Answers to urban questions of the future
Which event are you most excited about during the year of Germany in India?
Actually there are three events that I am particularly looking forward to: One is the work by Gregor Schneider, a new variant of his famous installation called Haus u r [House u r] which he is going to unveil on 1 October in Kolkata. At the Venice Biennale in 2001 Gregor Schneider had converted the German pavilion into the Totes Haus u r [Dead House u r] for which he was awarded the Golden Lion. In Kolkata, Schneider will work together with local artisans and craftspeople to reconstruct portions of the house and transform it into a temple for Goddess Durga. The finished work, called it’s all Rheydt, will be part of the Durga Puja festival, the city´s most important religious festival, which is celebrated in early October.
Another highlight for me would definitely be the production entitled Dialoge 12 [Dialogues 12] by Sasha Waltz, which is also to be seen in Kolkata. Together with an international ensemble, Sasha Waltz will stage an artistic dialogue between contemporary art, dance, and architecture at one of the city’s more unusual locations. Both projects deal with urban space, which is the central theme of the year of Germany in India.
My third favourite event addresses the conflict between the city and nature. Taking rivers as an example - the Yamuna in Delhi and the Elbe in Hamburg - German and Indian artists will use innovative methods to address the ecological and commercial issues related to the river as the lifeline of a city. The resulting works will be presented to a large audience in a public space on the banks of the Yamuna and the Elbe. The event will be curated by Ravi Agarwal in Delhi and Till Krause in Hamburg.
How popular is contemporary German art in India?
Actually this question should be posed the other way around: Contemporary Indian art plays a significant role in the world today. Indian artists and curators are in great demand abroad and some of them are far better known than contemporary German artists in India. However, although contemporary international art may arouse considerable interest in India, the country unfortunately still lacks the basic infrastructure required to regularly showcase the works of the most important exponents. The projects that bring together contemporary German and Indian artists, such as the Yamuna.Elbe project, the Gregor Schneider installation in Kolkata, or a touring exhibition by Eberhard Havekost, are therefore truly outstanding events.
How will the cultural programmes be received by the Indian public?
The Goethe-Institut has been bringing contemporary German art to India for many years now and the Indian public has shown tremendous interest. Over the last ten years in particular, our focus in the visual and performing arts has been on the avant-garde and on contemporary art, and we have initiated and promoted related programmes. We are therefore quite sure that the programmes during the year of Germany in India will evoke a positive response. If we are now presenting a Gregor Schneider installation, or inviting Sasha Waltz, or devising a programme with DJs and electronic music, we are not really doing anything very different from what we usually do, only perhaps on a larger scale.
In fact the year of Germany in India involves not only the Goethe-Institut, but also the German Federal Ministry for Education and Research, and various scientific organisations, which will be reaching out to experts with challenging programmes, such as seminars on air quality, climate change in metropolises, etc. Business enterprises will make their presence felt by hosting large symposiums such as Future Dialogue organised by the Max Planck Institute and Siemens. There will also be high-level political meetings. The series of events planned for the year will consequently attract much more public attention than the Goethe-Institut could manage on its own with its regular programmes.
What could be the long-term benefits for India?
The image of Germany in India is generally a very positive one. The Goethe-Institut has been in the country for 50 years and is very well connected with the local art, education and academic scenes. Similarly, German business enjoys an extraordinarily good reputation, as do German scientific organisations which are far better represented now than they were 20 years ago. All this means that we have an excellent basis for launching the event. I believe that sharing a platform with our partners will help enhance Germany’s image still further. Classical clichés will be deconstructed and, hopefully, relegated to the background. Last but not the least, “Germany and India 2011-2012” will offer some answers to questions about urban life in the future – questions that are a growing and daily concern for the burgeoning population in Indian cities.
The year of Germany in India is a big multi-partner project, which the Goethe-Institut has been managing since 2010. Has this opened up new windows of opportunity for the institute?
Even though the Goethe-Institut is responsible for the project, it does not single-handedly define the content. The four stakeholders, i.e. the German Federal Foreign Office, which is also the initiator of “Germany and India 2011-2012”; the German Federal Ministry for Education and Research; the Asia-Pacific Committee of German Business (APA); and the Goethe-Institut are jointly responsible for preparing, structuring and executing the project. There is also a steering committee comprising several German organisations, and a project committee which conducts monthly video-conferences and decides on operational matters. All relevant issues are discussed among the agencies and organisations executing the project. This applies not only to the cultural programmes designed and developed by the Goethe-Institut, but also to all the projects that are passed on to us. In fact, every single programme and event implemented with the funds set aside for the year of Germany in India has to be approved by all four project holders. This is obviously very different from the way a Goethe-Institut would normally work.
Doesn’t the concept of “Germany and India 2011-2012” contradict the Goethe-Institut’s approach of developing cultural projects in dialogue with local partners?
From the very start, and in full agreement with our three project partners, we have tackled the task of planning our activities for the year of Germany in India in a manner that is in tune with the principle of our work, namely through partnership. We are not designing shop windows where we can display German culture, but are developing our projects in close cooperation with local Indian partners, as we have always done. For example, a photography project by Heidi Specker, a Berlin-based photographer, involves students from the Academy of Visual Arts, Leipzig, and the National Institute of Design in Ahmedabad. Our youth parliament and several school-related projects, for which we are inviting children from Germany and India, follow the same principle. These are just a few examples but they illustrate quite clearly that we are by no means like aliens landing on a foreign planet.
