201004 Periferry Research Gathering with Bartaku and Christina

From December 2009 to February 2010, Christina Stadlbauer (Body Water) and Bartaku (A Slow Flow) were residents at the Periferry 1.0 project in Guwahati, northeast India. They will share their findings and experiences during a Research Gathering at FoAM.

Christina Stadlbauer, Body Water: Everyday medicine in everyday life - tales from Himalaya’s feet Intensive investigations on herbal medicine, water and the regional cuisine were conducted in the northeast Indian state of Assam. The experimental research – a day-to-day quest – became the core of a residency at Periferry - governmental, non-functional ferry for crossing the Brahmaputra and unique, interdisciplinary platform for artists and similar breeds. Numerous arranged and accidental encounters with local wells of knowledge, adventurous purchasing at Ulan and Pan Bazaar, and visits of nurseries and botanical gardens resulted in a peripheral archive of medicinal plants cum interactive lunch preparations - and moving images.

Bartaku, A Slow Flow: A residency at Periferry 1.0, fused by the ferry, a redundant icon of the fossil fuel era; the Brahmaputra river with its highly energetic currents, fed by the mighty mountains up North; the growing multi-tribal city of Guwahati where the wild edible power plants rich soil is eaten by concrete buildings; the Indian Institute of Technology, exclusive residence of the chosen ones; and especially, the giraffe of the Zoo-cum-Botanical garden. A residency that evolved into the elaboration of PhoEf*-narratives, embodied by micro-interventions, a workshop and an essay.

The Periferry 1.0 project is an alternative space that works as an incubator for transforming cultural productions. The project is designed to link together the cultural energies of the northeast India with other parts of South and Southeast Asia and the world. It is a laboratory for people engaged in hybrid practices, people whose knowledge tends to fall through gaps between disciplines, people who thrive in the interstitial spaces between art, culture and science, technology and ecology. The project focuses on the creation of a network space for negotiating the challenge of contemporary cultural production. It is located on a ferry on river Brahmaputra. www.periferry.in

This residency is a part of PhoEf: The Undisclosed Poésis of the Photovoltaic Effect - a research project on the relation between light power and electricity at the interstices of arts, science and technology. http://libarynth.org/luminous/phoef

The residency is included in FoAM’s 2010 Euro-Asian residency programme, supported by the Flemish Authorities.