b.1972, Jabalpur, India
Lives and works in Calcutta, Bombay and New Haven
Education
Ph.D., Cultural & Social Anthropology, Stanford University, United States of America (2007)
M.A., Cultural & Social Anthropology, Stanford University (2007)
M.A., Ancient Indian History Culture and Archaeology, Deccan College Post-Graduate &
Research Institute, Pune, India. 1996
B.A., Social Work, Bombay University, India (1994)
Academic Appointment
2007-10 Lecturer in Anthropology, Films Studies and South Asian Studies, Yale University
Selected Solo Exhibitions
2009
Archetype, Aicon Gallery, London
2005
Foot Fetish, Seagull Arts and Media Resource Centre, Calcutta
2004
Calcutta Street Portraits, Goethe Institut, Max Muller Bhavan, Calcutta
1999
Still Life and a Bridge, Piramal Galley, Center for Photography as an Art Form, National Centre for Performing Arts, Bombay
Selected Group Shows
2009
Re-Frame, Centre George Pompidou, Paris
Re-Frame, Museum of Contemporary Art, Roskilde 2009
Indian Films, La casa Encindida, Madrid
2008
Cinema of Prayoga, National Centre for Performing Arts, Bombay
2006
Lightcone, Centre George Pompidou, Paris
Cinema of Prayoga, Tate Modern, London
2005
Indian Experimental Films, Cinema-Nova, Brussels
Films
2007
Shadows Formless | Nirakar Chhaya (35mm, Color and B&W, 82 minutes, Bengali)
2005
Endnote | Antaral (16mm, Color and B&W, 18 minutes, Hindi)
2002
Performing Death, DV, Color, 16 minutes
2001
Dancing Othello | Brihnnlala Ki Khelkali (16mm, Color and B&W, 17 minutes, Hindi)
2001
Rummaging for Pasts: Excavating Sicily, Digging Bombay, (DV, Color, 27 minutes)
1999
Kalighat Fetish | Kalighat Athikatha, (16mm, Color and B&W, 22 minutes, Bengali)
1998
Et Cetera, 16mm, Color, 32 minutes
Film Festival & Museum Screenings
Shadows Formless | Nirakar Chhaya (2007, 35mm, Color and B&W, 82 minutes, Bengali)
*Best Director, Indo-American Arts Council Film Festival, New York
*Best Actress, Indo-American Arts Council Film Festival, New York
2009
Asian Hot Shots, Berlin
2008
International Forum of New Cinema, Calcutta
India Visions, Washington D.C.
2007
Indo-American Arts Council Film Festival, New York
International Film Festival Innsbruck, Austria
Singapore International Film Festival
Locarno International Film Festival, Switzerland
Retrospectives
2008
National Centre for Performing Arts, Bombay
Whitney Humanities Centre, Yale University
2006
Les Inattendus, Lyon
2004
Goethe Institute, Max Muller Bhavan, Calcutta
Endnote | Antaral (2005, 16mm, Color and B&W, 18 minutes, Hindi)
2009
Museum of Contemporary Art, Roskilde 2009
Centre George Pompidou, Paris 2009
2008
Jerusalem Film Festival 2008
Expanded Forum, Berlin International Film Festival
2007
River to River, Florence Indian Film Festival
Indo-American Arts Council Film Festival, New York
International Bunker Film Festival, Italy
Tongues on Fire - Asian Woman Film Festival, London
Let It BE! A Festival of Independent Films, Bombay
San Francisco International Asian American Film Festival
International Film Festival Rotterdam
European Media Art Festival, Osnabruck
Images Festival, Toronto
Bangkok International Film Festival
Performing Death (2002, DV, Color, 16 minutes)
2002
Annual Conference, European Association of Archaeology, Thessaloniki,
Dancing Othello | Brihnnlala Ki Khelkali (2001, 16mm, Color and B&W, 17 minutes, Hindi)
2006
Desire under Banyan: Beyond Bollywood, Pacific Film Archive, UC Berkeley
2005
Indian Experimental Films, Cinema-Nova Brussels
2004
Shakespeare in Asia, Conference on Theatre, Stanford University
2002
Dance in South Asia, Conference on Performance, Swarthmore College
Rummaging for Pasts: Excavating Sicily, Digging Bombay Digging Bombay (2001, DV, Color, 27minutes)
2004
Vikalp- Films for Freedom, Bombay
2003
World Archaeology Congress, Washington
2001
Narrative Pasts | Past Narratives, Conference on Archaeology, Stanford
Kalighat Fetish | Kalighat Athikatha), (1999, 16mm, Color and B&W, 22 minutes, Bengali)
*Best Documentary, Tampere Film Festival
2007
Sommerszene, Salzburg
Broadway Media Centre, Nottingham
Cornerhouse, Manchester
2006
The Hat Factory, Luton
The Peepul Centre, Leicester
Arts Picturehouse, Cambridge
Arnolfini, Bristol
Watermans, Brentford
Bite The Mango! Festival, Bradford
MAC Midlands Arts Centre, Birmingham
Tate Modern, London
Centre George Pompidou, Paris
Espace Croise, Roubaix
2005
South Asian Film Festival, Seattle
Scratch Projects, Paris
2004
Experimenta, Bombay & New Delhi
2003
Queer Filmistan, San Francisco
2002
New York Gay & Lesbian Film Festival
2001
Los Angles Gay & Lesbian Film Festival
Tampere Film Festival
2000
Chingari Video Fest, Madison
London Film Festival
Et Cetera (1998, 16mm, Color, 32 minutes)
2005
Indian Experimental Films, Cinema-Nova, Brussels
1999
Dhaka Short Film Festival
Awards
2008
Best Director, Indo-American Arts Council Film Festival, New York
2001
Best Documentary, Tampere International Short Film Festival, Finland.
Bibliography
2009
'Archetype': Two Solo exhibition by Ashish Avikunthak and Sakti Burman at Aicon Gallery– An article in the artdaily.org (September 6, 2009).
Profile: A Split Existence – An article in the Yale Daily News (January 16, 2009).
2008
National Center for Performing Arts Catalogue - Lead feature article in context of a
retrospective at NCPA, Mumbai.
2007
Erasure of the Subaltern as Auto Critique - An essay by Abhishek Hazra in the online contemporary Indian art webmagzine Artconcerns (June '07).
2006
Cinema Of Prayoga – extracts from the catalogue of Tate Modern, by Tanya Singh in the magazine Vertigo (Autumn '07).
Interviewed by Amrit Gangar - in "Cinema Prayoga: Indian Experimental Films 1913-2006"eds., Brad Butler & Karen Mirza (London: no.w. here)
Article in Siliconeer - a San Francicso Bay Area's webmagzine (April '06).
Review in American Anthropologist - by Ruth Van Dyke of Performing Death &
Rummaging for Pasts: "Seeing the Past: Visual Media in Archaeology" 108 (2): 370–384.
