Idea Bag

Craft revivalist, activist, politician and writer, Jaya Jaitly is known for founding the Dastkari Haat Samiti as well as her work to promote the traditional arts and crafts of India.Subsequently, she worked towards bringing together and exhibiting the work of artisans from India, Pakistan, Vietnam and Africa. She played a central role in setting up the Dilli Haat in 1994. Jaitly also advocated for the inclusion of the study of craft heritage in school syllabi and aided in designing the NCERT curriculum to this end.She has received awards from the PHD Chamber of Commerce and Industry and the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce & Industry (FICCI) for her contributions to art and cultural heritage.

Dr. T V Sajeev, Scientist Scientist E-1, Department Forest Entomology, has extensive research experience in Insect population dynamics, biocontrol, Alien invasive species. Currently he is involved in Managing Tree Health Helpline for the State of Kerala, research on the management of the giant African snail, an alien invasive species, Survey, risk assessment, spread ecology and development of management protocols for alien invasive plants in Kerala. Currently he coordinates a Tree Health Helpline Desk in KFRI for the benefit of forest tree farmers in the State. He has a patent for development of a biopesticide using nucleopolyhedrovirus against the teak defoliator from a joint research in managing the teak defoliator pest.

Anumitra Ghosh Dastidar is a professional chef and co-founder of Edible Archives, a sustainable restaurant and art/research project based in Goa that showcases the diversity and possibilities of India's indigenous food culture. She holds a PhD in Cognitive Linguistics from the University of Delhi, and aims to combine her research experience with sustainable food practices. She was the owner and chef of Big Bongg Theory, a modern Bengali restaurant in New Delhi and ran Bento Bong, an annual Bengali food stall, for three years. She presented dinners for the India International Centre’s annual Arts Festival in 2017 and 2019. Over the years, she has worked with the Diva group of fine dining restaurants in New Delhi. Most recently, she opened two new brands in Bangalore, Bento Bento and Yo Colombo.

C S Venkiteswaran is an Indian film critic, professor, documentary filmmaker, writer and occasional subtitler who writes predominantly in English and Malayalam. He won the National Film Award for Best Film Critic in 2009 and shared the National Film Award for Best Arts/Cultural Film for directing the documentary film, Pakarnattam in 1995. He is known for his insightful analysis of the social aspects of cinema and their artistic fulfilment. His writings and reviews on film and media, in English and Malayalam have been published in journals such as Deep Focus, Film International, Cinema in India, Bhashaposhini, Pachakuthira, Indian Express, The Hindu, Mathrubhumi and Madhyamam.

Benjamin Richter is a pioneering contemporary circus artist who has been working at the intersection of juggling, dance and performance art for 34 years. During this time, he has developed a unique artistic voice through his somatic movement and object-oriented methods. Benjamin creates and performs both as a soloist and in various collaborations with, amongst others, the Bauhaus Dessau foundation, The Czech Association for Choreographic Development and Atemzug Köln. Benjamin has spent decades in artistic research, teaching, deconstructing and enriching both his own practices and those of the countless other artists he has supported. He has also designed many creative courses and taught BA, MA, PHD and independent students at the Stockholm University of the Arts.

Jenny Patschovsky is a circus producer, circus dramaturge, networker and aerial artist. She has been involved with contemporary circus for over twenty years - both in terms of cultural policy as part of her board work at the Federal Association of Contemporary Circus, and through artistic research. She is the chairwoman and co-founder of the BUZZ, the Federal Association of Contemporary Circus. She studied art history and musicology at the University of Cologne, founded the circus company Atemzug in 2006, and directed Labor Cirque in 2013. Since 2016, she has been researching the intersections of Bauhaus and circus and designing site-specific performances for the Bauhaus Dessau Foundation. Jenny is a member of various cultural policy committees and a staff member of Neuer Zirkus Ruhr.

Dr Sanil Viswanathan Nair is a Professor of Philosophy at the Department of Humanities and Social Sciences, Indian Institute of Technology, New Delhi, India. His research interests lie in philosophical issues in cinema, aesthetics, and the philosophy of technology. He works on art and technology in classical India, Asian cinema, Indian theater, colonialism, and phenomenology. He was a Charles Wallace Fellow at the Department of Philosophy, University of Liverpool, UK, and Directeur d’études Associés at Maison des sciences de l’homme, Paris. His research interests lie in Continental Philosophy, including Philosophical Aesthetics and Philosophy of Technology. He works on art and technology in Classical India, Asian Cinema and Indian Theatre. Besides publishing in English, Dr. Sanil writes in Malayalam on 19th- and 20th-century social movements and culture.