A spotlight on Prayas Abhinav and Siddhartha Kararwal

• A Bangalore-based writer, occasional artist and infrequent teacher, Prayas Abhinav has worked in the last few years on numerous pieces of speculative fiction, some of which are now graphic-novels-in-progress, software, games, interactive installations, public interventions and curatorial projects.
• He is interested in politics, pedagogy and the interaction of the humanities and the digital. Presently he is a Research Fellow at Lucid, A studio for speculative art and an artist-in-residence at the Srishti School of Art, Design and Technology in Bangalore. He also contributes to research and projects at northeastwestsouth (n.e.w.s) (Amsterdam, NL).
• The talented practitioner teaches irregularly at Center for Environmental Planning Technology (CEPT) (Ahmedabad) and Dutch Art Institute (Arnhem, NL). He has in the past developed his research and practice with the support of fellowships by Sarai, Openspace, the Center for Experimental Media Arts (CEMA) and TED. He has been in residencies at Khoj (India), Coded Cultures (Austria) and dis-locate (Japan). He has shared his work at festivals including Transmediale, 48c, Futuresonic, ISEA and Wintercamp.
• On the other hand, Siddhartha Kararwal has completed his BVA and MVA in the discipline of Sculpture from M.S.U, Baroda in 2006 and 2009 respectively. He has participated in group exhibitions including Size Matters or Does it?’ Latitude 28, New Delhi; ‘First Look’ at Project 88, Mumbai; ‘The Matter Within: New Contemporary Art of India’ at the Yerba Buena Centre of Arts in San Francisco (2011); ‘Beauty and the Beast’ at Mathieu Foss Gallery in Mumbai (2011)and fairs like India Art Fair 2012 with Latitude 28 and will be represented by them at Art Gwangju:12.
• He was showcased at the Sculpture Park at India Art Fair, 2012 (curated by Diana Campbell – Creative India) He has also participated in several workshops like Comic Strip workshop with Sarnath Banerjee, Sarai, New Delhi in 2007, Sound Art, KHOJ, New Delhi, Traditional Dogra Casting with Shivkumar Verma, MSU, Baroda in 2004 and Wood Workshop, MSU, Baroda in 2004. Siddhartha has been an artist- in-residence at Kashi in Kochi. The artist currently lives and works in Baroda.

(Information courtesy: Latitude28, New Delhi)