Curator’s Note

Theme: “The Quiet Art of Presence & Agency”

At the heart of this curation lies a simple belief: that in an age of perpetual distraction, the deepest form of freedom is the freedom to be present. Not present in the sense of mere physical attendance, but in the deeper sense of mental and emotional arrival. Of allowing the mind to quieten, the senses to sharpen, the self to soften into the contours of the moment.

To step into The Independence Project is to enter into a series of encounters that unfold gently, without imposition. Some may bring joy or playfulness, others may awaken stillness or introspection. All are intended to make space—space for breath, for reflection, for the quiet murmur of the inner voice that so often goes unheard amidst the noise of daily life.

These are not performances that ask you to suspend disbelief. Rather, they invite you to suspend evaluation— to step away from the impulse to judge, to measure, to rush. Instead, they ask only that you notice. To notice the shifting patterns of sound, the grace of a gesture, the texture of light, the quality of stillness. And through this noticing, to rediscover the richness of the present as it is —unadorned, unedited, alive.

There is, of course, no permanence to these moments.They are, by their very nature, ephemeral. And that is precisely the point. For it is in impermanence that presence acquires its poignancy. Each moment, once passed, cannot be recovered. But for as long as we are in it, we are free to experience it fully.

The Independence Project is, then, an offering. An offering of time, of space, of possibility. A gentle reminder that independence is not only the freedom to act, but equally the freedom to simply be.

I would invite you, as you enter these works, to leave behind not only your devices but also your preoccupations. To resist the temptation to anticipate or to recall. To let yourself be carried—not forward or backward, but deeper into the now.

For in that now—when we surrender to it fully—we may find, however fleetingly, a kind of independence that no external power can grant or take away.

The works that comprise The Independence Project are not protests, nor responses to current anxieties. They are not concerned with urgency or the velocity of the world outside. Rather, they offer refuge. They invite the possibility of stillness, of immersion, of gentle wonder. They are, above all, an exploration of presence—of what it means to be truly awake to the moment at hand.

In curating this series of experiential, immersive projects, we have sought to create spaces where participants are invited not to watch, but to experience. Not to analyse, but to feel. Each project is designed as a temporary sanctuary from the temporal chatter of everyday life: a space in which the relentless pull of ‘before’ and ‘after’ dissolves, allowing the rare pleasure of simply being.

Here, you may encounter movement without narrative, sound without agenda, silence that speaks louder than words. The works unfold not as spectacles to be consumed but as invitations—to enter, to linger, to lose oneself and, perhaps, to find something quietly transformative in the act of attention itself.

To speak of independence is to speak not of grand gestures or heroic declarations, but of something far more subtle: the ability to inhabit the present moment fully. To pause the restless drift of thought between past and future, to come to rest—however briefly—within the living pulse of the now.

Sarita Vijayan

Curator, The Independence Project Programme Director, IFBE

IFBE, 10-12, Calicut Street,Ballard Estate, Fort,
Mumbai, 400001

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