Forplay Society is a non-profit independent artist-run performance space, residency and artist- community driven experiment founded by Seljuk Rustum, that has existed since 2016 in Ernakulam, Kochi. It has since then gone through various iterations and most recently took the form of a society in 2022 to create a spontaneous action-based union facilitated by artists and curators, This collaboration is based on trust, sharing of resources, organizational abilities & common interests within the community. This variation in a society form is an autonomous extension for the celebration of the arts and a spontaneous action based union facilitated by artists and curators, Seljuk Rustum (Kochi), Andreas Ullrich (Dresden), Voin De Voin (Sofia) & Vivek Chockalingam (Bangalore).
Forplay Society opened its doors on Dec 13th 2022 in Mattanchery, Kochi, Kerala; and invited the public in a non-profit constallation to 4 months full of exhibitions, concerts, performances and workshops. As an independent partner of the Kochi-Muziris Biennale the Forplay Society organised several artistic formats together with the Biennale Foundation, especially around the Biennales ABC Art Room at Cabral Yard, Fort Kochi.
Since its inception, Forplay has self-funded, produced, and curated a broad spectrum of contemporary artistic practices, including performance art, free improvisation, media art, and experimental music. It has served as a hub for artistic networking, hosting local and international artists from the USA, Japan, Spain, Bulgaria, Germany, Sweden, Austria, and Finland. Forplay Society has also introduced workshops and performances covering theatre, dance, puppetry, soldering, welding, printmaking, experimental sound design, improvisation, and writing.
Selected Performances from Forplay Society
ð Pappisorai Puppet theatre/play (Directed By Sanoj Mamo)
ð Mehfil-e-Sama’a Traditional/Folk/Qawaali/Gazal
ð Tattoo Party (Showcasing Local Tattoo Artists)
ð Memories of Costumes (Directed By Usman Guru / Play)
ð Kanchan Avchare – White Rabbit Red Rabbit
ð Wetspace noise Drips 2 day live immersive sonic event
ð Sofy Yuditskaya: The secret pope (Experimental Music)
ð Ajmal Shifaz: Echos of nothing (Installation)
ð Tatjana Bikic: All Fool´
s Journey (Installation/Performance Art)
ð Fabrication of Dreams: Michaela Lakova & Voin de voin (Performance Art/ Installations / Video
Art) ð Gowwli (Live performance band)
ð Kiran Kumar – Six uneasy fragments (exactly) about the natural and spiritual
ð Amit Kannan – Mohiniyattam Performance
ð M R Vishnuprasad – Kindly Exaggerate! – Performance poety
ð Ignaz Schick – Sound Art Performanceð Orca live coding – an audio-visual performance by heck
ð Feb 1st – Feb 6th 2023: hack4play [Play with | Exchange about ] Technology, Art and
Music! ð Soldering and circuit bending workshop
ð Manoj Parameswaran’s Dancing Min (installation)
ð Vinod Shankanran (Sitar Performance)
ð Ajit Bhadoriya If you’re…(Video Installation)
ð Echo & Lami (Live)
ð EARTHGRIME & BLACK KOMODO (live)
ð Silk screen printing with air ink By Andreas Ulrich
ð Workshop: a somnic exploration of the body in touch with itself
ð Stable:Unstable Free Impro Duo
ð Welding with found objects (Workshop)
ð Artist in Residence: Surjith Sumathi Gopinath
ð 3 hours live from Forplay Society in Fort Kochi (India) via Cashmere Radio in
Berlin. ð Kapila Venu – Devi Mahatmyam Nangiar Koothu
ð Amirtha Kidambi & Ananya Ganesh (Free Improv Duo)
ð Savita Rani (Notions between you and me) Play / Theatre
ð Santhi Priya Live Baul Music
ð Nasir Hassan – Solo Performance
ð LAMI : LIVE ELECTRO
ð Alok Vaid Menon Live
ð Solo Electro-Acoustic Performance by Maximilian Glass
ð Otherworldly Transformations with Karla Matus, Sofy Yuditskaya, Amyth Venkataramaiah, Dirk
Wachtelaer, Maximilian Glass, Nodhar Akhulediani.
ð Lucie Freynhagen Content Content The Puja & Europer (Installation)
ð Andreas Ullrich – FRAGMENTED IDENTITIES (Installation)
ð Sofy Yuditskaya (US) – Outdoor installation
ð Julius Gabriel (DE) & Luisa Saraiva (Portugal) – Performance
ð Avril Stormy Unger (IN) – Performance
ð Dirk Wachteler (BE) – Drum Workshop
ð CYNK Collective (IN) – Audio Visual Performance
ð KÄSSRIN (DE) – Ambient/Drone – Live Sound Performance
ð Harold Pinter’s The Lover Directed By Sanal Aman (PLAY)
ð Solo Performance By Alok Vaid Menon (American Performance Arist)
ð RIP Solo Performance By Savita Rani (PLAY)
ð Peter Evans & Amirtha Kidambi (US Based Experimental /Free Improvisation
) ð The Salim Nair Band (Experimental Electronic Music Performance)
ð Mimamsa ( A 3 day Intimate Theatre Festival Showcasing important theatre personalities from
around ð Arounds Single Lauch & Performance
ð Writing & Performance Workshop With Alok Vaid Menon (Fundraiser Event By NY Based Performance
Artist For Forplay)
ð The Tapi Project (Gujrat Based Internationally acclaimed Folk Rock Band) Performance & Two day
recording project.
ð Collaborative Performance With Resmi Satish featuring musicans from around India & Sweden. ð
Blacklung Glitterheart ( Collaborative Performance between musicians in kerala) ð Nicola L Hein Solo
Performance (BERLIN based Free Improviser/Sound Artist) + Two day recording project with musicians in
the studio.
ð The Melting Sculptures ( Improv Performance with Nicola L Hein & Improvisers from Kerala) ð
Residency Program with Hada Benedito ( 6 Months) which included shows, workshops, recordings and
collaborations, multi disciplinary productions and film work.ð Sound Painting Workshops With Hada
Benedito (Spain/Germany)
ð Free Icecream Quintet ( Performance Project with Hada Benedito & Bidisha Das, Seljuk Rustum, Joffy
Cheriyath & Sekhar Sudhir)
ð Paths That Lead Back to The Beginning ( Theatre/Improv Collaborative Performance using the Sound
Painting Technique of composition and live performance.
ð LFO SISTERS (Indo German Synth Duo Collaboration) + DJ Pandabart (Austria) & Bombonica
(Austria)
ð Dance Performance Collaboration Irena Mihalkovich & lan Mozdzen
ð Series Of Performances With Michael Northam
ð 2 Day Installation. and Performance with Michael Northam, with Video Artist Miha Erman, and local
musicans from around Kerala and musicians from Austria and Berlin
ð Doors Within Doors - Series of Performances in Kochi
_
& Thrissur with Michael Northam (USA) , Antti
Tolvi (Finland) , Anil Dayanad, Seljuk Rustum, Tato etc.
ð BUS (a performative piece directed by Firoz Khan featuring 5 theater performers based in
Hyderabad.
ð Entropy (Documentary Theatre Performance Art)
