Amitesh Grover on the sets of The Money Opera (2022)
Amitesh Grover is an award-winning theatre director and artist. His body of work includes more than 20 stage productions, which range from global performances connecting performers and spectators across continents to the most intimate pieces. His creations have been commissioned, co-produced, and presented internationally by renowned festivals and theatres. He is currently Associate Professor at National School of Drama, New Delhi, India. He also curates and writes about contemporary performance.
In 2008, Sangeet Natak Akademi awarded him Ustad Bismillah Khan Yuva Puraskar for his contribution to the field of theatre direction. Grover is also the recipient of MASH FICA New Media Award, Prohelvetia South Asian Artist Residency Award, Charles Wallace Award (U.K.), and was nominated for Arte Laguna Prize (Italy), Prix Ars Electronica (Austria) and Forecast Award (Germany). His work has been described to have “transcended the barriers of disciplines”, working with live acts, text, images, installations and digital art for more than a decade.
Grover has shown globally at venues like Southbank Centre (London), Arts Centre (Melbourne), MT Space (Canada), HKW Berlin (Germany), Segal Festival (U.S.), Belluard Bollwerk International (Switzerland), The Hartell Gallery (U.S.), and in India at Foundation of Indian Contemporary Art, Kiran Nadar Museum of Art, The Shrine Gallery, VAICA Video Art Festival, TATA Literature Festival, KHOJ Live Art 12, Bharat Rang Mahotsav, Prithvi Theatre Festival, Serendipity Arts Festival among several others. He has been in artist residencies at PACT Zollverein (Germany), Rote Fabric (Zurich), Tokyo Culture Creation Project (Japan), and Theatretreffen, Berlin.
He is one of the rare non-photographers to be commissioned by the Chennai Photo Biennale. He holds the honour of being commissioned by Australia's Sydney-based 4A Centre for Contemporary Asian Art. He is the creator of India’s first cyber-theatre play THE LAST POET, while his billboard art installation VELOCITY PIECES has received wide-spread critical acclaim. The Hindustan Times described his work as “bold new theatre,” while The Indian Express and The Outlook have routinely covered his work. His latest work THE MONEY OPERA (an immersive, location-based performance) has been called a “magnum opus production”.
He has been the Artistic Director for International Theatre Festival of Kerala, Ranga Shankara Festival (Bangalore), and Nove Writers’ Festival (Prague). His writings have been published by Routledge, Taylor and Francis, Bloomsbury (U.K.), Berghahn Journals (Berlin), Art Journal (Singapore), and in India by Tullika Books, TAKE on Art, Indian Cultural Forum, RAIOT, The Outlook Magazine, The Indian Express, ASAP Art, and Hakara Online. Essays on his work have appeared in several books including Post-Dramatic Theatre and India, Moving Focus, India: New Perspectives on Modern and Contemporary Art (ACC Art Books), and Imagined Worlds (University of Chicago Press). He has given talks about his work on prominent global platforms like ANCER (Lasalle College of Art, Singapore), University of Exeter (U.K.), Vilnius National Theatre (Lithuania), Curating for Change (Canada), APAM Australia, Cornell University (U.S.), the 23rd PSi Conference (Germany), Hong Kong University, Tisch School of the Arts (NYU) among others.
Currently, he is Associate Professor at the National School of Drama (India), and visiting faculty at several institutions including National Institue of Design (Ahmedabad) and Shiv Nadar University (U.P.). He is an alumnus of The National School of Drama (India) and completed his post graduation from Wimbledon College of Art, University of the Arts London. He is based in New Delhi, India.
Email : amiteshgrover@gmail.com
AWARDS & RESIDENCIES
Curator Ranga Shankara Theatre Festival (Online) 2021
Curator (Performance Art), Serendipity Arts Festival (India 2020-21)
Artistic Director, ITFoK Theatre Festival Kerala (India, 2020 & 2021)
TPS Residency, Arts Centre Melbourne (Australia, 2019)
MASH FICA Award for New Media Artist (India, 2019)
Artist-in-Residence, PACT Zollverein Essen, (Germany, 2018)
Prix Ars Electronica Award nomination by Irini Papadimitriou (Interactive Art + category, 2016)
Forecast Award nomination, Haus Der Kulteren Der Welt (Germany, 2015)
Invited Artist, Tokyo Culture Creation Project (Japan, 2013)
Artist Visitor, Theatretreffen (Germany, 2013)
Arte Laguna Prize Finalists Exhibition (Italy, 2013)
Visiting Artist Lecture, Cornell University (United States, 2011)
KMAT Artist Residency Award, VCA Melbourne (Australia, 2011)
YCE Award Nomination, British Arts Council (India, 2010)
Bismillah Khan National Award, Sangeet Natak Akademi (India, 2009)
Emerging Director Award, Theatre Festival Edinburgh (U.K. 2009)
Pro Helvetia Artist Residency (Switzerland, 2008)
Charles Wallace Scholarship Award (United Kingdom, 2005)
ARTIST TALKS
Hong Kong University, Hong Kong, 2023
APAM Melbourne, Australia, 2022
NYU Tisch School of The Arts, U.S. 2021
Lasalle School of Arts, Singapore 2020
Bhopal Literature Festival, India 2020
Ahmedabad University, Gujarat, Change & The Arts, 2019
Serendipity Arts Foundation. Delhi. 2019
Apparao Galleries, Chennai 2019
Indent Festival, Delhi 2019
Delhi, Premaya Art Foundation, Delhi. 2019
IIT Mumbai, Humanities & Social Sciences, 2018
FICA Artists Talk Series, Delhi. 2018
Impact ’17, PACT Zollverein, Germany. 2017
Kiran Nadar Museum of Art, Delhi 2017
Performance Studies International, 2017
University of Exeter, U.K. 2016
Lasalle College of Art, Singapore. 2016
Vilnius National Theatre, Lithuania. 2016
International Theatre Festival, Delhi. 2015
Bochum University, Germany. 2015
Tokyo Culture Creation Project, Japan. 2013
Brisbane Powerhouse, Australia. 2013
Hartell Gallery, Cornell University, US. 2011
International Theatre Festival of Kerela. 2009