Varsha Nair is an interdisciplinary artist based in Baroda, India, where she studied painting at Faculty of Fine Arts, Maharaja Sayajirao University. Her works and projects have been exhibited internationally, including at Tate Modern (London), Art inGeneral (New York), Cities on the Move 6 (Bangkok), WTF Gallery (Bangkok), Lodypop (Basel), Khoj International (New Delhi), and most recently at documenta 15 (Kassel).
Varsha lived in Thailand from 1995 to 2019 where as one of the key co-organizers of Womanifesto, she was instrumental in conceptualising projects that stretch beyond the traditional model of biennial exhibition-making to produce intergenerational and cross-disciplinary workshops, collaborations, and networks. She is one of the artist-organisers of Womanifesto: Flowing Connections – a survey exhibition installed at Bangkok Art and Culture Centre (BACC) as part of their master series of exhibitions, from September 12 - December 30, 2023. She has been invited to present at various symposia, including as keynote speaker for the symposium, In Light of Crisis: The Fraught Significations of Contemporary Biennials held at Zurich University (May 2022). Her texts have been published in n paradoxa, Southeast of Now: Directions in Contemporary and Modern Art in Asia, and Ctrl+P Journal of Contemporary Art of which she is Editorial Board member.
Varsha is currently Guest Lecturer with the Masters of Arts Program at HSLU, Lucerne University of Applied Sciences and Arts.
Projects
lasuemo - an online space for gathering on last Sunday each month. 2021 andongoing https://weather-here.cloud/
Womanifesto 2020: Gatherings. Udonthani,Baroda, Sydney, Basel, Berlin, London. 2020 http://blog.womanifesto.com/
STUDIOLOG, and online studio in collaboration with HSLU Lucerne2017-2018 www.studiolog.ch
Invisible Labour. Master-Dialogue Workshop in collaboration with Jerome Ming forMasters students at Lucerne School of Art. 2019
Shift Maps.Workshops at SEA Junction, Bangkok. http://seajunction.org/gallery/sea-junction-activities/shift-maps-exhibition-4- november-4-december-2017-at-1100-am-700-pm/
Negotiating Routes: Ecologiesof the Byways,a long-term projectin India. 2010. Project Initiator http://khojworkshop.org/project/negotiating_routes_ecologies_byways
Womanifesto Artist-in-Residence program,Boon Bandarn Farm, Kantharaluk, N E Thailand, 2001 and 2008;No Man’s Land webproject 2006; Procreation/Postcreation 2003.
Mapping the Body: Body dialecticsby women artists from Asia, NRLA 2006, Glasgow. PerformanceFestival. Co curator http://www.newterritories.co.uk
600 Images/60 artists/6 curators/6 cities: Bangkok/Berlin/London/Los Angeles/Manila/Saigon, Curatorfor Bangkok, 2005.
Performance presentations
Voices from the Courtyard for Womanifesto 2020: Gatherings, Baroda (2020); Art-Plus Performance, Matsumoto (2015); Meridian | Urban, a project by Haus der Kulturen 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)
Selected Bibliography
Art on the Back Burner: Gender as the Elephantin the Room of Southeast Asian Art Histories. Eileen Legaspi-Ramirez. Southeast of Now:Directions in Contemporary and Modern Art in Asia. Volume 3, Number 1, March2019
Womanifesto. Bo Choy for Art and Its Worlds.Afterall publication 2021.https://www.afterall.org/book/art-and-its-worlds- exhibitions-institutions-and-art-becoming-public
The Rise of AlternativeBiennials, by Ho See Wah, Art and Market, May 18, 2021. https://www.artandmarket.net/analysis/2021/5/18/the-rise-of-alternative-art-biennials
The Art of Feminism: Images that Shapedthe Fight for Equality. Editedby Helena Reckitt.Tate Publishing 2018. ISBN 9781849766494
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 project by 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/