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Department of Visual Arts

The Department of Visual Arts at Ashoka University combines courses in Art History and Visual Culture with training in material, media and site specific aspects of Studio Arts. While the Art History and Visual Culture courses offer historical and philosophical contexts in which visual arts has been developed and practiced, the Studio Arts courses help the students learn the fundamentals of an art form and develop it through practice. Both the components work in tandem and help the student acquire an integrated understanding of art.

Programmes

Faculty at Visual Arts

The Department of Visual Arts’s faculty includes visual art practitioners, working through varied media and methods, as well as art historians and visual studies scholars with research interests and expertise spanning the early medieval to the contemporary period.

Facilities

Art Studio

The Department of Visual Arts offers Minor courses in Art histories and Art practice at an undergraduate level. The art studios at the department provide facilities for some of the foundational courses in Visual Arts. Students have the possibilities to experiment in Drawing and explore the various experimental possibilities in the studio. The studio also houses facilities to experiment in oil and easel painting. There are provisions for clay modelling, clay and plaster sculpture making, terracotta pottery and firing. The studio houses electric wheels and electricity kiln for students to learn terracotta sculpture and pottery making. There are provisions to experiment in print techniques with a lino and etching press provided in the studio. Plans are underway to expand the studio facilities in the near future.

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The Centre for Studies in Gender and Sexuality and the Visual Arts Department invites you to a symposium on 'Revisiting the Nāyikā: Transformations Across Body, Form and Time'. The symposium will be held on November 26, 2025 from 1.30 PM to 3 PM at AC-03, LR-003.

 

The term nāyikā comes from the Sanskrit root nÄ« (“to lead”), denoting the leading lady or heroine. Bharata's Nāṭyaśāstra, codifies her according to types and emotional states, laying the foundation for later tropological traditions that shaped poetics, visual art, and performance across centuries. This collaborative symposium hopes to revisit trope of the nāyikā/heroine across Indian aesthetics while also playing on the many meanings and transgressive potentials of the word. 

We also ask how gestures, tropes, and aesthetic practices around the nāyikā have been embedded and adapted as cultural signifiers of gender, sexuality and desire. What transformations occur when these forms travel across visual art, cinema, performance, and literary studies?

 

PANELISTS:

Prof. Urmimala Sarkar is former Dean of School of Arts and Aesthetics at Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi, where she was Professor of Theatre and Performance Studies. A renowned dancer and choreographer, she is also a social anthropologist specializing in dance studies. Prof. Sarkar will present her paper titled "Becoming a Body".

 

Dr. Brahma Prakash is Assistant Professor of Theatre and Performance Studies at the School of Arts and Aesthetics at Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi. A cultural theorist, essayist, his work focuses on the intertices of art, culture and politics. His presentation will be titled "Nayikas of the Commons: Body Erotic and the heroine outside of the Nayika-Bhed".

 

Prof. Parul Dave Mukherji is currently Dean, School of Arts and Aesthetics at Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi, where she is Professor of Visual Studies. Her expertise spans classical Sanskrit Aesthetics, Global and Contemporary Art Histories, and Comparative Aesthetic Theory. Prof. Mukherji will present a paper titled "Why have there been no great Rasika in Indian aesthetics?"

 

Dr. Niharika Dinkar, Associate Professor of Art History at the Department of Art, Design and Visual Studies at Boise State University, Idaho, USA, will be the discussant for this panel. Her work explores the intersections between art, technology and the environment in nineteenth century South Asia. 

We will serve refreshments for the audience at the event. Please note that this is an in-person session only. We look forward to your participation! 

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Department of Visual Arts, Ashoka University invites you to 

\"\"

An exhibition reflecting on multiple ideas of ‘waste’ by students of ‘Art and Ecology’ course. 

Nov 22, 2025, 5pm onwards | Pre-function area (Outside Black Box)

(Exhibition continues Nov 23, 11am - 5pm)

 

(snacks will be served)

see you there!

 

Warm regards,

Visual Arts Department

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The Centre for Studies in Gender and Sexuality and the Visual Arts Department invites you to a symposium on 'Revisiting the Nāyikā: Transformations Across Body, Form and Time'. The symposium will be held on November 26, 2025 from 1.30 PM to 3 PM at AC-03, LR-003.

 

The term nāyikā comes from the Sanskrit root nÄ« (“to lead”), denoting the leading lady or heroine. Bharata's Nāṭyaśāstra, codifies her according to types and emotional states, laying the foundation for later tropological traditions that shaped poetics, visual art, and performance across centuries. This collaborative symposium hopes to revisit trope of the nāyikā/heroine across Indian aesthetics while also playing on the many meanings and transgressive potentials of the word. 

We also ask how gestures, tropes, and aesthetic practices around the nāyikā have been embedded and adapted as cultural signifiers of gender, sexuality and desire. What transformations occur when these forms travel across visual art, cinema, performance, and literary studies?

 

PANELISTS:

Prof. Urmimala Sarkar is former Dean of School of Arts and Aesthetics at Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi, where she was Professor of Theatre and Performance Studies. A renowned dancer and choreographer, she is also a social anthropologist specializing in dance studies. Prof. Sarkar will present her paper titled "Becoming a Body".

 

Dr. Brahma Prakash is Assistant Professor of Theatre and Performance Studies at the School of Arts and Aesthetics at Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi. A cultural theorist, essayist, his work focuses on the intertices of art, culture and politics. His presentation will be titled "Nayikas of the Commons: Body Erotic and the heroine outside of the Nayika-Bhed".

 

Prof. Parul Dave Mukherji is currently Dean, School of Arts and Aesthetics at Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi, where she is Professor of Visual Studies. Her expertise spans classical Sanskrit Aesthetics, Global and Contemporary Art Histories, and Comparative Aesthetic Theory. Prof. Mukherji will present a paper titled "Why have there been no great Rasika in Indian aesthetics?"

 

Dr. Niharika Dinkar, Associate Professor of Art History at the Department of Art, Design and Visual Studies at Boise State University, Idaho, USA, will be the discussant for this panel. Her work explores the intersections between art, technology and the environment in nineteenth century South Asia. 

We will serve refreshments for the audience at the event. Please note that this is an in-person session only. We look forward to your participation! 

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News

Events

News

Contact Us

For any queries regarding Visual Arts programmes, please contact: -

Rakhi Peswani

Head of Department

rakhi.peswani@ashoka.edu.in

Uttkarsha

Department Manager

uttkarsha@ashoka.edu.in

Mihika Kulkarni

Visual Arts Student Representative, Academic Year 2025-2026

studentrepresentative.visualarts@ashoka.edu.in

Nylaa Ahmed

Visual Arts Student Representative, Academic Year 2025-2026

studentrepresentative.visualarts@ashoka.edu.in

Anuj Kumar Yadav

Visual Arts Studio Manager

anuj.yadav@ashoka.edu.in

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