Mohile Parikh Center for the Visual Arts

We will host two presentations by Sundar Sarukkai on May 14 and 15, 2009 at 6.30pm at the Little Theatre of the National Centre for the Performing Arts. This program is free and open to all.

Sundar Sarukkai is a Professor in Philosophy at the School of Humanities, National Institute of Advanced Studies, Indian Institute of Science Campus, Bangalore. He is trained in physics and philosophy, and has a PhD from Purdue University. His research interests include Philosophy of Science and Mathematics, Postmodernism, as well as Philosophy of Art. Sarukkai has been a Homi Bhabha Fellow, Fellow of the Shimla Institute of Advanced Studies and PHISPC Associate Fellow. He is the author of the following books: Translating the world: Science and Language, Philosophy of Symmetry and Indian Philosophy and Philosophy of Science, and co-editor of two volumes on Logic and Applications and is an Editorial Board member of the Leonardo Book Series, an influential series published by MIT Press on science and art.

Lecture I: Postmodernism and Philosophy of Art

Lecture II: The Nature of the ‘Contemporary’

We will host a presentation by the artist Tushar Joag on April 17, 2009 at 6.30pm at the Little Theatre of the National Centre for the Performing Arts. This program is free and open to all.

We will host a short course on Art History: Indian Painting: The Courtly Traditions on April 14, 15 and 16, 2009 from 9:30am - 5.30pm at the M.C. Ghia Hall, Fort, Mumbai. The course will be conducted by Kavita Singh (Associate Professor at the School of Arts and Aesthetics, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi).

Registrations open for both students and non-students. For more information, please visit: MPC Courses: A New Learning Initiative

The Mohile Parikh Center for the Contemporary (MPCC), will screen the film Man on Wire (Documentary) directed by James Marsh on April 2, 2009 at 6.00 pm at the Little Theatre of the National Centre for the Performing Arts in Mumbai. Free passes are available at the Mohile Parikh Center.

On August 7, 1974 a young Frenchman named Philippe Petit stepped out on a wire illegally rigged between the New York World Trade Center’s twin towers. After dancing for nearly an hour on the wire, he was arrested, taken for psychological evaluation, and brought to jail before he was finally released. This extraordinary documentary incorporates Petit’s personal footage to show how he overcame seemingly insurmountable challenges to achieve the artistic crime of the century.

We will host two presentations by the historian Indira Chowdhury on March 26 and 27, 2009 at 6.30pm at the Little Theatre of the National Centre for the Performing Arts. This program is free and open to all.

Indira Chowdhury was formerly Professor of English at Jadavpur University, Kolkata. A PhD in History from the School of Oriental and African Studies, London, her book The Frail Hero and Virile History (OUP, 1998) was awarded the Tagore Prize (Rabindra Puraskar) in 2000. She also compiled the Supplement of Indian English words published in the Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary in 1995. In 2004, she published The First Promise – a translation of a major Bengali novel into English. She is based in Bangalore and works as a Consultant Archivist for several institutions among them, Tata Institute of Fundamental Research, Mumbai, IIT Kanpur and Naandi, Hyderabad.

Lecture I: Collective Memory, Institutional Archives and the Writing of Contemporary History

Lecture II: The Promise of Women’s Writing: Ashapurna Debi, a hundred years on

We will host a performance and art symposia titled Addressing the ABC of Art (Artists/Beliefs/Curatorial Impulses/Innovation) on March 22, 2009 from 6.00 pm - 9.00pm at NGMA Auditorium, National Gallery of Modern Art, Mumbai.This program is free and open to all.

Artists/Panelists: Sharmila Samant, Surekha, Mithu Sen, Monali Meher, Kaushik Mukhopadhyay, Justin Ponmany, Tushar Joag and Anita Dube

Chair: Arshiya Lokhandwala (Independent Curator)

We will host a presentation titled Lifestyle China: The Global Rise of China’s Creative Industries by Philip Dodd (Chairman, Made in China) on March 12, 2009 at 6.30pm at the National Gallery of Modern Art (NGMA) Auditorium. This program is free and open to all and has been organized in collaboration with the Asia Society India Centre and the National Gallery of Modern Art, Mumbai.

The Mohile Parikh Center for the Contemporary (MPCC), will screen the film God, the Universe and Everything Else (Documentary) on March 5, 2009 at 6.00 pm at the Little Theatre of the National Centre for the Performing Arts in Mumbai. Free passes are available at the Mohile Parikh Center.

God, the Universe & Everything Else (1988) is an educational colloquium, attempting to uncover a grand unified theory of the laws that govern the universe. This enlightening program delves deep into topics such as the Big Bang Theory, the expansion of the universe, black holes, extraterrestrial life and the origins of creativity. This gathering of perhaps the three greatest scientific minds of our time, gives the viewer a unique opportunity to share their thought provocative insights.

Stephen Hawking is a British theoretical physicist who has dedicated much of his life to probing the laws of time and space described by Einstein’s Theory of Relativity.

Carl Sagan was an American astronomer who played a major role in the development of the American space program, as well as his contributions to planetary science and his acclaimed television series, Cosmos.

Arthur C. Clarke is a British author, most famous for the science fiction classic, 2001: A Space Odyssey, and his optimistic vision for mankind exploring the galaxy.

We will host a film screening and panel discussion titled Jehangir Sabavala: DVD and CD-Rom on the life and work of Jehangir Sabavala directed by Arun Khopkar on March 4, 2009 at 6.30pm at the Godrej Dance Academy Theatre of the National Centre for the Performing Arts. The dancer, Alarmel Valli will present a special performance and the panelists are Jehangir Sabavala (Artist), Arun Khopkar (Filmmaker) and Ranjit Hoskote (Cultural Theorist and Curator). This program is free and open to all and has been organized in collaboration with Sakshi Gallery, Mumbai.

We will host two presentations titled Life and Art after the Ruins by the art theorist Amir Parsa (Museum of Modern Art, New York) on February 6 and 7, 2009 at 6.30pm at the Little Theatre of the National Centre for the Performing Arts. This program is free and open to all and has been organized in collaboration with Galerie Mirchandani + Steinruecke, Mumbai.