Gurudas is a teacher by profession and ecologist by passion. His Ph.D. in sustainability within industrial ecosystems was followed by the Post-doctoral Endeavour Fellowship of the Government of Australia. He is the Sir Ratan Tata Visiting Fellow at the Institute for Social and Economic Change, Bengaluru.
Gurudas has published four books, several research papers, monographs, and articles. His Marathi Book "Anartha Shashtra" has been awarded the Maharashtra State Literature "C.D.Deshmukh award for economic literature". He is currently working on three river restoration projects in Maharashtra and is part of an expert group studying the landslides and floods in the Konkan region. He has worked on several United Nations projects. Gurudas is on the board of Ecological Society, Pune, and heads the Symbiosis Centre for Climate Change and Sustainability, at the Symbiosis International University, Pune. See gurudas-n.com

Mr Parmesh Shahani


Parmesh Shahani (pronouns: he/him) is an author, culture curator, and LGBTQIA inclusion advocate. Most recently he founded and ran the Godrej India Culture Lab in Mumbai (www.indiaculturelab.org) between 2011-21. He has been a TED Senior Fellow, a World Economic Forum Young Global Leader and a Yale World Fellow, and is presently a board member of KHOJ and Breakthrough India. Parmesh's recent book Queeristan: LGBTQ Inclusion in Corporate India was released in September 2020 (Westland Publications) and won the CK Prahalad award for Best Business Book of 2021, and his first book Gay Bombay: Globalization, Love and (Be)Longing in Contemporary India (Sage Publications) was released in 2008 and re-published in June 2020 as an updated edition. See parmesh.net

Since 2004, Aparna Rao is part of Pors & Rao, a Bangalore based art duo working with objects and installations that often incorporate lifelike physical movement and responsive behaviours. Many of the works are conceived as a kind of 'being' with basic behaviour patterns such as shyness, fatigue and dependence, highlighting involuntary aspects of human behaviour and relationships. Their work has been included at Setouchi Triennale, Japan; Kochi-Muziris Biennale, India; Museum Tinguely, Basel, Switzerland; Nam June Paik Art Center, South Korea and The Astrup Fearnley Museum of Modern Art, Norway.
The frustrations they faced over a period of 15 years while working with robotic technologies, created the basis of project PATHOS: a set of tools developed to realize a high degree of nuance in robotic animation and responsive behaviors, radically accessible through a browser interface. The project specifically explores how life-like animatronics can suggest complex inner states in inanimate objects. The toolkit itself consists of a set of mechatronic modules and software interfaces that are reliable and easy to use, especially for non engineers. PATHOS began informally within the academic environment in Switzerland in 2015, took the shape of an Artist in Residence project at the Wyss Zurich institute and is now an experimental project at ETHZ, as the Robotics Aesthetics & Usability Center (RAUC). The aim of the RAUC is to connect robotics to visual arts.

Ajay Mittal is the Director of Climate Change Programs for South and South East Asia. He leads EDN’s Climate Change programs. These include several that focus on clean and green energies such as ‘Each One Save One’, that calls upon citizens to save a minimum of one Watt of Energy leading to a combined number that runs into millions. ‘Healthy Energy’ reaches out to rural women to help them adopt non-fossil fuels. ‘Make A Bright Choice’ works to get citizens to make a change to energy-saving light bulbs. ‘Low Carbon Lifestyles’ helps youth reduce their carbon footprints. ‘Farmers For Earth’ encourages environment-friendly agricultural practices such as adopting solar for Irrigation. ‘Solar for Schools’ helps academic institutions switch to renewable energy use. Ajay also works towards ensuring better air quality in India. In 2017 he initiated the movement Kolkata Clean Air which has grown into Active Citizens Together for Sustainability that works towards a citizen-state partnership model to build sustainable cities. His efforts have been widely recognized by the media.
Presently he is working on a campaign to bring back cycling as a means of transport in Indian cities. For all of these, Ajay reaches out to his vast networks of organizations and individuals as meaningful partners to support each of the initiatives. Ajay also has responsibility for the ‘Star Villages’ campaign. This recognizes villages in India that successfully implement noteworthy environmental practices in their areas.
Ajay is a born activist. He is passionate about scaling up social solutions using technology, innovation and simplicity. Ajay is with the Climate Action Steering Committee of the Global Shapers Community, an initiative of the World Economic Forum. Ajay has been recognized as an EE 30 Under 30 leaders 2019 cohort by the North American Association for Environmental Education. Ajay also works on helping reduce water wastage. The Government of India named him a ‘Water Hero’ for his efforts in water conservation.Ajay is active on Instagram (@) and Facebook & LinkedIn (@) – so please follow him there for more recent updates.

Mr Adrian Notz

Adrian Notz is a curator at the ‘ETH AI Center’ and the ‘Tichy Ocean Foundation’. He is also a mentor for the creative strategy and vision at the ‘European Center for Contemporary Art’, Cluj and ‘Chevalier de la Tombe de Bakunin’. He was the artistic director of ‘Cabaret Voltaire', Zurich (2012-2019) and headed the ‘Department for Fine Arts at the School of Design’ in St. Gallen (2010 - 2015). He has organized and curated numerous exhibitions, events, conferences and interventions with international artists, activists and thinkers.

Aric Chen is General and Artistic Director of Het Nieuwe Instituut, the Dutch national institute and museum for architecture, design and digital culture in Rotterdam. American-born, Chen previously served as Professor and founding Director of the Curatorial Lab at the College of Design & Innovation at Tongji University in Shanghai; Curatorial Director of the Design Miami fairs in Miami Beach and Basel; Creative Director of Beijing Design Week; and Lead Curator for Design and Architecture at M+, Hong Kong, where he oversaw the formation of that new museum’s design and architecture collection and program.
In addition, Chen has curated dozens of museum exhibitions and other projects internationally, served on numerous boards and juries, and acted as advisor to the UABB Shenzhen Biennale of Architecture\Urbanism, London Design Biennial, Cooper-Hewitt Design Triennial (New York), and Gwangju Design Biennale. He is the author of Brazil Modern (Monacelli, 2016), and has been a frequent contributor to The New York Times, Wallpaper*, Architectural Record, and other publications.
Aric is active on Instagram (@aricchen) – so please follow him there for more recent updates.

Mr Mrinal Mandal

Mrinal Mandal, a visual artist from Kolkata, is the founder of ‘Chalchitra Academy’. The primary aim of this initiative is to disseminate knowledge about various dying art forms in our country. Its venture - 'Khwabgaon', is an ongoing project with the Lodha-Sabar marginalized community. He has been working towards tapping the raw talent of the local children and has arranged regular classes and workshops to facilitate their art education. He has also incorporated skill-building initiatives to empower and build a self-sustaining ecosystem for them. He has held four solo shows and has engaged in a site-specific installation project titled 'Roots', highlighting the devastating impact of socio-political factors on ecology. He has also worked as an assistant art director with Shyam Benegal on the film ‘Bose: The Forgotten Hero’. His works have won multiple awards, such as the 'Govt. Art College Award', the 'Gaganendranath Tagore memorial Award' and the 'Gopal Ghose Memorial Scholarship'. During the pandemic, he worked as a resource person for a UNICEF funded public awareness project led by Jadavpur University.

Mr K. S. Radhakrishnan

K. S. RadhakrishnanK. S. Radhakrishnan is a well-known sculptor and is recognized as one of the most significant figures of contemporary Indian art. He was awarded a research grant by ‘Lalit Kala Akademi’, Delhi, to work in Garhi Village. Since then has had more than fifteen solo shows, including at ‘National Gallery of Modern Art’ (Bengaluru), ‘Centre des Bords de Marne’, ‘LePerreux-Brysur-Marne’ (France), and ‘Birla Academy of Art and Culture’ (Kolkata) amongst others. His work has been displayed in numerous group shows, including - the ‘National Exhibition’ in New Delhi; ‘Triennalle India’; ‘Salon International de la Sculpture Contemporaine’, Paris and many more. From the 1980s onwards, he has installed open-air sculptures across the country and abroad, including at the ‘TMI foundation’, ‘Cotignac’, France. He has curated the exhibition ‘Ramkinkar Baij - A Retrospective at National Gallery of Modern Art', New Delhi, Bangalore and Mumbai. He has written a book titled Ramkinkar’s Yaksha Yakshi.

Divya Bhatia is a versatile arts professional with experience across a variety of disciplines. He is an independent festival programmer and producer, performing arts consultant and actor. He is Artistic Director and Producer of Jodhpur RIFF, India’s premiere folk/ jazz/ roots music festival; Artistic Consultant at ComplexCity, a festival in Mumbai produced by YUVA; visiting faculty for Applied Theatre at the Royal Central School of Speech and Drama, London UK and India partner for their International Collaborative Outreach program; faculty at the South Asia Festivals Academy. He regularly presents and produces/ co-produces international music and theatre projects out of India, having toured artists in India, UK, South Africa, Europe, China and Australia. Divya has served on the Jury of WOMEX in 2019 and is on the global jury for the Aga Khan Music Awards 2022. Based in Mumbai, his other interests include contemporary dance, film, trekking, travelling and politics.
Divya is active on Instagram (@divyapkb) and Facebook (@divyakumarbhatia)– so please follow him there for more recent updates.

Dr. Kalyan Kumar Chakravarty, IAS (retired in the rank of Secretary, Govt. of India), M.A. (Kolkata), M.P.A. (Harvard), Ph.D., Fine Arts (Harvard), is President, People's Council of Education, Allahabad and Distinguished Professor, Centre for Knowledge Societies, Centurion University of Technology and Management, Paralakhemundi, Odisha.
Dr. Chakravarty has been Chairman, Lalit Kala Akademi; Director General, National Museum; Member Secretary, Indira Gandhi National Centre for Arts (IGNCA), New Delhi; Chairman, National Screening and Evaluation Committee, Archaeological Survey of India (ASI); Director, National Museum of Mankind (IGRMS), Bhopal; and Chancellor, National University of Educational Planning and Administration (NUEPA). He has headed the Delhi Institute of Heritage Research and Management (DIHRM) as Vice Chairman. He has also chaired the Bhasha Trust, Baroda.His publications include exhibition catalogues, edited journals on Art, books and articles on Family, Tribal Identity, Indigeneity, Education, Rock Art, Folk and Tribal Art, Khajuraho, Gwalior Fort, Orccha, Bodhgaya, Ujjayini, Vidisha, New Museology, Archaeology, Indology and Sanskritic traditions. Dr. Chakravarty has reinvented cognitive categories; nurtured relations among cultures, disciplines and arts; strategised culture specific governance and diplomacy; restored vanishing links of cultural, linguistic, biological diversity; regenerated community habitats as living museums; and rebuilt crumbling bridges between culture and development. He is known for fusing theory and practice in promoting cultural survival, environmental self-determination and sustainable knowledge systems of marginalized communities.

Ms Pauline Laravoire

Pauline Laravoire is the co-founder of 'AQWA' and 'Y-East' and the Director of 'Techno India Group'. She strives to create learning and professional opportunities for students in the sustainability sector. Being associated with the following community-based ventures: 'Youth for Sustainability India Alliance' and 'Learning Planet’, she has developed expertise and a passion for building greener communities.

Trained in Chemistry at Graduation, did Masters in Environmental Science, completed Post Graduate Diploma in Computer Applications and another Masters in the same discipline. All along, the objective was to develop a broad-based understanding of science, doing by practising, and knowing the tools, while communicating it as often I get the opportunity. Writing on any subject worth telling about is a vocation I wish and try to pursue. Cultivate a keen interest in multimedia techniques for scientific visualization.

I am a nature lover who believes that nothing compares with the beauty of nature. My mission in life is to spread awareness about the environment among the impressionable minds, employing methods that are little different from conventional methods.

Presently I am working as a curator at Science City, Kolkata which is a unit of the National Council of Science Museum, Government of India. Professionally I have done MPhil and MBA in Human Resource Management. Before that I did my Post Graduation and B.Ed in Life Sciences. At the beginning of my career, I taught senior students for about 10 years before moving into the field of science museums. 

Mr Saket Singh Kaurav

Saket Singh Kaurav did his M.Sc. in Physics from the Department of Postgraduate Studies and Research in Physics & Electronics, Rani Durgavati Vishwavidyalaya, Jabalpur in 2007. He has worked as a junior research fellow in the Infrared Astronomy Group of the Department of Astronomy and Astrophysics at Tata Institute of Fundamental Research (TIFR), Mumbai from 2008 to 2010. He also did an internship in the Infrared/Submillimeter Astronomy Group of Max Planck Institute for Extraterrestrial Physics, Munich, Germany from January 2010 to March 2010. In 2010, He joined the National Council of Science Museums (Hqrs), Kolkata, a scientific autonomous non-profit organisation, functioning under the aegis of Ministry of Culture, Govt. of India, as a curator (a scientific position) and worked there till Jan 2013. From Feb 2013 to Sept 2020, He worked at Nehru Science Centre, Mumbai, and from Oct 2020 to till now, he is working at Regional Science Centre, Bhopal. He is a curator having experience of 11 plus years in conceptualising, designing, developing, and coordinating thematic and travelling science exhibitions, exhibits, educational programmes and activities for the public in general and students & teachers in particular towards dissemination of science & technology. He has conceptualised and curated four travelling exhibitions namely 'Beyond the Limit: Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar', 'Disaster: Preparing for the worst', 'Planet Under Pressure' and 'The Future of the Food: Pulses'. He has also conceptualised and curated a thematic science gallery 'Hall of Aviation and Space' at the Nehru Science Centre, Mumbai, which was part of major renovation & up-gradation, and financially supported by the Airports Authority of India. He has participated in the conference(s) and workshops. He has also published researched papers in leading science journal, and wrote popular science articles in leading popular science magazines and newspapers in Hindi and English languages for the dissemination of science & technology.

Maharajkumari Dr. Jyotsna Singh

Director for Dara Shikoh Centre for the Arts and The Amar Mahal Museum and Library, Jammu and Kashmir, India

As Director for Dara Shikoh Centre for the Arts, Dr. Singh is an integral part of the social and cultural fabric of the region. She has a PhD in Philosophy from Delhi University, and also serves as the Director of the Amar Mahal Museum and Library in Jammu. At Almond Villa, she pursues her love for pottery and enamel design while .

Maharajkumari Veeranganakumari Solanki

Maharajkumari Veeranganakumari Solanki is an independent curator and writer.

She is interested in the way interdisciplinary forms and creative practices merge to create dialogues in public and private spaces and the convergence of images across disciplines. Further, her research and practice consider how historical and contemporary thought inform exhibition-making and artistic practices to expand the ideas of medium specificity through narration, memory, time and story-telling. Her curatorial discourse has focused primarily on art practices within South Asia and its diasporic context. Veerangana was the Exhibition Design Team Lead for the Kathmandu Triennale 2077 (2022), the 2019 Brooks International Research Fellow at Tate Modern and a resident at Delfina Foundation. Currently, she is the curator of Future Landing at the Serendipity Virtual Arts Festival, the Programme Director for Space Studio, Baroda and a core team member of Art Chain India.

Maharajkumari  Vaishnavi Kumari

Maharajkumari  Vaishnavi Kumari, Founder Studio Kishangarh.

Kishangarh is renowned for its unique style of miniature painting. A style Vaishnavi hopes to preserve through Studio Kishangarh, founded in 2010. Working with artists and their families, the studio hopes to bring a contemporary touch to the traditional art form. A graduate from institutions like National Institute of Fashion Technology in Delhi and the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS) in London, Vaishnavi brought academic rigour to the initiative. That, mixed with her natural inclination towards art and aesthetics, has helped her realize that we “live in a large world but can think locally”.

Rani Saheba Shailja Katoch

Rani Saheba Shailja Katoch, Director Kangra Group

A passionate cultural patron, she is pioneering the revival of Kangra’s history, Kangra Miniature Paintings & Kangra Cuisine(Dham) through the Maharaja Sansar Chandra Museum, Kangra Fort, near Dharamshala, Himachal Pradesh.

Rajkumari Nandini Singh Jhabua

Rajkumari Nandini Singh Jhabua, Gond Art Patron, Co-Founder Rising World Foundation

Devoted to preserving different art forms, she works with tribal artisans from Gond, providing them with the necessary support to develop their trade. Nandini Singh Jhabua remains connected to her roots in Madhya Pradesh (MP) through her social and aesthetic endeavours, encouraging traditional artists to experiment with contemporary themes.. Her repertoire of artists — she also encourages Islamic art — has grown in recent times, and she is taking bespoke trunk shows to various cities.

Maharajkumar Jaidev Singh

Maharajkumar Jaidev Singh, Director Rao Madho Singh Museum Trust, Kota

A business and economics major from Cornell University, Jaidev has worked in different financial industries most recently as an investment banker with KPMG. He is passionate about hospitality, arts and culture through the historic Brijraj Bhawan Palace Hotel, a boutique property that is also home and going forward, is paving the road to put Kota on the global map. He is building inroads in promoting the Hadoti region and putting it on the map as a tourist and cultural destination.

Reena Dewan is Director of Kolkata Centre for Creativity(KCC), President of ICOM India, Board member ICOM INTERCOM and a practicing artist.
She has received 3 prestigious fellowships: Australia Council’s International Leadership Program, Art Think South Asia and International Society for Performing Arts, USA. She is recipient of ‘Emerging Scholar’ award from Ground Research Networks and has presented papers on travel grants in Museum conferences in Egypt, Iran, Fuzhou, Kyoto and more. She has undergone trainings at Tate Modern, Whitworth Art Gallery, Manchester Art Gallery, Manchester Museum and Beijing Palace Museum.
She Co-convened the first International Conference on ‘Gender Mainstreaming and Cultural Rights’ in India and the first ICOM INTERCOM conference in India on ‘Museum Management’.
She is instrumental in launching the first ‘Accessibility Program’ in Eastern India under the umbrella of ‘Art for All’ at KCC. Her agenda is to make KCC truly inclusive through in-house and outreach programs for diverse communities including people from different race, ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, socio-economic status, age, physical & mental abilities and of different ideologies. She champions the importance of capacity building for young artists, performers, art leaders and educators, that reflects in the programming of KCC. She is the co-programmer of VK IV and has co-programmed previous editions in 2020 and 2021.

Dr. Shwetal A Patel is a writer and researcher working at the intersection of contemporary art, exhibition-making practices and development theory. He is a founding member of India’s first visual arts biennial, the Kochi-Muziris Biennale and holds a practice-based PhD from Winchester School of Art, University of Southampton. He has operated transnationally over the last two decades, primarily in Europe and Asia, and has been published widely in magazines, journals and online. He has presented papers at leading conferences, universities and institutions and is a Trustee of the Milton Keynes Museum, an advisor to the Kolkata Centre for Creativity and an editorial board member of OnCurating.org (Zürich University of the Arts). He is the co-programmer of VK IV and has co-programmed all previous editions since 2019.

Akshita was born and brought up in Kolkata and attended high school at United World College of South East Asia and later went to college as a Davis scholar in the United States, Bard College, and pursued Political Science and Human Rights with a concentration in Media in conflict areas. After college, she moved to New York City to hone her skills in communications, brand management, and entrepreneurship and worked with the International Rescue Committee a humanitarian aid organization working closely with the former British parliamentarian David Miliband's team focusing on the Syrian refugee crisis.

 

She is a Director of the 200-year-old Belgadia Palace in Mayurbhanj and along with her family is working to build sustainable tourism with social impact at its core to the tribal-dominated region.  At present Akshita is a communication strategist at The Wadhwani Institute for Artificial Intelligence is an independent, nonprofit research institute and global hub, developing AI solutions for social good. Akshita is Creative Director of the Karkhana Chroniciles, which aims to celebrate sustainability through heritage craft by shining a light on artisan clusters via contemporary patronage.