Archiving the Pandemic in India
Call for Proposals
Curating for Culture intends to build a public archive that records and preserves experiences of the Covid-19 pandemic in India. In June 2021, we initiated an appeal for contributions that was open for individuals to submit material to the archive. A short workshop was also held that month, and now we are working on making the process of building this archive immersive, inclusive and collaborative. While the submissions for individual experiences of the pandemic will continue through our website, we are incubating longer-term projects that intend on archiving the experiences of the community.
The open call for proposals invites aspiring researchers, archivists and curators who wish to participate in a 6-month long incubation program to submit a proposal to co-create an archive of the pandemic in India. The intention is to enable selected participants to document and archive diverse experiences unfolding on the ground through community engagement. Participants are encouraged to work across different mediums and languages. The output from these different projects will be consolidated in the form of a digital public platform.
The first four months are dedicated to learning and exchanging, while the last two months will focus on assimilating and disseminating. Between Sept 2021 to Jan 2022, we will meet together four-to-five times per month in varying durations and the participants will engage via the modes of workshops, internal mentoring sessions and open dialogues. Following which, we will co-curate a digital platform which will embed all kinds of diverse archival projects and mediums of representation, to be launched in March 2022.
Deadline for applications is extended to 28th August 2021
Tell us which aspect of the pandemic you aim to explore and archive and how you would go about doing so, and what are your concerns about achieving your goals. In 300-500 words, your proposal should cover:
- Which aspect(s) of the pandemic you would like to archive
- The process you intend to follow and whether you have existing access to material and/or communities
- The form of the archival material you would like to collect and the outcome of your project
Kindly submit your proposal using this Google Form.
To make the application in any other language, please email us at info@curatingfoculture.com
More details about the workshops and open dialogues will follow soon!
After the selection of proposals, participants will be expected to engage in all parts of the program. In the event of a selected participant not available for proposed dates, we will request them to make way for the next candidate.
Participation will involve a certain fee on a monthly basis. The exact amount will be decided and made known to selected participants on the basis of the final number of participants. We are a self-driven collective and the participation fee will be collected to cover the expenses of running this programme and paying external facilitators.
For any queries, email us at info@curatingforculture.com and we will get back to you shortly.
To know more about the program format, you can also find us on Facebook and Instagram @curatingforculture.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is there any eligibility criteria?
No
Can I archive my own experience?
No, we are expecting to reach and record for a larger community base through these proposals. To archive your own experience(s), please visit the appeal to contribute.
Can community members make an anonymous contribution?
Yes. We encourage participants to work with community members to reach suitable agreements regarding anonymous contributions in consultation with Curating for Culture.
Why build an Archive?
An archive is a platform that safeguards a collection of objects and stories which account for various histories. The collections are then studied and interpreted over the years to understand what happened during the pandemic in real time. This archive will also pay attention to every little detail of your experiences,and retain the nature of your submissions in their original form. Material that you submit will also be organized and presented to a much larger audience via the world wide web. The archive will be a free access platform curated over the course of this year with the help of various professionals to ensure that our individual and collective experiences of a pandemic are preserved and commemorated.
Why should I archive?
In the process of preserving and disseminating collective memory, every single voice matters. However, not all voices get recorded. During this pandemic, we wish to change that. Recording and collecting a community's experience, whether grim, traumatic, happy or hopeful, might give them some relief from keeping it bottled up within themselves. In the larger scheme of things, it will be an important resource for researchers or readers to ‘know’ the everyday experiences of common people in India. Otherwise history will be written limited by the perspective of the State and its institutions while the everyday voices of people are erased.
Why would it matter?
We have all been seeking a space to share or vent our emotions during this pandemic. Encountering someone's experience might make a reader or a viewer who felt the same way, but could not express themselves, feel seen and heard. It might also help people to broaden their viewpoint and empathise with stories. Everyone's stories matter because we lived through these times.