writing

From February 1st to March 15th 2010, Rajni was resident at Wooda Farm as the recipient of the Wooda Arts Award 2010. Below are a selection of blog entries and images from her research time.

True Riches - A Programme of Live Art for the ICA

"The project True Riches – an imaginary season which runs from now until the end of 2009 at the ICA - arises from our invitations to around 25 individuals to make proposals for works, seasons and themed and un-themed programmes. It gathers materials which stem from a variety of approaches, tendencies, and impulses in the live art sector – from the satirical critical to the archival, from the comical subversive to the theoretical investigative ... The ICA Live Art Department, even though it does not exist, is alive and well and glad of your support. We would like to extend our thanks to the many artists and curators who have joined us to make the varied proposals, statements and programmes that comprise True Riches. We hope that you’ll join us, in imagination, for these and other events. We can dream perhaps that London would have a place where such things were possible."

Tim Etchells / Ant Hampton, editors

Live Brits II programme
click image to enlarge A lecture presentation at Hebbel-am-Ufer (Berlin), in which speaking in both German and English was used as an illustration of the ideas of (mis-)translation and cultural identity within Rajni's work.

This article was written for Dance Theatre Journal and exposes some of the processes involved in the making of the art book Point and Place which was awarded a Birgit Skiold Award of Excellence at the London Artists Book Fair 2007. Includes images and words by Julie Brixey-Williams, Camilla Brueton, Simon Kennedy, Theron U.Schmidt, Rajni Shah and Caroline Younger.

Rajni edited JUICE magazine (monthly) at The Place between 2002 and 2004, during which time she published many articles specifically for professional dance artists. Below is a sample article. For more information on subscribing to the magazine now, please visit www.theplace.org.uk and search for JUICE.

Rajni edited this evaluation of the Arts Council England South East Fellowship Programme 2004-2006, which was written collaboratively with Saj Fareed and Tracey Low, then all three fellows on the programme. They spent the last six months of this 18-month fellowship engaging in writing this report, which they hope might be of interest and use to others thinking of initiating similar programmes.

This talk examines the idea of ‘internal geographies’ and compares the ritualised entering and exiting of fixed iconic figures in Rajni’s work with key rites of passage.

Point and Place is a group of artists from across various disciples who come together regularly to talk, eat and make new works.

"Diversity is a rather huge subject-area. Its definitions bleed into every corner of our work and of my life. I have found it baffling, overwhelming to write intelligently on this subject. What I offer here are bite-size experiences that in some way make up my life, my opinions.

The initial small gifts intervention series took place throughout 2006 and 2007, exploring the role of gift and conversation in public spaces. This research was funded by the Live Art Development Agency through their One to One Bursary scheme, and supported by the Nuffield Theatre in Lancaster, the Colchester Arts Centre and Alternate ROOTS. Continuations of this research include a commission from the Nuffield Theatre in Lancaster in association with Futuresonic, and a commission from The Chelsea Theatre in London, both scheduled for 2008/9.