PROJECTS
PROJECTS
ART
A five-day durational performance by Amrit Karki, What You Have Given Me, I Set Free Forever was presented as part of the exhibition Reimagine: Himalayan Art Now by the Rubin Museum. Held at Nepal Art Council in Kathmandu from 17–21 September 2024, the performance invited participants to engage in a ritual of release by adding dyed water to a receptacle that continuously dripped onto the artist, symbolizing the shedding of mental and emotional burdens.
www.rubinmuseum.org/himalayan-art-now/reimagine-artists/amrit-karki-he-him/
The seventh edition of the Women of the World Festival is being held in Kathmandu City from 23 to 24 November 2024. WOW is a festival that celebrates the achievements of women, girls, and non-binary people and examines the obstacles they face across the world. WOW is organised by British Council in partnership with WOW Foundation. The festival this year is hosted by Kathmandu Metropolitan City.
Organized by the British Council Nepal in Lumbini, we were in charge of all six art installations at the venue. We worked in consultation with the British Council’s curator, Beth Troakes, who was based in London, and all the six Nepali artists and organizations who were showcasing during a two-day long festival. We used the best possible materials that were locally available without compromising the quality of the design and aesthetics of the exhibition.
MUSIC
For the past nine years, we have been involved in establishing a sustainable blueprint for the festival dedicated to folk, traditional and indigenous Nepali music. From EITV’s inception to its current iteration, we have taken care of every aspect of the festival such as branding, conceptualizing themes for each edition; writing proposals and reports for national and international funding agencies; creating comprehensive annual budgets; organizing and delegating teams; contacting artists, coordinating with local governments and community bodies; scouting venues; promoting via social media, website, press; and ensuring the overall smooth operation of the festival.
Designed a A 10-day-long artist residency for two Kathmandu-based musicians (Simma Rai and Heyshe Dolma Sherpa) and a cinematographer (Shristi Magar) from different backgrounds to travel to Lumbini province to compose an original song in collaboration with the artists there. The aim was to create a melange of sounds across different places, cultures, ages, ethnicities, languages and genres within Nepal. They interacted with local artists in Bardia, Nirmala Tharu and Basanti Chaudhari, and created an original piece that was showcased as the closing act for the WOW festival. The music video will be released soon.
Michael Fehr & Rico Baumann took us on a journey through the essence of storytelling and the spirituality of music with «super light», their newest show!
Born in Bern, visually impaired from birth, Micheal Fehr refers to himself as a narrator, and performs as a speaker, singer and musician.
Coming from a family of musicians in Bern, Rico Baumann was introduced to a wide variety of musical styles at an early age. He is a celebrated drummer for jazz and improvised music as well as for hip hop, pop and electronic music.
This festival celebrates Bungamati, a Newari town with its own unique history, festivals, culture, rituals, art and crafts. In the 2015 earthquake, Bungamati’s core, the Machhendranath temple collapsed, along with several other monuments and old houses. With it, once a bustling heritage settlement's local economy came crashing. The pandemic brought in more setbacks. Visitors dwindled. Spirits dampened. Many craftsmen went out of business and opted for other professions. The town grew quieter and the locals feared that people had forgotten Bungamati, its beauty and its charm. Bunga Mahotsav aims to relaunch Bungamati as a destination for heritage tourism with offerings palatable to people from all walks of life.
In 2021, we founded Nepal’s first digital archive that documents music-related research papers and catalogues; and digitises analog musical content. NMA builds a musical consortium of music-related resources by connecting to various libraries (personal and public), universities, archives and institutions; make the portal accessible to not only Nepali students, musicians and music enthusiasts, but also to a global audience.
FILM
Nepal's Civil War ended in 2006, but not for Devi; rebel warrior, mother and sexual violence survivor. As those in power try to erase rape from the history of the war, Devi has to battle her own demons before she can begin to build a movement to fight for justice. The film is directed by Subina Shrestha and produced by Mediadante, Seesaw Pictures and Film Crew Nepal.
The featured documentaries, Aty Seikuinduwa: Judge Between Worlds and Marshyandi Wile Ri’iba: May You Live as Long as the River, shared local stories of rivers, culture, and change, contributing to the conversations on environmental and cultural relationships across Manang, Lamjung, and beyond. RIVERS Project held film screenings in Ghelanchowk, Khasur, Besisahar, and Kathmandu. The film is produced by Lieselotte Viaene, Nepal documentary directed by Prasiit Sthapit and edited by Manjit Lama.
KathaSatha and Shikshya Foundation Nepal hosted Go Tell It On The Mountain, a four-day screenwriting workshop in Kathmandu with acclaimed writer Bhavani Iyer from 17-20 March. Over four days, ten Nepali writers worked on their feature film scripts and learned about storytelling, pitching, and script development.
To mark the 30th anniversary of the historic ascent of Mt. Everest by Nepal’s first woman summiteer, Pasang Lhamu Sherpa, we are honored to be part of the Kathmandu premiere of Pasang Movie with Pasang Lhamu Foundation, that celebrates her indomitable courage and exceptional journey.
www.pasangmovie.com
"Blue Flower" is a film that tells the story of a young boy named Tilak who grows up in a small village in Nepal. Despite facing many challenges, Tilak never loses hope and continues to strive for a better life. Along the way, he meets a girl named Gauri who becomes an important part of his journey. Together, they must navigate through the difficulties of their society and find a way to be together. The film is directed by Sunil Babu Pant and is a heartwarming tale of love and perseverance set against the backdrop of rural Nepal.
LITERATURE
How I Write is not any ordinary book. It is a landmark collection featuring intimate interviews with poets, novelists, translators and nonfiction writers. It is a book filled with generous wisdom from writers we love from South Asia on the craft of writing, how they transformed their passion for books into thriving careers, the obstacles they encountered along the way, the lessons they learned and the intricacies of their creative processes. The book launch event is organized by KathaSatha.
www.kathasatha.org/events/book-launch-how-i-write-writers-on-their-craft
Human Nature is a travelogue with folklore, literature, art and anthropology, offering a nuanced portrait of life over the centuries in one of the world’s most enigmatic regions of the world: Nepal’s Himalayas. Accompanied by striking photographs, Human Nature is a magnificently written account that spans big ideas and real lives. Erudite, intimate and evocative, this is essential reading for anyone seeking to understand the relationship between communities and their environment.
The event included the Nepal launch of the book and a Lightroom Conversation session with Smriti Ravindra and Muna Gurung. The event was organized by KathaSatha.
www.kathasatha.org/events/book-launch-the-woman-who-climb-trees