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Episode 1: Sharmila Samant

Podcast|Podcast Series: Dreams, Dialogues and Disruptions

Podcast Series: Dreams, Dialogues, Disruptions © Goethe-Institut / Max Mueller Bhavan New Delhi © Goethe-Institut / Max Mueller Bhavan New Delhi

Podcast Series: Dreams, Dialogues, Disruptions © Goethe-Institut / Max Mueller Bhavan New Delhi © Goethe-Institut / Max Mueller Bhavan New Delhi

Drawing on the Third World and Black feminist histories of the concept of "empowerment", Dreams, Dialogues and Disruptions is a 5-part series that explores the idea of power as the capability to make things possible. We speak to guests from diverse fields and representing a variety of standpoints to think through how empowerment manifests in contemporary India.

Empowerment is the process by which unequal individuals and collectives can become capable of making things possible for themselves as well as their communities. It is a way to think about power through a different preposition — power to and with, rather than power over.

What does it mean to have the power to act?
In what ways do we share power with each other?
How does power mediate our relationships with infrastructures, commons, bodies and imaginaries?
Find out on Dreams, Dialogues and Disruptions.

Episode 1
SHARMILA SAMANT

In this episode, we speak to Sharmila Samant about the power to shape public spaces.
We discuss the history of public art practices in India, as well as feminist approaches to making art and thinking about the city.

ABOUT THE GUEST
Sharmila Samant is a visual artist, researcher and educator. She has worked with activist groups and communities engaging in both collaborative and participatory art projects. She was among the core faculty members who set up the Master of Fine Arts programme at Shiv Nadar University, Noida.

Learn more about her here.

WORKS CITED
Calvès, Anne-Emmanuèle. “Empowerment: The History of a Key Concept in Contemporary Development Discourse.” Revue Tiers Monde, 2009/4 No 200, 2009. p.735-749. CAIRN.INFO.
Open Circle (1998-2008)
Judy Chicago’s “The Dinner Party” (1974-79)
“A Heated Debate” (2018)
“A Garden of Laments” (2024)
Compound 13 Lab

About the host:

Kamayani Sharma © Maninder Adityaraj Singh © Maninder Adityaraj Singh

Kamayani Sharma is a writer, podcaster and translator focussing on visual art, culture and media. Formerly a text editor with Art India, Teaching Fellow at Ashoka University and researcher with Sarai-CSDS, she develops and manages the audio programme for Sharjah Art Foundation and runs ARTalaap, South Asia’s first independent visual culture podcast. Sharma contributes critical and creative writing to publications worldwide. She was a finalist at the International Awards for Art Criticism 2020, won the RedInk Award 2023 for print journalism in the Arts and the Art Writers' Award 2024 presented by Pro Helvetia and TAKE On Art magazine.

The "Dreams, Dialogues, and Disruptions" podcast series has been developed as part of the New Delhi edition of the travelling exhibition ‘Empowerment – Art and Feminisms’ by Kunstmuseum Wolfsberg and Goethe-Institut South Asia.