Camera praxis is a practice centered project initiated by desire machine collective@Khoj Guwahati. At its simplest Camera praxis involves the screening of a moving images in order to develop a discourse around practice of production and dissemination of vernacular images. This year Camera Praxis will curate a series of film screenings of Contemporary Asian Cinema.

Still Life- 2006
Director - Jia Zhanke (China)

Time (Shi gan) - 2006
Director - Ki-duk Kim (South Korea)

The symposium is a part of the Thames - Brahamaputra project and a series of symposium around this.
The first of these were held in London in 2008 called "Two Rivers symposium". This used rivers as a backdrop to an exploration of how artists work across platforms in search of conceptual innovations, and collaborate in situations that link art education, industry and academia. It discussed the values of difference, examining how knowledge and ideas are exchanged, and how artists are observing the global and the local in a new climate of anxiety and rapidly changing
economic, political and cultural contexts.

"Two Rivers at Periferry" is a second in this series and will bring together a cross section of artists, specialists and researchers to examine collaborative, context based arts practice and how these relate to transnational issues in the context of Assam and the region. The two rivers will act as geographical motifs for examining interpretations of difference, with participants offering perspectives from the arts, social and natural sciences and creative and industrial
practice.

Two Rivers is a substantive practice-based research project being
developed collaboratively between Periferry, Difference Exchange, Chelsea College of Art and Design, and TrAIN, London.

Public space is leaving home (Vito acconci)

'Enter the public space and reclaim it instead of waiting for something to
happen.' (Andre Mesman)

Jam session on the ferry. First Periferry jam session kick started with musicians from various bands who played different instruments and different sound. The sound of this jam contributed to the idea of building an alternate sound space in the city to celebrate the experimentation.List of musicians and sound professionals include

Hridoy Goswami, Ambar Das, Anup Phukan,  Joshua Queah, Uzzal, Krishna, Deepu and Tarique

Band of Brothers

It is fusion band and a musical collaboration between musicians and instruments. exploring the sounds of a fusion between folk and electric sound of instruments. Folk instruments like  bhoor taal, duitara, flute with electronic instruments like Vibraphone, guitar etc.

The members of the band are Amber Das on the drums and percussion, Ralf Kemphuif on the Vibraphone, Deepak Sarma on the flute, Nitul Goswami on the Tabla & Percussion, Pankaj Bora on the Duitara  and percussion, Depajyoti Goswami on the guitar and vocals, Biswajeet Haloi on the keyboard and Papu Gogoi on the bass guitar.

Syeda Farhana conducted a ten day photography workshop. The workshop began on the 19th of March and continued till the 29th of March 2008. Eight artists, designers, filmmakers and social activists participated. Syeda Farhana said, "We are here to share photographs and our experiences and discuss photography as an art. We are not discussing the finer techniques or the fine prints of technology but are examining the politics of images."

The photographer is also showing the participants the immense possibilities of the automatic camera and imparting tips on capturing that 'perfect image' with the simplest of cameras is one of the chief agendas of the workshop.

The open day and exhibition of the workshop is on the 12th of April 2008, 11 am onwards on MV Chandardinga (Ferry), Near Fancy Bazar bus stop, MG Road, Guwahati, Assam

Participants

Rajkumar Mazinder, Wahida Ahmed, Anjuman Ara, Bhaskar Das, Suresh Kumar Barla, W. Dorendra, Viswanath Kothagattu, Prasana G. Kate

"Periferry1.0 ", starts with a 6 week residency program, which begins on the 14th January and ends on 29th February 2008. There will be 7 artists participating, 2 from India and 5 international. They are Syeda Farhana (Bangladesh), Parismita Singh (India), desire machine collective(India), Bruce Allen (England), Pauliina Salminen (Finland)-Andreas (Argentine) & Mahardhika Yudha (Indonesia) . The open day has been scheduled 28th February 2008.

The activities would include organizing seminars on the contemporary artistic production, initiating a global-local interaction of art and events and publications in the public realm to foster critical debate. The residency thus builds a powerful repertoire of ideas and practices by willfully juxtaposing individuals from diverse contexts and making this exchange the basis of producing art and knowledge about art. This juxtaposition is the best way in which we can balance out the subjective and objective dimensions of art and knowledge where diverse values and ideas challenge each other and allow for the emergence of new ideas and practices

The curation attempts to identify the hot spots of contemporary conflict, its dynamics and actors, its movement and the trajectories that depart from temporary uneasiness to the desire of building an alternative to one's own situation. And a set of questions emerge: How to transform a map into a process of re signifying a territory and re articulating social movements? How to name a territory undergoing permanent transformation? How to situate new mechanisms of power, conflicts and emergent social subjects in a fragmented and  complex territory?