Varsha Nair was born in Kampala, Uganda, and studiedat Faculty of Fine Arts, Maharaja Sayaji Rao University, Baroda,India. She lived in Bangkok from 1995 to 2019, and now resides in Barodain India.
Inviting multidisciplinary collaborations her work encompassesvarious approaches and genres, including bringing people and things together.Co organizer of Womanifesto – an international art exchange in Thailand, shehas also exhibited internationally including at (WTF Gallery (Bangkok),Devi Art Foundation (New Delhi), Lodypop (Basel), National Review of Live Arts(Glasgow, UK, Perth), Tate Modern (London), HKW (Berlin), Fondazione Sandretto(Turin), Art in General (New York), Sarajevo Centre of Contemporary Art(Sarajevo), Experimenta Media Arts (Melbourne).
In 2020, as the pandemic situation impacted worldwide, the Womanifesto2020: Gatherings project of which she was one of the lead organizers,was realized. This along with some of the archive material of Womanifesto iscurrently part of the Guangzhou Triennial and exhibited at Guangzhou ArtMuseum, China, in an exhibition curated by Biljana Ciric, titled‘Repetition as a Gesture of Deep Listening’.
Varsha has published her writings in various art journals such asn paradoxa, Southeast of Now: Directions in Contemporary and Modern Art inAsia, Art AsiaPacific, and Ctrl+P Journal of Contemporary Art of which she isEditorial Board member. She is mentor to Masters students at HochschuleLucerne, Lucerne University of Applied Sciences and Arts.
Performancespresentations
Voices from the Courtyard for Womanifesto2020: Gatherings, Baroda (2020); Art-Plus Performance, Matsumoto (2015); Meridian | Urban, a project by Haus derKulturen der Welt, Berlin (2011); Buka Jalan, National Museum of Art, Kuala Lumpur (2011), Hochformat, Kaskadenkondensator, Basel (2010), Beyond Pressure, Yangon, Myanmar (2014and 2009), Asiatopia 11, Bangkok (2009); Performance Saga, Basel (2009), OPEN 10 Performance Art Festival, Beijing(2009); Khoj Live, New Delhi (2008); On the Move, Hong Kong (2008); Tate Modern, London (2006); Fondazion Sandretto Re Rebaudengo, Turin (2006); National Review of Live Art, Glasgow andPerth (2010, 2006, 2004)
SelectedBibliography
Taking it on Faith: Inscribing theUn(der)written in the work of Varsha Nair and Raquel de Loyola. Eileen Legaspi-Ramirez. n.paradoxa, volume 34,2014 vol34_npara_73-76_Eileen-Legaspi-Ramirez
FertiliserFridays, interview, http://sharonchin.com/fertilizer-fridays-varsha-nair-2/ 2012
PerformanceSaga. Quinn Latimer. Frieze, May 2009.http://blog.frieze.com/performance_saga/
WithdrawalSymptom in Artistic Mind - taking the case of Thailand. Keiko Sei. Springerin. Winter 2010
CriticalTexts; Aesthetics and Political Sub-Texts. Katy Deepwell. Text & Subtext – Contemporary Artand Asian Women. 2001
Asia Art Archive https://aaa.org.hk/en/ideas/ideas/interview-with-varsha-nair
Selected published texts
‘Letters to what we want’, a projectby Sharon Chin https://sharonchin.com/i-want-to-be-around-to-see-days-dawn/
‘Womanifesto. A Biennale Art Exchange in Thailand’, Southeastof Now: Directions in Contemporary and Modern Art in Asia. Vol.3 No.1March 2019
Editorials for Issue numbers 7, 14 and 16,Ctrl+P Journal for Contemporary Art
‘No Deadlines in Live Art’, National Review of Live Art 30thAnniversary Publication, 2010
‘Interpreters of Dreams’, Beyond Pressure 2, Catalogue text, 2009
‘Shudders in the cradle’ for Women, Art and Technology: Collected Essays.Kaohsiung Museum of Fine Arts, Tawian, 2005.
‘nowork is good work’- Womanifesto Workshop 2001, art4d, January 2002, Bangkokand SPAFA Journal, volume 12 Number 1 January – April 2002
‘Womanifesto– Jogging ahead’, n.paradoxa, UK. Volume 4, 1999; Bang, Bangkok, December 1999; Art AsiaPacific, April 2000
‘Artistsview plastics and other waste’, Tiempo, Global warming and the Third World,Issue 27, March 1998
Links:
http://monday2monday.tumblr.com/ - ongoing project with Lena Eriksson. Monday 2 Monday Keiko Sei.pdf
http://studiolog.ch/ - co organiser, collaborative online studio network
www.ctrlp--artjournal.org - editorial board member
www.womanifesto.com - co organiser
http://seajunction.org/gallery/sea-junction-activities/shift-maps-exhibition-4-november-4-december-2017-at-1100-am-700-pm/ - workshop organiser
Negotiating Routes: Ecologies of the Byways: https://varshashavar.wordpress.com/ and https://khojworkshop.org/programme/negotiating-routes-ecologies-of-the-byways-i/