Starting out in the early nineties Indian video art has so far produced about thirty artists who have incorporated this ‘new’ medium in their means of expression.
Their video works provide, in an original way, an account of the dramatic political history and the rapidly changing society of the Indian subcontinent.
The programme will screen a wide range of single screen works from these experimental artists who all live and work in the big cities of India. Featured artists include Nalini Malani, Tushar Joag, Valay Shende (Mumbai), Anita Dube (New Delhi) and Pushpamala N (Bangalore).
Programme curated by Johan Pijnappel.
These videos are a perceptive mirror of society.
Johan Pijnappel, curator
Films
Memory: Record / Erase
Nalini Malani | India | 1996 | 10min
Nalini Malani’s first animation is an interpretation of ‘The Job’ by Bertold Brecht.
Stinging Kiss / Chingari Chumma
Tejal Shah | India | 2000 | 8min
“Stinging Kiss is a ‘fairytale’ exploring queer desire.
Phantoms
Tushar Joag | India | 2002 | 4min
A documentary on the politics of hate, made soon after and in response to the bloody Gujurat riots of 2002.
Scrolls
Valay Shende | India | 2002 | 4min
Scrolls juxtaposes footage from a popular TV serialisation of the epic Indian tale Mahabharata, with scrolling news text.
Unity In Diversity
Nalini Malani | India | 2003 | 7min
What starts off as a visual fairytale, where all parts of the nation play in harmony together, ends up in a bloodbath.
Kissa-E-Noor Mohammed (Garam Hawa)
Anita Dube | India | 2004 | 15min
This piece seeks to portray the nine ‘rasas’ (‘essences’ or ‘sentiments’) in Indian aesthetics through the character called Noor Mohammed.
Jataka Trilogy
Tushar Joag | India | 2004 | 7min
Jataka Trilogy attempts to rediscover values and create a meaning in life through art.
National Pudding & Indigenous Salad / Rashtriy Kheer & Desiy Salad
Pushpamala N | India | 2004 | 11min
Based entirely on material found in family recipe books dating from the 1950s and ‘60s the film presents the modern Indian family.