Sarai, the New Media Initiative, a programme of the Centre for the Study of Developing Societies, is an alternative, non-profit space for an imaginative reconstitution of urban public culture, new/old media practice and research and critical cultural intervention.
The framework of Sarai includes scholarly reflection and creative work on film & video, computers, telephony, print culture, radio, multimedia and the Internet.
At the Sarai site you will find several initiatives in new media arts.
The framework of Sarai includes scholarly reflection and creative work on film & video, computers, telephony, print culture, radio, multimedia and the Internet.
Aims & Objectives
To become an engaged and integral part of contemporary urban culture within the city of Delhi.
+ To foster interdisciplinary research on urban culture & politics and media history & practice.
+ To create contexts for collaboration between practitioners & scholars
+ To collaborate with non-elite and neighbourhood media practitioners with new skills through workshops and outreach programmes.
+ To demonstrate the validity of low-cost & low-tech methods and strategies in media and communication practices, with a commitment to public participation and access.
+ To promote non-propreitary (copyleft) and collaborative models of cultural practice/knowledge.
Activities & Interests
Media Research & Theory + Media Practice + Media History + Free Software Development + Web Based Practices + Multimedia & Digital Art + Workshops & Seminars + Training + Lectures/Talks/Presentation + Advocacy & Education + Film/Video/Multimedia Screenings + Online Journal & Website + Publications.
“The research agenda of Sarai is organised towards two complementary themes - understanding the place of the media in urban public practice and consciousness, and reflections on the city as constituted through representations and technologies. The research on media is directed towards understanding the rhythms and routines of daily life in the city as mediated through words, images and sounds. Our particular concern is with the possibilities involved in people's relationship to the media, the domain of 'needs', 'desires' work and leisure, creativity and communication practices that the media world opens up.The analysis of urban life attends to the varied dimensions of everyday life. These range from planning and housing to geographies of the city, mediated through work, leisure, transport and communication. Technological forms that underwrite contemporary urban experience as well as the social practices through which the city is imagined and acted upon will be addressed in our research.”