Urban subcultures in Germany and Pakistan. Brilliant Dilletantes in dialogue.
Presented by the
Goethe-Institut Pakistan in collaboration with
Amin Gulgee Gallery.
This April, the Goethe-Institut Pakistan, in collaboration with Amin Gulgee Gallery is thrilled to present
Outsiders, a curated event series that showcases the intense flurry of cultural activity that was the ‘Brilliant Dilletantes’ subculture in 1980s Berlin and across Germany, curated by
Mathilde Weh and
Leonhard Emmerling.
A dialogue will be incited between this German exhibition and a Pakistani counterpart, curated by
Amin Gulgee,
Zarmeene Shah and
Zeerak Ahmed. Posed as a response to the German exhibition, the Pakistani segment explores notions of sub/counter-culture in the country, investigating myriad forms of this from the 1970s to present day. By no means a definitive survey, the exhibition in fact attempts to prompt a series of questions that investigate the idea of counter culture in the Pakistani context, a layered and complex line of enquiry in a country that is marked as just over 70 years old but with a history that extends thousands of years in its regional and socio-political implications. As such, questions of what is then ‘culture’ become integral to the definition of its converse, ‘counter culture’. This is further problematized by Pakistan’s own political and cultural narrative, which has remained (sometimes violently) in a seemingly perpetual state of flux, coming to define, over various periods, what is seen as cultural and thus counter-cultural as per the dictates of its times, its modes of governance, and its politico-juridical structures.
The exciting program of exceptional artistry is anchored by the international touring exhibition
Brilliant Dilletantes (Geniale Dilletanten) at Amin Gulgee Gallery in Karachi, which is accompanied by live performances, film screenings and panel discussions in featuring revered artists and experimental musicians. Since the early 1980s particularly Berlin has been a magnet and inspiration for international artists such as Nick Cave, The Necks, David Bowie, and Brian Eno. Munich-based curator Mathilde Weh: “The Goethe-Institut is delighted to bring Geniale Dilletanten to Pakistan. The incredible influence of the movement’s DIY aesthetics still felt in Germany and internationally today and continues to inform contemporary artistic practice.” Curator
Leonhard Emmerling will be in conversation with Zarmeene Shah on 17 April.
The
Pakistani show within the exhibition ‘Outsiders’ investigates counter-cultural expressions in the country from the 1970s to the present day, as witnessed in diverse formations and iterations. These are then presented through the lens of social and political activism in art, the subversion of gender roles as explored through various mediums and utterances, the possibilities within and dissemination of subcultural conversations through the emergence of social media platforms, and various modes of this as encountered in music, television, film, fashion, photography, performance, as well as particular and individualistic expressions in Pakistani society through the last several decades.
Geniale Dilletanten was the term used to announce a concert held in Berlin’s Tempodrom in 1981. The deliberately misspelled title has become synonymous with an era of artistic upheaval in Germany that brought the country’s edgy artistic scene international recognition. Exploding from its roots in German art schools, punk rock and Dada, the movement represented a radical departure from the mainstream, marked by cross-genre experimentation, the use of new electronic equipment, and adopting German rather than English as language. It portrays seven key experimental bands – Einstürzende Neubauten, Die Tödliche Doris, Der Plan, Freiwillige Selbstkontrolle (F.S.K.), Palais Schaumburg, Ornament und Verbrechen, and Deutsch-Amerikanische Freundschaft (D.A.F.) – as well as visual artists, filmmakers and designers from West and East Germany. The exhibition is the most comprehensive survey of the 1980s German subculture to date, incorporating a rich array of video and photographic material, interview films, audio samples, magazines, posters and other artefacts capturing the bold and daring scene, exploring the simultaneous rapid and rebellious developments in art, film, fashion and design.
Complementing the Geniale Dilletanten exhibition in Karachi are one-off panel discussions and performances that further examine the legacy of German subcultures and bring it to life for new audiences, featuring celebrated members such as
Robert Lippok, member of the legendary East German band Ornament und Verbrechen, and
Wolfgang Burat who documented the scene since day one.
Wolfgang Burat, Cologne, is a German photographer and co-founder of the legendary German music magazine Spex. In the 80s he photographed bands, musicians, fans, live gigs, backstage situations and artists. His photographic gaze set the visual impact of this important magazine and beyond. His complete body of work is of utmost relevance for social and music history, pop theory and art history. Many of his photos are on view in the exhibition. He will offer a talk ("Being There") and also a workshop on photography at Habib University.
Filmmaker
Marco Wilms will show his film “
Comrade Couture”, a journey into the world of the fashionistas and Bohemians of East Berlin in the 80s. A fantasy world within East Germany's restricted everyday life. Director Marco Wilms was himself a model at GDR's fashion institute. He will offer a three days workshop “Guerilla Filmmaking”.
Markus Heidingsfelder, Karachi, is a German media theorist and documentary filmmaker, teaching at Habib University. He belonged to the second generation of Spex Magazine, where he collaborated with Wolfgang Burat as his favorite photographer for many articles (he is even caught as part of an enthusiastic Palais Schaumburg audience in the exhibition catalogues twice). According to pop scholar Ralf Hinz, it was especially Markus Heidingsfelder who managed to establish a unique style of writing in Spex that captured the essence of the new forms of pop music emerging at the beginning of the 80s with 'noise' and unorganised musical patterns.
Taking 1980s Berlin to the big screen, Urban Subcultures includes screening of
B-Movie: Lust and Sound in West Berlin. Premiering at the 2015 Berlin International Film Festival and enjoying glowing reviews worldwide at Film Festivals, B-Movie is a documentary andpersonal account of the music, art and chaos in West Berlin of the 1980s by musician and producer Mark Reeder. Featuring original interviews and archival footage from iconic musicians Blixa Bargeld, Joy Division, Nick Cave, Nena and more, B-Movie offers an intimate portrait of life in the extraordinary walled-in city.
Amin Gulgee graduated in Art History and Economics from Yale University and won the Conger B. Goodyear Fine Arts Award for his thesis on Moghul gardens. The sculptor has worked from his studio in Karachi for more than two decades and has exhibited extensively both at home and abroad, among other places in Venice, London, Beijing, Mumbai, New York, Dresden, Dubai, Singapore. Gulgee has had more than 30 solo exhibitions in Pakistan, Malaysia, Singapore, the UAE, India, the UK, Portugal and the US. His most recent solos were “Walking on the Moon” in Kuala Lumpur and “7” at his Gallery in Karachi, 2015 and 2017. Gulgee has also staged over a dozen performance works in Karachi and Lahore, Dubai and Nagoya, as well as in London. In 2000 the artist launched Amin Gulgee Gallery in Karachi to provide a space for non-commercial, thematic exhibitions of both Pakistani and foreign artists. He has curated or co-curated 14 shows in different places. Gulgee was also Chief Curator of the first Karachi Biennale, 2017. He has received numerous awards, including the President’s Pride of Performance in 2005, and was named as one of the Power Pakistan 100 in 2012.
Zarmeene Shah is an independent curator and critic currently based in Karachi, Pakistan. With a BFA from the Indus Valley School of Art & Architecture (IVS) in Karachi, and an MA in Critical & Curatorial Studies from Columbia University, she became one of the first professionally qualified curators in the country. Since then, she has curated several notable exhibitions, including the video program for ‘The Rising Tide’ at the Mohatta Palace (2010), curator for the Pakistan pavilion at the 4th Cairo Video Festival (2011), the ‘Parrhesia’ I & II shows (2011 & 2015), ‘Dreamscape’ (co-curated with Amin Gulgee, 2015), and ‘Taqseem’, marking 70 years of partition in 2017. She has also served as Independent Consultant for South Asian Art for the CCA Derry-Londonderry, and Assistant Director at the Mohatta Palace Museum, Karachi. Shah was the Curator at Large of the inaugural Karachi Biennale 2017. She is currently Associate Professor and Head of the Liberal Arts program at the IVS, where she has previously been Chief Curator of the IVS Gallery. Focusing on contemporary art and continental and semiotic theory, she is particularly interested in new media, the body, and the urban political in art.
Zeerak Ahmed, also Slowspin is a multidisciplinary conceptual artist. In 2012, Ahmed received her B.A in Studio Art and Political Science from Hiram College, USA, after which she returned to Karachi, where she grew up. Ahmed then exhibited mixed-media installations with her collective, TBP (DEL/SER), and in a number of local and international spaces and residencies. In 2017 she received her MFA degree in Creative Practice with the Transart Institute. Ahmed was also one of the Assistant Curators of the inaugural Karachi Biennale 2017. She is currently teaching at the Indus Valley School of Art and Architecture. Ahmed is interested in creating visual-sensory experiences that interact with, intersect and/or interrupt architectural spaces. As a producer of ambient and experimental electronic sounds, she is currently focusing on sound sculptures and sound performance works.
Outsiders – dates and event listings see additional page; for changes please consult the Facebook page of the Goethe-Institut and the event page “Outsiders - Urban subcultures in Germany and Pakistan”. For interview requests or more information regarding this media release please contact
Zoya Ahmed
Outsiders
Urban Subcultures in Germany and Pakistan - Geniale Dilletanten in Dialogue
A curated event series that explores strands of sub –cultures in Germany and Pakistan, with panel discussions, film-screenings, workshops and a concert
Exhibition: Geniale Dilletanten • Mon 16 April - Mon 30 April 2018 • 5pm – 8 pm • Amin Gulgee Gallery
Introduction and Talk: Zarmeene Shah, Leonhard Emmerling, Markus Heidingsfelder • Tue 17 April 2018 • 5 pm • Amin Gulgee Gallery
Workshop: Guerilla Filmmaking with Marco Wilms: 18 – 29 April 2018 • Goethe-Institut
Film Screening: “Comrade Couture” with the director Marco Wilms • Sat 21 April 2018 • 12 am • Goethe-Institut
Talk: Robert Lippok, Baber Sheikh, moderated by Markus Heidingsfelder • Sat 21 April 2018 • 5 pm • Amin Gulgee Gallery
Concert: Robert Lippok • Sat 21 April 2018 • 7pm- • Amin Gulgee Gallery
Film Screening and Q&As with Dr. Markus Heidingsfelder: “B-Movie: Lust and Sound in West Berlin” • Sat 28 April • 12am • Goethe-Institut
Lecture and Discussion: "Being There - Punk as Photography", Wolfgang Burat, Dr. Markus Heidingsfelder • Sat 28 April • 2pm • Goethe-Institut
Photography Workshop: "Take Face (Lighting Xtreme), with Wolfgang Burat, moderated by Dr. Markus Heidingsfelder • Habib University (Center for Media & Design - CMD) • Wed 2 May • 11am to 5pm • Film Stzudio at Habib University (Registration Required)
The Geniale Dilletanten exhibition is co-presented by the Goethe-Institut and Amin Gulgee Gallery in Karachi.
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