DDA flats for people of varied interests and limited budgets.