OCO Residency Programme 2024
Curatorial note
The great divide between fine arts and crafts has impacted art pedagogy, exhibition practices, and art practice. This binary has long-lasting impacts not only in the cultural realm but also in our understanding of craft practices. The dichotomy between arts and crafts has been settled as part of colonial art education. While the nationalist response was to reclaim the arts of the past and monuments, a discourse around the craft practices was developed that was protective, leading to an inferior status. This was also reflected later in the post-colonial government policies in India.
Even though contemporary art practitioners have appropriated craft practices, they erase the cultural contexts of these practices. Apart from a lack of acknowledgment by the artists, the curatorial spaces mostly ignore these artifacts. This project aims to interrogate and blur these hierarchical categories, promoting an integrated approach that includes craft practices in both academic and exhibition spaces.
The curatorial vision aims to foster an inclusive cultural landscape that recognizes and celebrates the artistic value of craft. This edition focuses on the bell metal workers of Balakati near Bhubaneswar, a community with a rich heritage of metalworking that is deeply embedded in the cultural fabric of Odisha.
Curatorial team of OCO Residency 2024
Premjish Achari
Lead Curator
Premjish Achari is a curator and writer based in Delhi and teaches art history and theory at Shiv Nadar University, India. He founded the in-depth curatorial platform called Future Collaborations aimed at theoretically and politically informed curation, and is the co-curator of Bhubaneswar Art Trail 2018, and currently heads the program and the editorial for the exhibition ‘Lokame Tharavadu’ organised by Kochi Biennale Foundation. He has curated numerous projects in the contexts of India, the UK, and the USA. He received the Inlaks: Take on Art Travel Grant for Young Critics in 2016 and was a Fellow for Curatorial Intensive South Asia (CISA) in 2017 at KHOJ International Artist’s Association. In 2018, he received the Art Scribes Award from Prameya Art Foundation for developing new curatorial paradigms. As part of the Award, he attended a residency at Chateau de La Napoule, France. He was the winner of the Art Writers’ Award 2021 issued by the Swiss Arts Council Pro Helvetia.
Sibdas Sengupta
Assistant Curator
Sibdas works with subjects matters around transformative affectedness in relation to speed and immediacy; ideas around forgetfulness and historical gaps, rejection and space of abstraction. Sibdas has participated in many group exhibition, such as Indian Art Fair(2020); The earth is still going around the sun, curated by Mile Samdab (2019) and Student Biennale, Kochi Muziris Biennale (2016), among others. Sibdas had also various project displays of his installations such as Second Wave Of Amnesia, Final MFA Solo Project Display, Kiran Nadar Museum of Art, Noida (2019); response to an absurd land, which doesn't exist, Shiv Nadar University (2018) and The City Under-Wrapped, Shiv Nadar University (2018), among others
Julius Das
Assistant Curator
Julius Das (born 1994) is an interdisciplinary artist works with photographs, text-based works, moving images, installations, and primarily with drawings. Julius has completed his BFA from B. K. Collage of Art and Craft, Bhubaneswar (2017) and MFA from the School of Humanities and Social Sciences, Shiv Nadar University, Dadri (2020). Julius Das works with many diverse subjects like post-war, art historical events, sexuality, citizenship, mass culture with multi-layered conceptual frameworks through artistic and research based projects. Julius is currently working as a product designer at BEAD Studio, Bhubaneswar. Julius has participated in numerous exhibitions, which includes, ‘ID-ENTITY ‘group exhibition at ArtPilgrimLive Gallery, Gurgaon (2018); 'EMPTY IS NEW ENERGY’, a solo exhibition at Bocca Cafe , Bhubaneswar, Odisha (2017); ‘Student Biennale’, Kochi Muziris biennale, Kochi (2016) and ‘HORIZON’, Group Show at Press Club, Bhubaneswar, Odisha (2016)’; among others. Das has attended various artist residencies and workshops, which includes, ‘SPACE STUDIO’, Four-Months Artist Residency 2021,Vadodara (2021); ‘October School- 2018’, contemporary public art project, as part of the network initiated by IFCAR institute of contemporary art research at ZHDK Zurich (2019); ‘Kala-Setu’, Utsha Foundation for Contemporary Art in partnership with the Raza art foundation (2017); ‘PAGO’, Public Art Project, at Gopalpur Odisha, by Government Of Odisha, Berhampur (2017) and ‘CHALENGAE’ Video Art Residency, Utsha foundation, Bhubaneswar, Odisha (2016), among others.
Residents of 2024
Disharee Mathur
Artist & Designer
Disharee Mathur is an artist and designer based in Jaipur, India, whose practice explores the intersection of traditional craft, material research, and contemporary design. Working primarily with Jaipur Blue Pottery, she collaborates with artisans and scientists to develop new ceramic materials using industrial waste, creating pathways for cultural and economic sustainability. A graduate of the Savannah College of Art and Design and the Royal College of Art–Imperial College London, she founded Project New Blue in 2021. Her ongoing research investigates waste as a creative resource, combining craft knowledge, material innovation, and experimental making to reimagine traditional practices for contemporary contexts.
