| News from the liaison office of the Swiss Arts Council Pro Helvetia in South Asia & Vietnam No images? Click here  Small Rituals of Coming Together Art, food, culture are all excuses for us coming together. This title borrows from artist-curators Sheelasha Rajbhandari and Hit Man Gurung's upcoming presentations following their curator's residency in Switzerland, whose offerings we also glimpse in the gallery. Our co-creation open calls supports sets of artists across geographies to work together towards a co-creation. Meanwhile, the Synergies open call brings art organisations together to support explorations at the intersection of art and digital technologies. In upcoming events and projects, we see Elisa Storelli and Rohini Devasher showcase their co-creation, "Rehearsing Duality," at Science Gallery Bengaluru. Gabriel Hafner travels to Vietnam, while Ahn Tuấn travels from Vietnam to Switzerland for their respective research trips. Sharika Navamani from Sri Lanka, and Xewali Deka from India both embark on a residency this month to Switzerland. Meanwhile, Mateo Chacón Pino workshops eco-art strategies and Jonathan O'Hear gives a masterclass DIY tech art and AI collaboration at Kaleidoscopic Fields, an online mentorship programme exploring food cultures and climate optimism. All these and more occasions of coming together. Please follow @prohelvetia_newdelhi on Instagram for the latest updates. Pro Helvetia New Delhi  The Common Merganser (Mergus merganser) migrates during winter from Europe to the lowlands in Nepal where it is known as Maditundak ANNOUNCEMENTS Open Call: Co-creation ©️ He Jianping Pro Helvetia has launched the call for applications for new co-creations between two artistic partners. Deadline: 1 June 2025 Open Call: Synergies  Through the Synergies open call, Pro Helvetia provides support for projects at the intersection of art and digital technologies with a focus on knowledge exchange and fostering long-term partnerships The financial support provided ranges from CHF 30’000 to CHF 100’000 to organisations in Switzerland and across the world that partner up for projects like fellowships, hackathons, workshops, digital exchanges, peer sharing, panels or similar initiatives. Projects should focus on knowledge exchange and should include artists. Are you interested in learning more about SYNERGIES? Join our info event on 22 May 2025. Please register here by 18 May. Deadline: 1 October 2025 UPCOMING Rehearsing Duality at Science Gallery Bengaluru  Artists Rohini Devasher & Elisa Storelli will set up an experiment to posit / prove alternative frames of collaboration between art and science. The title takes its name from two intertwined ideas, the ‘rehearsal’ and ‘duality’ or that which is shaped by the quality of ‘two’. Building on projects centred on chronology and observation, they will explore the format of a staging to frame working methodologies created by the intersections, collisions, and amplification of individual thinking. This is part of the duo's co-creation project "Rehearsing Duality: Time ⇄ Mirror." The two first worked together in the framework of Connect India, a collaborative project between Pro Helvetia, Arts at CERN, and the International Centre for Theoretical Sciences (ICTS) in Bengaluru. Register here. Gabriel Hafner on a research trip to Vietnam  Gabriel Hafner. Photo courtesy the artist. Gabriel Hafner is an industrial designer based between Paris and Biel/Bienne. He positions himself as a researcher of forms, functions, and responses to contemporary concerns. Beyond the functionality of objects, he places importance on their poetic and symbolic dimensions, as well as on the hands-on nature of his practice. Sharika Navamani on residency in Switzerland  Sharika Navamani. Photo by Sandev Handy. Sharika Navamani is a multidisciplinary artist and activist based in Colombo Sri Lanka, working across installations, zines and performance. They interrogate the visual cultures and narratives produced by the state and other institutions that govern and structure the daily lives of Sri Lankans. Sharika is interested in creating an ontology of terror-ist/ism vis-à-vis the Prevention of Terrorism Act (PTA) of 1979, in Sri Lanka. They will be documenting cultural images, symbols, rhetorical play that map the affect of the PTA among the Eelam Tamil community in Switzerland. Xewali Deka on residency in Switzerland  Xewali Deka. Photo by Tapan Moharana. Xewali Deka is an artist from Bongaon, Assam in India. Her identity as a woman, as well as a member of the farming community, shapes much of her creative journey which folds indigenous materials and multiple mediums like film and photography, installation, participatory art, painting, and sculpture within itself. Xewali intends to explore Switzerland’s historical ties to agriculture and its intersection with urban and rural life. She aims to engage with local artists and communities, and to deepen her understanding through visits to museums focused on crafts, agriculture, biology, and anthropology. Ahn Tuấn on a research trip to Switzerland  Ahn Tuấn. Photo courtesy Rab Huu Studio. Nguyễn Anh Tuấn is a curator and art manager based in Hanoi, Vietnam. He is artistic director of Heritage Art Space (formerly known as Heritage Space) – an independent art organisation in Hanoi, Vietnam. Swiss Participation at Kaleidoscopic Fields  'Kaleidoscopic Fields: Across Mountains and Oceans' is an online mentorship programme that delves into traditional and contemporary food cultures as it connects with a sense of climate optimism. Mateo Chacón Pino is a Colombian-Swiss art historian, curator and author. His workshop explores new artistic strategies that challenge traditional exhibition practices by prioritizing ecological relations over representation, helping participants develop critical, practice-based approaches to presenting eco-art and agroecological concepts. Jonathan O'Hear is a multidisciplinary artist, whose work is often experiential and technological. His online masterclass series guides participants on DIY tech art practices, from scavenging materials and building with Arduinos and AI-assisted coding to exploring AI as a creative collaborator in art. Read more at Kaleidoscopic Fields. GALLERY From Soil to Spirit: Small Rituals of Coming Together  Hit Man Gurung and Sheelasha Rajbhandari. Photos courtesy the artists. Sheelasha Rajbhandari is an artist and curator based out of Kathmandu. Her works draw upon an embodied and speculative lineage of femininities to question the positioning of women and fluid beings across time, landscapes, and cosmologies. Hit Man Gurung is an artist and curator based in Kathmandu by way of Lamjung. Gurung’s diverse practice concerns itself with the fabric of human mobilities, frictions of history, and failures of revolutions. While rooted in the recent history of Nepal, his works unravel a complex web of kinships and extraction across geographies that underscore the exploitative nature of capitalism. The curator's residency is a collaboration between One Gee in Fog, Mina Achermann, and Erell La Pape, and Embassy of Foreign Artists, including Richard Le Quellec. Starting in January, the artists and curators, Hit Man Gurung and Sheelasha Rajbhandari, delved into how nuanced ways of relating resist pressures of homogenisation. Throughout the latter half of their residency, Hit Man Gurung and Sheelasha Rajbhandari, together with collaborators, will present small public rituals of coming together. Date: 28 May Date : 11 June Join Hit Man Gurung, Beychu Droma, Byungseo Yoo and artists in collaboration with the fugitive publishing house hhhhh for Storytelling sessions and informal exchange with warm food. Below is photo essay on their experiences. Photos courtesy Sheelasha Rajbhandari and Hit Man Gurung. From Soil to Spirit : Small Rituals of Coming TogetherDreams and speculative visions are acts of reclamation, we reassert our agency and refuse the limitations imposed upon us. In a world where oppressive systems act to control identities, land, and bodies, imagining otherwise is itself resistance. Where extractive economies benefits from burnout, anxiety, imposter syndrome and isolation, small rituals of coming together, We reclaim space for diverse ways of being, loving, and relating—not just as an act of survival, but as a way to create worlds beyond the structures that seek to contain us.  Image of the Common Merganser (Mergus merganser), also known as the Goosander, taken at Lake Geneva. Native to Switzerland and other northern regions. In Nepali, this species is called Maditundak. During winter, Common Mergansers migrate from Europe to the lowlands of Nepal and surrounding regions.  Sheelasha Rajbhandari is shaping soft forms for sitting and resting,...  ...textures for touch, creating sensorial invitations woven into...  ...Soils to Spirits: Small Rituals of Coming Together.  Meeting with Jonas Van, Mina, Hit Man, and Sheelasha at One Gee in Fog  Lunch with the FMAC team, followed by a visit to their current exhibition Disruptions: Early Video Art in Europe.  Visiting La Ferme de Budé with artist Pascale de Senarclens, resident at Utopiana: exploring edible cities, organic practices, and the connections between farmers and the local community.  First dinner at the Embassy of Foreign Artists with Erell, Richard, fellow resident Kurina Sohn, and Yesum.  Richard is planning a trip to Sion and Lötschen Valley for Sheelasha and Hit Man to attend the winter festival  Visit to upcycling initiatives, including Histoire sans chute (shown in the image).  Pro Helvetia New Delhi    newdelhi@prohelvetia.org |
