What does it mean to be entangled—with a forest, a fungus, or a changing climate? How do field notes, temperature logs, or a canopy scan reveal the pulse of an ecosystem—and the ways it is being disrupted?

Science Gallery Bengaluru and Shared Ecologies —a program supported by Shyama Foundation– invite artists or collectives of Indian nationality to apply for the Entangled Ecosystems Grant. This is an opportunity to create a new exhibit that explores ecological connections through the intersection of art, science, and research.

The selected artist or collective will collaborate closely with ecologist Dr Meghna Krishnadas, engaging with material ranging from plant tissues and fungal cultures to spreadsheets, models, and images of the forest canopy.

We seek proposals that are process-driven, participatory, and immersive—projects that go beyond presenting ideas to open new pathways for discovery. The final work will take the form of an exhibit, though the medium is open to your interpretation. Whether through sound, video, installation, sculpture, or a combination of these, we encourage you to choose the format that best conveys the depth of the ecosystems you wish to explore.

WHAT MAKES A STRONG OPEN CALL PROPOSAL?

First and foremost, we prioritise works that help our audiences critically explore the processes of producing knowledge relevant to the topic of the current Open Call. The proposal should critically engage with themes of ecology, environment and the climate.

We strongly encourage you to take a moment to explore our archive of previous exhibitions to consider the Science Gallery Bengaluru ethos before committing your valuable time and energy to the application.

We invite proposals that may be completely physical, or are physical with a digital or online component.

WHAT TYPES OF PROJECTS ARE ACCEPTED?

Our approach is trans-disciplinary so we accept projects from highly diverse disciplines that could include art-works, video, performance, poetry, craft, sound, web-based work, socially engaged work, live experimentation, design, sharing of data from social science, medical, or natural science research – essentially we are not format-prescriptive!

WHAT TYPE OF DATA WILL I WORK WITH?

Artists will have access to a range of materials generated through ecological fieldwork and analysis—Excel sheets from field studies, observational field notes, digital images (including canopy scans, species documentation, and remote sensing), temperature and humidity data from digital loggers, experimental observations from greenhouse-grown plants, collections of soil and plant tissues, fungal cultures, and processed analytical outputs such as graphs, statistical models, and visual data representations. These materials offer multiple entry points for artists to explore, respond to, or work with ecological questions and patterns.

WHAT BUDGET IS AVAILABLE?

Projects supported via the Open Call for the exhibition can typically be funded by Bengaluru up to INR 4,50,000 (including all costs, materials, equipment, shipping, travel and taxes). In this, INR 4,00,000 is set aside for production fee and INR 50,000 is set aside as artist fees. The same artist fee will be provided, regardless of how many members are in the collective.

WHEN WILL I GET AN ANSWER?

Science Gallery Bengaluru and Shared Ecologies will notify applicants if their submission has been successful by July 2025. The gallery will be considering submissions during June-July 2025, so if questions about your project are identified we might contact you for clarification during this period.

WHAT IS THE NEXT STAGE?

If we think your work is exciting and relevant, we will start a conversation about your proposal with a view to establishing feasibility in July 2025. The commissioned exhibit will be developed between July 2025 and February 2026, and will be unveiled in March 2026.

Application Deadline: June 25, 2025

To submit your application, click here

Please get in touch with [email protected] in case of any queries.