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ARCHANA PRASAD

SHORT BIOGRAPHY

Archana Prasad has been actively engaged with technology enabled participatory art practices over the last fifteen years. As Founder & CCO of Gooey.AI she works deeply in the Gen AI, looking to see how it can become core skills from an academic and creative industry perspective. Prior to that, as Founder-COO of Dara.network, she looked at continuing her interest to foster creative cross-border collaborations and help change-makers and institutions build social capital via a mobile app platform and real-world networking gatherings. She engages public awareness of the UN's Sustainable Development Goals through BeFantastic, a techart and society platform and festival founded by her. 

 

Archana is the Founder of Jaaga, an organisation that built collaborative communities through public arts programming and coworking space in Bangalore, India. She spent close to three years till late 2007 as a Design Researcher at Microsoft Research India.


Archana is a Clore Fellow, a Chevening Fellow , a CSCLeader and an Art Think South Asia Fellow.

WORK EXPERIENCE

 

WORK EXPERIENCE

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Founder-COO, Gooey.AI - [2022 to present]

Gooey.AI is a 10 person low-code platform that helps communities, eCommerce and online brands build compelling, interactive and personalized generative AI experiences. My responsibilities:

  • Manage user research, design, prompt engineering, customer success, community engagement, communications and training teams. 

  • Develop generative AI strategy and workflows based on client needs.

  • Own the company’s relationship with educational, cultural and government partners. 

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Founder, Former COO, Dara.Network - [2021 - 2022]

Dara is a mobile app that leverages AI technologies to enable creators to find relevant opportunities and gigs. Dara is a valuable tool for creative organizations to manage and engage their alumni networks, while making a safe space for individuals in the sector to connect and collaborate.  I lead this project from its start as a digital arts project seeded by the British Council, into becoming a VC funded, TechStars, for-profit company with 15 employees. It currently has more than 20 institutional partners and hundreds of global creative professionals interacting regularly with each other. 


Founder-Curator, Former Director, BeFantastic [2017 to present] - BeFantastic.in

BeFantastic is a hybrid platform that engages a vibrant international community of techart creators and experts to push the boundaries of digital arts practice for change-making. Through commissions, talks, workshops and dialogue-based interaction, we imagine a radical, open, optimistic future together that leverages the best of participatory art and tech practices using the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals as our primary curatorial sieve. From envisioning the idea to running its first pilot festival in Bangalore, India in 2017, this project has grown today to include an International Fellowship program conducted online, to a festival that commissions and curates in the real world and metaverse spaces of Bangalore and beyond. My role at its helm as director and now as its curator has been one to shepherd its growth and help maintain its vision.

 

Founder-Advisor, Former Director, Jaaga [2009 to present] - jaaga.in

Jaaga builds communities to help address today’s urgent challenges. It is a community platform  to serve the arts, technology and social change communities in Bangalore. It hosts a coworking community space in Bangalore, runs public arts projects and convenes critical thinkers across these sectors both online and offline. I started this in 2009 as a place to convene and share best practices as people explored the edges of tech, arts and activism. The organization now has a Public Charitable Trust and a for-profit entity that serve the mandate to upskill, support and nurture creative and tech entrepreneurs striving to make change.

 

Artistic Director, India Digital Heritage Project, Microsoft Research India [2008]

With advances in the fields of Computer Vision, Graphics, and Interactive Media, we are in a position today to both record and showcase the rich architectural, historical, and cultural heritage associated with monuments, both in India and across the world. The Digital Heritage Project is a collaborative initiative between the Industry and Academia, with the aim of using novel techniques to efficiently capture and present various aspects of India’s diverse heritage, while at the same time advancing the state-of-the art in related research areas. My interest in art, culture and technology come together perfectly in this project that is currently on-going.

 

Design Research & Prototyping, Microsoft Research India [2005 – 2007]

Was involved in the development of technologies relevant to emerging market contexts. Re-looking at the urban-scape of India’s metropolis with the goal of providing relevant services and applications tailored to their unique requirements. Involved deeply in designing, developing and prototyping communication and social-networking based applications that aim to seamlessly bridge the gap between online and offline scenarios. Leadership in building a HCI community by hosting design cross-company and academia meets and conferences. Published and presented research papers at ACM CHI 07, USA, ACM Multimedia 07, Germany, AVI 2008, Italy and others (please contact me for the papers).

EDUCATION

  • Masters, Animation Film Design, National Institute of Design, Ahmedabad [2004]

  • Masters, Art History, Chitrakala Institute of Advanced Studies, Bangalore [1999]

  • Bachelor of Fine Arts - Painting, College of Fine Arts, CKP, Bangalore [1996]


Additional Scholarships

  • Accredited Coach, Relational Dynamics First Program, UK [2017]

  • Master Class in Curating Contemporary Arts, Royal College of Arts, UK [2017]

  • German Language Scholarship Student (A2) – Goethe Institut, Bangalore [2009]

  • Painting Scholar, Kanoria Centre for Arts, Ahmedabad [1996]

 

Fellowships / Awards

  • TechStars Portfolio Company Founder

  • British Council’s Digital Arts Grant Recipient, 2018

  • Facebook Global Developer Circles Community Challenge, Third Place Regional, 2018

  • Clore-Chevening Cultural Leadership Fellow, British High Commission, 2017

  • CSC Leaders, UK, 2017

  • Le Conclave Member, Art of Change 21, France, 2017

  • Public Arts Grantee, India Foundation for the Arts, 2015

  • 25 Women Leaders of India, Yourstory.com - 2013

  • 25 Future Leaders of Karnataka, Times of India – 2012

  • MYWorld IMAGES Festival, International Artist, Denmark – 2011

  • ArtThinkSouthAsia Fellow 2010

  • German Language Fellowship for Artists, Berlin - 2009

  • c/o Pop Festival, Visual Artist, Electronica Panel - 2008

     

 

PATENTS

RESEARCH 

  • Prasad, A., Blagsvedt, S., Pochiraju, T., and Thies, I. M. 2019. Dara - A Chatbot to Help Indian Artists and Designers Discover International Opportunities. Presented at India HCI as part of the Out of India track that includes papers researched in India and presented outside (Hyderabad, India 1-3 November 2019)

  • Prasad, A., Blagsvedt, S., Pochiraju, T., and Thies, I. M. 2019. Dara - A Chatbot to Help Indian Artists and Designers Discover International Opportunities. Presented at ACM’s 12th Conference on Creativity and Cognition (San Diego, USA, June 23 - 26, 2019) 

  • Sankar, A., Prasad, A., Joy, J., Datha, N., and Manchepalli, A. 2009. Digital Heritage. In Proceedings of the 27th international Conference Extended Abstracts on Human Factors in Computing Systems (Boston, MA, USA, April 04 - 09, 2009). CHI EA '09. ACM, New York, NY, 3503-3504. 

  • "Digital Heritage", presented in the Video Showcase at CHI 2009 | Aditya Sankar, Joseph Joy, Archana Prasad and Naren Datha

  • Exploring the Feasibility of Video Mail for Illiterate Users – Presented in the proceedings of the Advanced Visual Interfaces Conference 2008, Italy 

  • Art & the City - Executive Editor of this online art journal, 2008

  • SMSBlogging: Blog-on-the-Street Public Art Project – Presented and in the proceedings of the ACM MultiMedia Conference 2007, Germany

  • Optimal Audio-Visual Representations for Illiterate Users. International World Wide Web Conference 2007, Canada

  • Photography and the Avant-Garde in Art – Dissertation. Bangalore University 1999

     

 

EARLY EXPERIENCE

 

CREATIVE PROJECTS

Principal Investigator, Malleswaram Accessibility Project [October 2011 to March 2012]

The objective of this project is to take a stock of the existing environment for non-motorized transport and to assess the problems faced by the local people especially the elderly, children and differently-abled in making use of the available infrastructure and to formulate a project with consultations and community engagement of residents and users of Malleswaram for the improvement of existing infrastructure. This is with the idea of transforming the neighbourhood from a traffic-congested commuter street into a more environmentally and culturally conscious, pedestrian and bicycle-friendly locality through a participatory process of planning and creative practice and design.

 

Curator & Director, The Urban Avantgarde Project [December 2011 – February 2012]

Graffiti painting in public space, experimental dance performance, workshops, lectures, an exhibition, video screenings and music. The Urban Avant-Garde presented contemporary artists from various disciplines, who unconventionally expand urban cultures’ modes of expression.

The project took place within the framework of Germany and India 2011-2012: Infinite Opportunities in cooperation with Malleswaram Accessibility Project,  Directorate of Urban Land Transport – Govt. of Karnataka, Jaaga and Goethe Institut/Max Mueller Bhavan Bangalore. It was Curated in tandem with Robert Kaltenhaeuser & Lene ter Haar.

 

Executive Editor, Art & the City [2009]

Art and the City is an online journal that provides analytical writings on the state of contemporary art and art practices in India. It focuses on the four cities of Delhi, Bangalore, Kolkata and Mumbai. I work on this project that is instituted by the Goethe Institut, Bangalore as the Executive Editor and part of the founding team that initiated this journal. It is on-going.

 

Co-Initiator, Samuha – An Artist Initiative and Collective [2009-2010]

Samuha is a collective of art practitioners based in Bangalore, India. The project involves artists of various disciplines including painting, sculpture, new media arts and performance arts. Together they facilitate an art space that encourages contemporary artists to showcase their work and interact with the citys' residents. Artists of this collective would use this space to exhibit their own work as well as collaborate and curate works of art practitioners and peers.

 

Lead Designer, Educational Toys Project, Crafts Council of Karnataka [2006]

Developed a prototype kit of 20 toys using a turn wood-based handicraft method called Channapatna Lacquerware, to aid in primary school education. This is now in production and is being retailed through Kamalini, Crafts Council of Karnataka. MinalI Singh Co Design Lead.


Founder, ThoughtFox [2004-2006]

Founded ThoughtFox a creative collaborative studio. The simple idea being that it would provide the physical space for designers, artists and creative thinkers to collaborate on diverse projects and produce successful and well-rounded results. Some of our projects:

 

Junior Producer, Channel [V], Mumbai [2002]

Worked on a series of on-air promos for the channel. These were aired on national TV during the football season. Created I-Dents that are currently archived at this channel. 

 

 

SELECT PROJECTS

RadBots - A Collective of Conversational AI Video Bots | Creative Director
Between.Today - Interactive Generative AI | Creative Director
Malleshwaram Calling - Memories Across Time | Creative Director

InvestmentZone - A Reality Game in 12 Moves | Curator & GameMaster
Hampi Crafts Documentation - India Digital Hampi Project | Principal Investigator

Urban Avantgarde Project – Curator & Producer

Malleswaram Accessibility Project – Principal Investigator

We Are Here - Co-Director

Poetry Across Borders - Live shared international poetry performance events | Founder

Art & the City - Online Journal on Contemporary Indian Art | Executive Editor

Neighbourhood Diaries - Stories and Histories of Neighbourhoods in Bangalore | Founder

Digital Narratives - MultiMedia Storytelling Platform Pilot, Microsoft Research India | Creative Director

Samuha - An Artist Initiative and Collective | Co-Initiator & Facilitator

CitySignals - A Sonic-Video Public Art Project | Video Performance Artist

The Manjunauts - A Sci-Fi Experimental Electronica Art Band | Video Performance Artist
Lounge Piranha - Progressive Post Rock Band | Video Performance & Lighting Designer

The Bangalore City Project - Connecting the City through People’s Stories  | Documentation Lead

The India Digital Heritage Project - A Microsoft Research Project | Creative Director

Animation for contemporary dance performance – Vajra by STEM-Natya Institute [ 2009]

Lounge Piranha - Live video projectionist and lighting designer for this progressive rock band [2003-2008]

Clear Blue – An animated short film about the notion of seeing and being seen [2004]

Aasae (Desire) – An animated short film on the importance of personal wellness for career women  [2003]


 

EXHIBITIONS

Snapshot

6

Founded Tech and Art Enterprises

4

Industry Awards

84

Speaker Sessions, Workshops

19

Years of Experience

CONTACT: ARCHANA[AT]DARA.NETWORK

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