Gender Bender is a multi-arts festival by Sandbox Collective that celebrates new perspectives on gender. The project aims to provide and nurture much-needed forums for discussion that will further our ever-evolving knowledge of gender and its implications, including the necessity of intersectionality for both audiences and artistes. The goal is to present and highlight works that support and encourage innovative and experimental artistic endeavours. The three-day event will take place at two different locations and include talks, visual art, performances and workshops. The 10 artistes that were awarded the Gender Bender grant for 2023 will also present their works, including music videos, films, podcasts, long-form zines, performances and culinary experiences. We speak to Shiva Pathak, cofounder and artistic director, Sandbox Collective to uncover everything you need to know about the festival.
Can you tell us more about what the audience can expect from this edition of the Gender Bender?
This is our ninth edition and I know we keep on repeating it over and over again that the funding has been reduced but the point is that it was really difficult this time because whatever was promised was also further reduced. So, we had to think of something really small this time. If you look at the programming, there are more conversations and less performative aspects in the schedule. But what we managed was some tie-ups that we did with Gaysi. We managed to get this amazing show from Mumbai, which is called Be-Loved and is directed by Sapan Saran. That’s going to be opening the festival. There’s also a book launch of her plays before the opening. We also have a session with Princess Sayanthika, who’s going to be doing drag art with storytelling for children and adults. This is the first time that we’re programming something for children. Outside of the drag art storytelling, we also have Vijeta Kumar who is a writer and educator and she will be doing two sessions on books and writing. We have this whole tango experience with Bangalore Queer Tango. And there’s going to be a workshop and an open house to just dance. It is open to anyone to come and join and you don’t have to have any prior dance knowledge or tango knowledge. On the closing day, we have Jaydeep Sarkar from Rainbow Rishta. He’s going to be in conversation with Shilok Mukatti (poet, performer and LGBTQIA+ activist) and Tejas AP (development communicator and artist), talking about normalising relationships and what that means.
How is this edition different from the previous one?
I feel there are some things which are very core to us in terms of the people who are behind the festival. The grantee work is different every year, which is super exciting. Outside of that, I think it’s also very important to keep the festival relevant in some ways, so in terms of just the conversations that you bring forth into the festival are also important.
The opening show for this edition of Gender Bender is called Be-Loved, which is directed by Sapan Saran. Can you tell us more about it?
It has the writings of numerous queer writers and some of the pieces are interesting. I think that itself is very important for us because it’s something which I don’t think has necessarily happened too often, like whose writing this is. So, not all the time is the writing necessarily of a queer artiste. Some of the writers include names like Akhil Katyal, Aditi Angiras, Madhvi Menon, Saleem Kidwai, Shruti Sonal and many more. Sapan is someone who has directed a lot. She is young. She’s also someone who writes. So, I think that itself is very interesting to see her take on something as a writer-director.
Tell us about how the 10 grantees were selected?
We have an open call every year and post the open call, we have a jury that we select. Then the jury has a whole intensive session and then they select the grantees. This year’s jury included Rajyashri Goody, Vqueeram Aditya Sahai, Afrah Shafiq and Mary Therese Kurkalang. They selected the 10 grantees from approximately 230 applications.
What’s next for Sandbox Collective following Gender Bender?
It’s going to be exciting times ahead for us. We are moving into a new space immediately after the festival. It is going to be an open house for artistes and the space is going to have conversations around feminism and freedom.
Entry free. December 8, 5 pm. At BIC, Domlur. December 9, 10.30 am. At Max Mueller Bhavan, Indiranagar. December 10, 11 am. At Max Mueller Bhavan, Indiranagar.
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