Pleasure and data? Is there such a rishta? We said yes, oui, haan!
How does acknowledging that young people want pleasure change the questions we ask and the research we do on their love/sex lives? Can taking pleasure seriously, transform the programmes, policies, curriculums and laws we create? #LoveSexAndData asked - is Pleasure the secret ingredient that data needs in order to be useful and relevant to our life and create a more just society?
The Love, Sex and Data Conference: A 3-day digital conference that took place from 7-9th October, 2021 was organised by Agents of Ishq and The YP Foundation to deep dive into these questions through keynotes, panels, workshops, performances, afterhours interactions and more!
3 days, 36 events, 60 speakers - thank you to everyone who joined us in bringing in the pleasure lens to our work (and our life!) as students, activists, educators, NGO workers, researchers, writers or really, whoever you are!
A first-of-its-kind conference dedicated to sex and pleasure in India? We said - you need to come ya (in more ways than one if you like *wink wink*) and you did - all 1663 of you!
Anuja Ghosalkar is the founder of Drama Queen—a documentary theatre company, evolving a unique form of theatre in India since 2015. Her practice focuses on personal histories, archival absences and blurring the hierarchies between audience and performer—to extend the idea of theatre to create audacious work. Iterations around form and process, modes of (social) media, sites, technologies, reclaiming narratives on gender and intimacy are critical to her performance making and pedagogy. Her performances and workshops have been programmed by University of Oxford, Jawaharlal Nehru University, Serendipity Arts Festival, National Centre for Biological Sciences, Forum Transregionale –ZMO, Frankfurt University, among others. Anuja is the co-curator of the international workshop series on documentary theatre with Kai Tuchmann—that programmed artists like Gob Squad, Boris Nikitin, Rimini Protokoll, Zhao Chuan. With Tuchmann she curated VR based performances for the Serendipity Arts Virtual 2020. As visiting faculty at Srishti Institute of Art, Design and Technology she leads practice based pedagogy. She has written on film and performance for Nang Magazine, Art India, Bioscope, Hakara.
Sameera Iyengar is a creative producer and theatre person. She loves conjuring up delightful ways to share theatre and the performing arts with people – and has created, curated and run festivals, arts addas, school programmes, carnivals, workshops for children and theatre exhibitions. She co-edited 'Our Stage: The Pleasures and Perils of Theatre Practice in India Today' (Tulika 2009). She co-founded the India Theatre Forum, SMART (Strategic Management in the Art of Theatre), and the arts outreach organisation Junoon. Her tryst with theatre began at MIT as a Maths major; she has a PhD on theatre from the University of Chicago.
Saptarshi Mandal is an associate professor at the Jindal Global Law School, Sonipat, Haryana. He researches how the law shapes our intimate relationships, and how we in turn shape the law.
Groomed by some of the finest musicians and musicologists in India, Shubha Mudgal was trained in HIndustani classical music by Pandit Ram Ashreya Jha and also received guidance from Pandit Vinaya Chandra Maudgalya, Pandit Vasant Thakar, Pandit Jitendra Abhisheki and Pandit Kumar Gandharva. She also received training in thumri from Smt. Naina Devi and is thus a versatile performer. In addition to being a performer, Shubha has also won recognition as a composer. She is the recipient of numerous awards, including: Padma Shri from the Government of India 2000.
#LoveSexAndData #LSDIndia
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