Excavating the Ellipsis — a two-day colloquium

In collaboration with Conflictorium, we presented "Excavating the Ellipsis": a two-day colloquium that reflected on the question: “How do we build resilient and empathetic arts infrastructures?”

There is a set of rules—of aesthetics, language, geography, and other cultural markers—that define how networks and kinships are built within the art world. Most often, this set of rules is unsaid but nevertheless communicated. Similarly to an ellipsis—a series of dots that indicates an intentional omission of text without altering its original meaning—entire art networks and cultures are consciously and structurally omitted or assumed. Who we refer to in a conversation, how we sit, what we wear, our language of communication, and what practices are considered art, all form this ellipsis and further define one’s accessibility and currency to the art ecosystem.

"Excavating the Ellipsis—Producing Resilient and Empathetic Arts Infrastructures" took place at cultural centre Sanskriti Kendra in New Delhi between 16-17 February 2024, and brought together local and international artists and funders to discuss the role of care within art ecosystems while also reflecting on the challenges, experiences, and frustrations within funding processes.

Conflictorium had addressed some of these infrastructural issues, prompted by the politics of open calls, through its recent publication in collaboration with Stroom Den Haag, titled "Elephant in the Room: Infrastructures of Signalling in the Arts", which asks whether an open call in the arts is truly open or challenged by its own protocols and prejudices.

The event was produced in collaboration with UnBox Cultural Futures and Sanskriti.

"Excavating the Ellipsis" featured a panel discussion, "Intersecting Intentions: Funding, Fundraising and The Life of an Artist", on the politics of funding, with emphasis on financial support for social necessity and administration with care. There also were two workshops: on application writing and demystifying the structure of the application form, as well as a workshop aimed at funders on reading proposals and troubling the current mechanisms of open calls. The colloquium's programme featured a speed date and official launches of the "Elephant in the Room" publication and the application-writing handbook created by the Fund, "Funding Demystified".

Full programme

Highlights