Pro Helvetia New Delhi - Swiss Arts Council

Bandana Tulachan, an illustrator and picture-book author based in Kathmandu, Nepal, will travel to Switzerland for a research trip focused on the country’s contemporary children’s literature and picturebook illustration scene.

During the trip, she will visit institutions, universities, galleries, bookstores, and community spaces to better understand Swiss picturebook culture, illustration practices, publishing processes, and the collaborative networks that support the field.

Bandana is the author and illustrator of *Sanu and the Big Storm* and the illustrator of *Little People, Big Dreams: Tenzing Norgay*. Her work draws on the natural and cultural diversity of Nepal and combines traditional and digital techniques.

We’re delighted to announce the third edition of Connect India, a dual residency programme within Connect, the collaboration framework by Arts at CERN and Swiss Arts Council Pro Helvetia. Artists Marie Matusz () and Moonis Ahmad Shah ()have been selected to undertake a joint residency between CERN and the ICTS (International Centre for Theoretical Sciences), with support from Science Gallery Bengaluru .Connect India offers artists a unique opportunity to engage with cutting-edge scientific research in Geneva and Bengaluru, fostering new artistic perspectives by exposing artists to two unique scientific facilities and the fundamental research they conduct.

Congratulations to both! Find out more at the link in bio 🔗

Connect India is part of the Connect collaboration framework between and . Connect India is organised in partnership with , , and

Credits: Marie Matusz: 📸Goldie Williams Vericain Moonis Ahmad Shah: 📸Courtesy of the artist Visual identity: .concept

Pakistani digital artist and animator Iza Rizwan explores socio-political narratives, displacement, identity, and belonging through visual storytelling.

For her research project, Tracing Home, Iza will travel to Switzerland to examine the interconnected experiences of Afghan communities living between Pakistan and Switzerland. Through illustration, sound, archival research, photography, and experimental moving image, she will engage with artists, researchers, organizations, and members of the Afghan diaspora to gather stories and materials that will inform a future publication or exhibition.

The project reflects on migration, memory, and the meaning of home across borders and generations.

Hemali Sodhi is the founder of A Suitable Agency, a literary and brand consulting agency representing Indian writers and authors. Prior to founding the agency, she worked in publishing, brand marketing, and communications at a global publishing house.

Hemali Sodhi is also the editor of The Book of Dog, and has a keen interest in crime fiction, food, travel, and Calvin and Hobbes. Hemali will be on a research trip to Switzerland.

Pema “Tintin” Tshering’s practice exists between tradition and transformation — blending the visual language of traditional thangka art with contemporary abstraction, multimedia, and pop influences. Through his work, Tintin reimagines Buddhist philosophy, identity, and living culture, questioning how traditions evolve, survive, and remain alive in the modern world.

During his research trip to Switzerland, Tintin will engage with museums, curatorial spaces, and contemporary cultural discourse to explore how institutions can support living and evolving cultures. Using Zurich as a site for inquiry, the trip will serve as an opportunity to study alternative approaches to preservation, curation, and cultural engagement, informing his broader vision of creating more dynamic, responsive, and sustainable cultural spaces in Bhutan and beyond.

Selected for the Synergies grant, “Indo Swiss Digital Arts Exchange” is a collaborative project by the EyeMyth Festival and Mapping Festival.

Currently in its first phase, the project begins by bringing a cohort of Indian music and visual artists to Geneva to present their work and collaborate with international practitioners at the Mapping Festival, across the Groove and Syllepse venues, and beyond. For the full programme, please visit www.mappingfestival.com

In its first year (2026), the initiative lays the groundwork for this digital arts exchange. In the second year (2027), it will introduce two month-long residencies for Indo-Swiss artists, culminating in showcases at both the Mapping Festival and the EyeMyth Festival.

Lhaga Koondhor and Chanel Kah Yin Liang—Zürich-based artists working across landscape, culture, and community through Haus Gawaling.

This research trip began in conversation—about Ladakh, about family, about what tourism and romanticisation do to a place. For Lhaga, movement is epistemology: kora, migration, paths that carry knowledge through the body. The Lamayuru trek is a way of entering these questions with her whole body, across the space between the Alps and the Himalaya.

For Chanel, it’s about going not to observe, but to listen. To walk, to learn, and to sit with the question of what it means to be in a place without extracting from it. Not a comparison, but a conversation.

Chris Lovasoa Kauffmann is a Swiss-Malagasy artist whose work explores the intersection of institutional contemporary art and digital visual culture. He will be on a research trip to Vietnam.

Developed in dialogue with Trần Uy Đức, his project focuses on collective, DIY, and experimental approaches to making, shaped through encounters with the artistic communities of Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City.
The residency brings together emerging experimental audiovisual practices from Switzerland and Vietnam, opening space for collaboration, exchange, and shared digital dialogues.

Noor Ahmed, curator of Karachi Biennale 2027, will be on a research trip engaging with Swiss artists whose practices align with the curatorial direction of the Karachi Biennale. The focus of this research includes work that responds to themes of migration, ports and routes of exchange, and water as both material and metaphor, with the intention of inviting artists to participate in the Biennale.

Noor Ahmed’s curatorial work includes the Pakistan Pavilion at Expo 2020 Dubai, the digital curation of Lahore and Taxila Museums, and River Landscapes, a transdisciplinary project between South Asia and Europe.