OUR JOURNEY IN KALGA

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KYTA [Karma Yatri Travel & Art] is an experimental residency program and growing global creative community currently set in the Himalayas to research and explore the association between travel, living, culture, art and expression. In Kalga, our vision is to establish the Himalayan village as one of the choicest places in the world to imagine, produce and experience art with long term ecological and sustainable impact. 

The residency experience is designed as a live laboratory inviting 10 or more experimental artists from as many disciplines to produce solo and unified artistic results every year since 2014. With an interdisciplinary focus on the artistic process, human dynamics and relationships between the artists emerge beyond the creative result. In each annual edition, we invite equal number of Indian and international artists to collaborate over a schedule of 4-6 weeks during which we also host a few visiting artists.  

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Since its inception in 2014, KYTA has hosted 57 artists-in-residence practicing across music composition, music technology, sound, sculpture, ceramics, architecture, performance, new media, installations, weaving, films, dance, theatre, writing, photography, illustration, custom hardware and software from various parts of India and France, Brazil, Argentina, Taiwan, USA, Vietnam, Switzerland, South Africa, Slovakia, Austria, Netherlands, Italy, Germany and Mexico. The visiting artists and professionals have come from practices as varied as astronomy, physics, mixology, intellectual property rights, fashion design and music. 

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Based on free expression, the KYTA framework doesn't provide the resident artists with any particular theme and allows them to choose and construct a new experimental project together. The system departs from the conventional frameworks of residencies where artists are provided with personal time and space, instead leveraging the presence of multiple artists, cultures, thought streams, practices to explore their collaborative potential and further our research on inter- and trans-disciplinary production and community creation. With hardly any special creative resources available in the proximity, artistic possibilities are stripped down to pure creation and collaboration with the exception of natural resources, basic materials and tools brought by the artists. With regular infusion of visiting artists from diverse thought streams, weekly video diaries, a presentation and workshop series, morning yoga sessions, a month-long food menu with several experiments and local explorations via treks and camping, KYTA attempts to build a wholesome experience for the artists-in-residence and it has shown tremendously well in its artistic and human result. 

In the past 5 editions, we have hosted two international editions (2014 and 2016: India-World), a bilateral edition (2015: India-France), a trilateral edition (2017: India-South Korea-Switzerland) and an Indo-Europe edition (2018). In the first edition (2014), the artists were free to choose everything from the subject to the form of their unified creative result. In the 2nd edition (2015), the artists from France and India were invited to produce material for a feature-length film (60 min). Since the 3rd edition (2016), the residency explored whether and how the artists will work together to produce new pieces to be left behind in-situ in the village and online to build a local collection and archive open to the public. We are committed to building new associations, partnerships, works, physical or electronic, to add to the Kalga art collection, into the future. 

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Since 2017, we have been hosting an Open Village Showcase, as a 4-day event at the end of the annual residency in Kalga. The showcase is a local celebration with exhibitions, live performances, screenings, cookouts and outdoor experiences.  In 2017, we hosted Susmit Sen (Founder, Indian Ocean) along with his collaborator Melanie Hardage (UK) to perform for the locals. In 2018, the showcase featured the French avant-garde turntablist  Sebastien Lemonon (DJ Urine), Tritha Sinha and Shubhangi Singh.  In the past, we have returned to New Delhi and presented our experiences and showcase at Zorba the Buddha (2014-15), Indian Contemporary Week (Nehru Park), and at the Gujral Foundation.

In 2016, Karma Studio, a small-scale sculpture and pottery facility was established by Rashi Jain (Artist-in-Residence - 2014), that is now open to artists working with clay through the year. In 2017, Quad Karma, an experimental sound environment / studio has been established by Sound.Codes with a focus on binaural audio. In 2018, AI.NA has been initiated as a think-tank at the intersection of AI and NA(ture). A curated library of learing material, Inner Observatory and a workshop with tools for soft metal, wood and stone are currently work-in-progress facilities in Kalga. 

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KYTA has completed its original commitment to Kalga for 5 years in 2018. The project is currently in its 2nd phase with a focus on deeper community-engaged initiatives, while continuing to build the art collection through self-directed residencies, facility-based projects and custom programs. Over the next 5 years until 2023, KYTA in Kalga aims to become an initiative that is directed, managed and owned by the local community with handholding at every step by our core team and advisors.

We are deeply grateful to the people of Kalga and all the local, national and international support we have received alike from artists, curators, institutions and friends to make KYTA one of the most unique experiences in the Indian Himalayas.