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International Workshop Goa 2017
From 1997 until 2001, KHOJ conducted the International Artist Workshop mostly at Sikribagh, a quasi-colonial bungalow in Modinagar, offered for the workshop by SK Modi. The workshop functioned as an experimental art laboratory that brought together artists from all over the world to create a co-operative and non-hierarchical space, encouraging critical dialogue, exchange and the transference of information and skills.
About this edition
In 1997, 22 artists came together for the first KHOJ workshop, on the outskirts of Delhi at a site in Modinagar.
In 2017, as KHOJ turns 20, we are excited to announce our 14th KHOJ International Workshop in Goa. Led by a group of emerging Goan artists who identify as the ‘Collective by the Sea’ (Por Mar Collective), 23 artists from all over the world will come together to live and work at one site.
These biennial 15-day workshops are organised by and for artists. The workshops brings together artists from various cultures and backgrounds to reside together and work intensively for two weeks on a common platform: exchanging ideas, encountering varied methods and approaches, and exploring alternative visual expression. The working group of artists from the hosting city organises, co-ordinates, and facilitates all aspects of the workshop, with support and guidance from the KHOJ Team in New Delhi. Sharing, interaction, and learning are unstructured and take place in an informal, spontaneous atmosphere. Since it is planned as a hands-on workshop, all participants are expected to contribute and share in the distribution of material, studio space, exhibition, and other activities. The emphasis is on the exchange of ideas and practice between Indian and other international artists.
Goa has seen creative people gravitate to the state, drawn to its natural beauty and rich heritage for years. The metamorphosis from tourist to art hub has come about through a combination of local interest and an influx of creative minds. Goa’s art and cultural scene has earned it the reputation of being one of India’s most vibrant and fast developing cultural hubs with several international and national festivals and it is only imperative that young and emerging artists are given a platform. The workshop will not only help young artists from Goa to create networks globally but also micro-networks amongst the local community, facilitating larger awareness around art and its significance to the state. An endeavor to create a distinctive space for the arts, the workshop hopes to bring together artists, curators, art enthusiasts, academics, students and audiences from all walks of life. We hope that the model will continue to bloom (as it has in the other host cities) and take its own course, actively contributing to the flourishing of arts infrastructure in the state and to highlighting the important role young artists have to play in its development.
The KHOJ International Artists workshop has previously been held in multiple locations across India such as Delhi, Mumbai, Kashmir, Patna and Pune amongst others and has hosted almost every contemporary Indian artist.
The workshop is being hosted at the Old Pereira House generously made available by Orijit Sen and Gurpreet Sidhu.
