Srishti School of Art, Design and Technology

Allison Kudla. Allison Kudla is an American artist living in Bangalore, India working as a visiting artist and teacher at Srishti. She holds a Bachelors of Fine Art from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, 2002. She is also a Doctoral Candidate at the University of Washington's Center for Digital Arts and Experimental Media. She has exhibited her work internationally, won regional and international awards and has been published in online journals and magazines. Her recent work uses data sensed from biological systems to create hybrid bio-mechanical systems. In her most recent projects she has been exploring CNC technologies and plant tissue culturing. She is currently working on completing a work for Laboral in Gijon, Spain for Spring of 2010.

Anders Sandell. Anders Sandell is currently a designer-in-residence at Srishti. In his recent work, Anders has been exploring the topic of play, and how to design interactive toys. He has been leading courses on interaction and toy design. Anders has worked with various design consultancies, start-ups, and museums in the San Francisco Bay Area. He has a Master’s Degree from the Interactive Telecommunications Program at New York University, and a double Bachelor’s Degree in History and Chinese Language from the University of Washington. Anders is originally from Finland, but has lived and worked for the most of his life in the United States.

Anitha Santhanam. Anitha is an artist-in-residence at Srishti. She completed her training in Physical Theatre from LISPA London in 2010, on the Charles Wallace Scholarship. Her performing experience includes Indian contemporary dance and physical theatre both solo and group performances. Her teaching and research interests include movement and theatre, arts-in-education and embodied learning. In London, Anitha also trained at ARTIS, a company integrating performing arts into education, and at JABADAO on developmental movement play.

Arzu Mistry. Arzu Mistry, BFA California College of the Arts, Ed. M. Harvard Graduate School of Education, is an educator, muralist, mixed media visual artist and dancer. She lives and works between the United States and India. She has 10 years of arts education experience spanning varied educational institutions from private schools to schools for urban poor, museums to non-profits, and State Offices of Education to Art and Design Colleges. At Srishti, Arzu is an Artist-in-Residence and a Research Associate at Project Vision. Her research this year has centered on connecting memory, story, play and art making through community art projects, teacher professional development and educational research and practice at Drishya Kallika Kendra, Learning centers for Urban Poor.

Ayisha Abraham. Ayisha is a Visual Arts Consultant at Srishti. She holds a BFA in Painting from MS University, Baroda, India. In 1991 she participated in the Whitney Independent Study Program, New York City, and has an MFA from Rutgers University, New Jersey. Ayisha has held solo exhibitions in New York and India, and her works have been exhibited in numerous group shows. In September 2005 her film ‘Straight 8’ was screened at the Srishti exhibition at Ars Electronica, Linz, Austria, and was subsequently an invited artist at the Khoj Residency in Mumbai. Her short film ‘One Way’, was screened at the Directors’ Fortnight at Cannes in 2007. Her film "You are Here" was recently screened at The Indian Highway show at the Serpentine Gallery in London. She has also curated an exhibition with Net Base and the Alternative Law Forum for World Information City conference held in Bangalore in 2005, and is a member of a Bangalore artists collective, BAR1.

Jackson Poretta. After graduating from the University of Michigan with Honors in 1997, Jackson devoted his work experience to realizing authentic social change and ecological justice. For 2 years, he served as a farming apprentice for the “Community Farm of Ann Arbor”, providing 130 local families with healthy, vibrant, and ecological produce. Jackson is a certified permaculture designer, with specific experience in biodynamic farming techniques, community supported agriculture and natural building. Jackson was a “Teach for America” corps member and served as the 7th grade science teacher and department head for a middle school in Oakland, CA. He was also involved in the dreaming, launching, and co-cultivating of Oakland Leaf, an arts and activism non-profit organization. Currently, Jackson is working in collaboration with the Drishya educational project to transform their school sites into ecological centers. He is specifically engaged in rainwater catchment systems, grey-water recycling, micro-intensive gardening, organic design, and natural building. http://oaklandleaf.org/

Joanna Griffin. Joanna Griffin is an artist who has taught at the University of Southampton, University of Wolverhampton and Dun Laoghaire Institute of Art, Design and Technology in Ireland. She has an MA in Fine Art from Edinburgh University and an MA in Hypermedia Studies from the University of Westminster. Her work has been shown internationally in galleries and film festivals including the International Film Festival Rotterdam, but has more recently taken place in public contexts such as radio, participative events and education. Her research has been in the material and immaterial manifestations of satellite networks, at the University of British Columbia and the Space Science Lab, UC Berkeley. She has worked with UK-based Arts Catalyst on ‘Satellite Stories’ made in collaboration with the Mullard Space Science Lab. At Srishti she works with the Indian Space Research Organization on a series of artist projects and experimental education initiatives for children and the public, under the project title ‘Moon Vehicle’. http://www.aconnectiontoaremoteplace.net/

Michelle Cherian. Michelle is an Artist-in-Residence at Srishti. Her recent work combines the use of sculpture, location, narrative and performance. In addition to her art practice, Michelle has taught a course in experience design as well as an art course focused on the use of narrative. Before coming to Srishti, Michelle worked for 5 years as an Interaction and Visual Designer for design consultancies, start-ups, and Fortune 500 companies in the San Francisco Bay Area. She has received a Masters Degree from the Interactive Telecommunications Program at New York University and a Bachelors Degree from Sarah Lawrence College.

Prayas Abhinav works with Gaming, Interaction Design and Urban Geography. He is a researcher at the Center for Experimental Media Arts (CEMA) and in the past has taught at the Dutch Art Institute (DAI) and Center for Environmental Planning and Technology (CEPT). He has been supported by fellowships by Sarai/CSDS (2005), Openspace India (2009), TED (2010) and Center for Media Studies (CMS) (2006). He has presented his projects and proposals in the last few years at Periferry, Guwahati (2010), Exit Art, New York (2010), Futuresonic, Manchester (2009), Wintercamp, Amsterdam (2009), 48c: Public Art Ecology (2008), Khoj (2008), Urban Climate Camp, ISEA (2008), Sensory Urbanism, Glasgow (2008), First Monday, Chicago (2006), The Paris Accord (2006) and PSBT/Prasar Bharti (2006). Some exhibitions he has participated in across the last few years: Myth ←→ Reality at The Guild, Mumbai (2011), Continuum Transfunctioner (2010) at exhibit320 in Delhi, Contested Space - Incursions (2010) at Gallery Seven Arts in Delhi and Astonishment of Being (2009) at the Birla Academy of Art and Culture in Kolkatta. More: http://prayas.in

Shabnam Virmani. At Srishti, Shabnam conceived and directed the Kabir Project, which brings together the experiences of a series of ongoing journeys in the quest of the sociopolitical and spiritual meanings of the 15th century mystic poet Kabir in our contemporary world. It consists of documentary films, folk music videos, music CDs and books of the poetry in translation. Future work consists of creating an archive of Kabir poetry and music in partnership with folk singer and rural communities, both on the web and on the ground. Shabnam has been a journalist and has directed several award-winning documentaries in close partnership with grassroots women’s groups in the country. In 1990, she co-founded the Drishti Media, Arts and Human Rights collective in Ahmedabad, a group of media professionals working to strengthen struggles for human rights and gender justice. In 2002, she co-directed a community radio program with a rural women’s group in Kutch, Gujarat.
http://www.kabirproject.org/

Smriti Mehra. Smriti Mehra is a video artist who lives and works in Bangalore, India. She completed her MFA in Media Art from NSCAD University at Halifax in Canada with a scholarship from the AAUW Educational Foundation. She is currently an artist-in-residence at the Centre for Experimental Media Art and she also teaches at Srishti, her alma mater. Her video works have played at many festivals including ‘Voices from the Waters’, the 3rd International Film Festival on Water in Bangalore, 'The Images Festival' in Toronto, the 'Made in Video’ festival in Denmark, ‘Monitor 3’ in Toronto, 'Photophobia 8' in Hamilton and 'The Digital Short Film Festival’ by the Multivisual Academy' in Chennai.

Yashas Shetty. Yashas Shetty is an artist and educator based in Bangalore. He is currently an Artist in Residence and faculty at the Centre For Experimental Media Arts at Srishti in Bangalore and an artist in residence the National Centre For Biological Sciences (NCBS), Bangalore. His practice explores working between various disciplines including installation, sound, software and biotechnology. The work he produces is situated between the arts and the sciences, creating situations of dialogue between scientists, artists and the larger community.He has conducted workshops and taught in colleges in India and abroad.

In 2007, he helped start the Centre for Experimental Media Arts at Srishti. He is currently working on developing an open source framework and community for artists and designers working with living organisms.