AT A GLANCE
Asmita Sarkar, PhD
Area of Practice:
OVERVIEW
Asmita Sarkar is a theorist of contemporary art and a practicing artist. She has an interdisciplinary background encompassing psychology, art theory and history, and creative and critical writing. She possesses two Master’s degrees, one in Fine Arts, One in Experimental Psychology. In her doctoral research, she has chosen the phenomenology of embodiment as a methodological tool to explore and analyze the production of novel metaphors in the works of contemporary painters. Her expertise in different disciplines helps her discern overlapping concerns between art and science. She has publications in respected international journals (Leonardo, Journal of Aesthetic Education, Journal of Visual Art Practice) that focus on interdisciplinarity. She actively reviews articles for Leonardo (MIT Press) and the Journal of Visual Art Practice (Taylor and Francis). As a visual artist, her practice consists of expansive site-specific, digital, and mixed-media paintings. She has participated in many exhibitions and residencies in India and Scotland. She has curated contemporary art exhibitions in Scotland and India and many publicly funded shows. She worked in transnational education as a project consultant for Minds Abroad https://mindsabroad.com/. This is an academic organization that facilitates cultural immersion as part of academic curricula between students of the United States and countries in Asia. While pursuing her Ph.D., she has participated in national and international conferences focusing on art, design, creativity, and interdisciplinarity. She has worked with scientists and research scholars from NCBS and IISc as artistic collaborators in visualizing science, One such recent project is with Dr Arnab Barik, IISc in visualizing the neuroscience of pain. She is working on a monograph on contemporary art from India and ecology, for which a contract has been signed with Peter Lang, Lausanne, Switzerland. She is certified to guide PhD students and is keen to guide students in the area of contemporary art, media study, and art and design research that includes the creation of artefacts and other performative elements as part of critical research.
EDUCATION
2022- PhD granted by Manipal Academy of Higher Education, Thesis Title: Exploring the metaphoric and embodied nature of traces and marks on contemporary painting Insights from Practice. 2010 MFA [Master in Fine Arts] from Gray’s School of Art, Robert Gordon University, Scotland [This course encompasses contemporary art theory and practice] Recipient of Saltire Scholarship by Scottish Government and Teaching Assistantship by Gray’s School of Art. 3 • 2008 MA [Master of Arts in Psychology] University of Calcutta [Special Paper- Experimental Psychology and Statistics] [ 1st class]. • 2006- BA [Bachelor of Arts, Major – Psychology, Electives- History, English Literature] University of Calcutta, Bethune College. [1st class].
WORK EXPERIENCE
Published academic articles in the Journal of Aesthetic Education (Upcoming, University of Illinois Press), Journal of Visual Art Practice (Taylor and Francis) Leonardo (MIT Press), Visual Inquiry and Drawing, research theory and Practice (intellect) amongst others. Following are some of the recent publications.
• Material Metaphor and Reflexivity in Contemporary Painting: A Practice-based Investigation, Authors Asmita Sarkar, Aileen Blaney. February 2023, The Journal of Aesthetic Education 55(1):98-119, DOI: 10.5406/15437809.57.1.07 (Scopus Indexed 2 nd quartile)
• Painted Spaces: An Exploration through Embodied and Expansive Practice, Author Asmita Sarkar. in the Journal of Visual Art Practice https://doi.org/10.1080/14702029.2022.2056800 https://www.tandfonline.com/journals/rjvp20, (Taylor and Francis Journal) (Scopus Indexed 2nd quartile)
• The flesh of imagination: locating materiality in biology inspired visual art, June 2021, Leonardo DOI: 10.1162/leon_a_02102 Asmita Sarkar, Aileen Blaney
https://direct.mit.edu/leon/article/doi/10.1162/leon_a_02102/102692/The-flesh-of-imagination-locating materiality-in (MIT press ) (Scopus Indexed 1st quarlite)
• SARKAR, Asmita. Dark Material and the Indexical in the Drawings of Prabhakar Pachpute. TRACEY, [S.l.], v. 15, n. 1, p. 1- 11, may 2021. ISSN 1742-3570. Loughborough University, Loughborough, England.
• Ecology of site-specific painting and drawing: Embodied and empathic mark-making in urban cites, June 2021 Visual Inquiry, Asmita Sarkar https://doi.org/10.1386/vi_00023_1 (intellect Press, Bristol, UK) (EBSCO Indexed )
• Seeking theory-practice relations between humanities and fine-arts through practice of painting, Rupkatha Journal of interdisciplinary Studies in Humanities Volume 12, Number 5, 2020 I DOI: 10.21659/rupkatha.v12n5.rioc1s1n5 https://rupkatha.com/V12/n5/rioc1s1n5.pdf (Scopus Indexed)
• The Phenomenal and the Cultural in Contemporary Paintings from Indian Diaspora: Published in The Chitrolekha Journal on Art and Design Volume 4, Number 2, 2020 I Full Text PDF (http://chitrolekha.com/v4n207/ (EBSCO indexed)
• Exploring drawing as a generative act: Articulating thought processes in the context of interdisciplinary approaches to drawing pedagogy: Drawing: Research, Theory, Practice, Intellect publishing Volume 2, Number 1, 1 April 2016, pp. 157-173(17), https://doi.org/10.1386/drtp.2.1.157_1 (intellect Publishing, Bristol UK) (Scopus Indexed, 2nd quartile)
Worked as a Project Consultant in a cross-cultural education setting (across China and the US), primarily organizing cultural immersion programs with Mindsabroad,
Volunteered in a Storytelling project namely ‘Peace-work’ organized by (Seagull Arts and Media Centre, Kolkata, telling stories and engaging with young, underprivileged Children
Exhibited and curated shows in the UK and in India.
INTEREST AREAS
Contemporary painting; Contemporary drawing; Intersection between social sciences and art and design; Art and design practice research. Artistic and design research that incorporate theoretical investigations. Phenomenological aesthetics and inquiry into the intersection of artistic and scientific visualization.
CURRENT PRACTICE AT SRISHTI
• Making Academic Arguments: Art and Design Artifacts (Independent study Units for PhD student): qualitative research, creative and artistic research that are publishable in scholarly journals. • Drawing across Art and Science (for foundation students) keyword: Visual thinking,scientific drawing, interdisciplinary thinking. • Art, Design, and the Senses (for 3 rd and 4 th year students) Keywords; sensation and perception, sensory design, integration of different senses, vision and the Other • Other Taught Modules Critical theory (taught courses)-Ecology of Contemporary Art, Key Studies from Social Psychology (or social psychology for designers), Texts and Documents of Contemporary Art. Research-based- mentoring students for research writing for 4th-year Term Papers, Graduate and Ph.D. courses on research methodology, Studio-based- Drawing for Ideation, From Darkness to Light and Back: Mark-making (charcoal, electronic light, and everything in between), Pixelate (digital ideation for visual thinking)
TEACHING PORTFOLIO
CREATIVE PRACTICE & OUTREACH
‘-Pain Felt and Drawn- An ongoing art-science project to visualize the neuroscience of pain artistically and poetically, in collaboration with Dr Arnab Barik, Assistant Professor, Centre of Neuroscience, IISc, Bangalore. This project has received a minor grant from the Foundation for Advancing Science and Technology, India. https://www.fast-india.org/ . The grant was used to create an installation and workshop at India Science Festival, Pune. https://sites.google.com/view/molecules-cells-and-circuits/scicomm
-Invited artist/speaker for Sympotein an annual research event by the PhD researchers at National Centre for Biological Science. In 2023 the focus is on exploring sensory and environmental systems, and biological rhythms surrounding sleep. Asmita researched different socio-cultural and historical aspects of sleep and dreams. The project was supported with an honorarium by NCBS
-Part of the reading and research discussion group 3Ecologies Institute and Allsense Lab convened by Professor Erin Manning, Concordia University.
-The 4tables Art project: 1-month residency in Gunther Village, Bir Valley, A public art intervention realized through paintings, Himachal, India.
-The Light Inside: A multimedia installation by Asmita Sarkar Solo Show at 1shanthi Road Studio Gallery
-Exchange & Flow Writing Workshop 1-5 March, 2019- Core participant and workshop facilitator in Exchange & Flow Writing Workshop 1-5 March, 2019. supported by the Arts and Humanities Research Council, UK and follows on from a large-scale, three-year European project ‘Technology, Exchange and Flow: Artistic media practices and commercial applications.’’
-Art-science intervention in the form of a creative display on Moths and their biology in the International conference: Biology of Butterfly 10-th June11 2018, organized and held in NCBS Bangalore. http://www.biologyofbutterflies.org/
Asmita’s creative projects can be found at https://asmitasarkar.wordpress.com/
