Festival of Ideas
Rhizomena: Indexed Rhizome Connections and Mindful Soil Topologies 

Artist: Angela Brisnovali
Faculty: Namrata
Participants: Amandine Riguad / Avi Virendra Parmar / Bhavya Sinha / Devanshi Raju Makhija / Gokhale Saie Shirish / Kunjal Sharma / Lėa-Safi De Craene / Marishka Bhandari / Maya Chebrol / Mridula J / Pravallika Krishna Patnam / Tanvi Prabhakar / Wilfred Joyce Roches

This interdisciplinary project focuses on group research and presentations of projects that use a combination of analog and digital media. It takes a phenomenological approach to art making, using the experience of soil, plants, and trees to create land art projects and artefacts in a non-hierarchical manner. The project examines curated and non-curated ecosystems, ideas of soil as substrata, and the relationships between humans, animals, and the natural environment. It encourages an experimental, conceptual approach based on in situ research, applied art and design theories, and processes that bridge the botanical world to human experience. Students are encouraged to observe and experience nature with curiosity and to draw inspiration from personal preoccupations, literary texts, photography, academic research, and cultural connections.

Artist Bio: Angela Brisnovali is a visual artist based in Greece who teaches at the University of the Aegean and holds a BFA in Painting and Art History from Pratt Institute and an MFA in Combined Media from Hunter College. She travels extensively to explore themes of nature and ecology in her work.

Faculty Bio: Namrata Toraskar is an illustrator, an academic at Srishti Manipal Institute of Art, Design and Technology and an associate architect with Handmade Architecture, Bengaluru. Using the medium of illustrations, photography and writing, she constructs narratives related to build-environment, dwelling rituals and visual culture of Indian settlements.