BANGALORE11 Feb 2012 to 27 Feb 2012 Click to view details
Index
About
Graffiti painting in public space, experimental dance performance, workshops, lectures, exhibition, video screenings and music. Urban Avantgarde presents contemporary German and Indian artists from various disciplines, who unconventionally expand urban cultures' modes of expression. 'Urban Avantgarde' - a project within the framework of Germany and India 2011-2012: Infinite Opportunities, also has on board as partners:
- Zinnober - platform of art creations in public space
- Jaaga - Creative Common Ground,
- National Gallery of Modern Art (NGMA),
- Attakkalari Centre for Movement Arts,
- Samir Akika / Unusual Symptoms and,
- Curator Robert Kaltenhäuser.
- Montana - Spray Can Partner
Today’s graffiti artists operate in a spectrum that ranges from photo-realism to gestural expression - from provocative pop to subtle conceptualism. Artists like ECB Hendrik Beikirch oder Dtagno are amongst the leading figures of this movement in Germany. For this project, German graffiti artists team up with artists from Bangalore’s urban cultural scene. Their artistic dialogue will manifest in paintings applied directly in the urban environment on public buses and walls.
The palette of events will take place at the Goethe-Institut/Max Mueller Bhavan, Jaaga, NGMA. In addition, the artists will focus their attention on Malleswaram where a major part of their creative activities will be executed in collaboration with the Malleswaram Accessibility Project (MAP).
Other venues include:
- Jaaga, 1 Shanti Road, Attakkalari Centre for Movement Arts,
- National Gallery of Modern Art, Public Space in Malleswaram and other areas in the City.
Event Collaborations and Highlights
Art with Jaaga
Jaaga, a Bangalore-based NGO that focuses on nurturing innovation through the intersection of contemporary urban arts practice with technology and activism, co-hosts the project. Jaaga's Co-founder and Director, Archana Prasad curates Bangalore's most interesting urban artists like Shilo Shiv Suleman and George Mathen to work in tandem with their German counterparts.
Dance with Samir Akika
Algerian-French-German choreographer Samir Akika, and his young company Unusual Symptoms blend global urban styles like breakdance and martial arts with contemporary dance performance. Influences from sub and pop culture; and sensitivity for the individual circumstances of real life are the base of their approach. In Bangalore, Akika and his team, together with the young dancers from Attakkalari will develop performance fragments outside the usual theatre walls.
Lecture Series with Lene ter Haar
Dutch German contemporary art curator and cultural critic Lene ter Haar offers a series of lectures at NGMA between the 21st and the 25th of February.
Exhibition with Goethe
The exhibition 'Achtung: Asphaltkultur – German Graffiti Avantgarde' at the Goethe-Institut puts on display - works of internationally known artists like Harald Naegeli, Nils Müller and Vektor Gruppe West. ECB Hendrik Beikirch and Dtagno will personally present their art in Bangalore.
Also on the cards are workshops and lectures, video screenings and musical performances.
The collaboration between German urban artists and Bangalore’s young artists in Malleswaram is supported by the Directorate of Urban Land Transport, Government of Karnataka and Bangalore Metropolitan Transport Corporation (BMTC).
Workshops
21 February 2012 | Tuesday | 15:30h- 17:00h
- PUBLIC WORKSHOP SESSION-1- Open to All
- Venue – Karnataka Chitrakala Parishath
Attitudes of Acting OUT
- Lecture about unsolicited artistic practices in international contemporary art from graffiti, and
- performance by Lene ter Haar (60 min).
This session is supported by Suresh Kumar G
22 February 2012 | Wednesday | 10:00h – 12.30h + 13:30h-16:00h
WORKSHOP SESSION-2 | With Students of CKP, Ken and University
- Venue – Karnataka Chitrakala Parishath
- Traces of Representation Workshop:
DIY-workshop for students to translate the ideas of ‘the aritst in public space’ to their own practice. During the workshop a sketch to ‘act out’ will be developed that will be executed on Saturday in Malleswaram. This session is supported by Suresh Kumar G
Materials to be brought by participants – paper and drawing tools (pens, pencils, pastels…)
No. of Participants: 15 per session, 30 in total. Please register at: leneterhaar@gmail.com
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23 February 2012 | Thursday | 18:30h – 20:00h
PUBLIC LECTURE – Open to All Contemporary Graffiti, Muralism and Public Art
- Venue: National Gallery Of Modern Art
- Lecture on “Contemporary Graffiti, Muralism and Public Art” by Dutch-German curator and cultural critic Lene ter Haar.
Please visit www.yourmap.in for more details on the festival | Schedule subject to change.
Festival powered by www.jaaga.in 2012
Performances & Exhibitions
24 Feb 2012 | Friday | 18:00h
“BANG BANG“ PERFORMANCE, PANEL DISCUSSION & SCREENING: AVANTGARDE
DANCE
A dance performance choreographed by Samir Akika and performed by Noah and Attakkalari dancers will be followed by a panel discussion on Avant-Garde Dance in the city moderated by Lene Ter Haar. Panelists include Madhu Natraj of STEM, Jaychandran Palazhy of Attakkalari, Mayuri Upadhyay of Nritutya Dance Company and Preethi Sunderajan of Shiri Dance Company and Samir Akika of Unusual Symptom of Germany. This will be followed by Samir Akika of Unusual Symptoms who will screen a film on one of his seminal works.
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25 February 2012 | Saturday | 10:00h – 18:00h
THE URBAN AVANTGARDE ON THE STREETS OF MALLESWARAM
Venue: On the Streets of Malleswaram
The festival culminates with the Urban Avantgarde artists unconventionally expanding urban cultures’ modes of expression and cross-pollination on the streets of Malleswaram as part of the Malleswaram Mela. Presentations, special tours, Performances and lectures in this neighbourhood will add flavour to this unique event.
See www.yourmap.in/m-moves25 for more details on this day long celebration
25 February | Saturday | 10:00h – 16:30h
WORKSHOP SESSION 3 – For participants of Session-2 Only
- Venue: 18th Cross Bus Depot, Malleswaram
- Working at the Walls:
The students work on the wall in public space in Malleswaram the whole day.
- 17:30h – 18th Cross Bus Depot: final happening & presentation of the workshop.
BELOW IS THE GRAFITTI FROM MALLESWARAM STREETS!
WITNESS IT FOR YOURSELF, CLICK HERE TO VIEW MAP!
25 February | Saturday | 18:00h – 18:30h
BUS STAND - BANG BANG
Samir Akika’s live energetic urban dance experience on the streets of Malleswaram.
- Venue: 18th Cross BMTC Bus Depot (at Margosa Road)
Sensual live energetic urban dance experience on the streets of Malleswaram, directed by Samir Akika / Unusual Symptoms and performed by the Attakalari Dance Company in front of the freshly-painted Urban Avantgarde collective mural. Dance coach & co-choreographer Nora Ronge. With music by Rasmus. Guerilla dance acts not excluded.
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26 Feb 2012 | Sunday | 11:30h
FILM SCREENING - "Art Inconsequence"
- Venue: National Gallery of Modern Art
- A screenings of a film on graffiti art at NGMA.
26 Feb 2012 | Sunday | 18:30h
- Guided Tour through the Exhibition: Achtung: Asphaltkultur – German Graffiti Avantgarde by Curator Lene ter Haar
- Venue: Goethe-Institut / Max Mueller Bhavan, Bangalore
Information on the Artists
Robert Kaltenhäuser
An activist and curator in the field of contemporary graffiti and counter culture, he has re-coined the German term 'Asphaltkultur' ('asphalt culture'), originally a derogatory term used by nationalists to denounce 'impure' modern urban culture.
Editor of "Art Inconsequence" (Publikat 2007), with Sarah Pflüger - a book and video on avantgarde graffiti, "Zugriff – Magazine for Contemporary Counter Culture (Eigenverlag 2011). Has published in "Graffiti-Magazine" (2006/08), "Action Painting – Bringing art to the trains" (TFPress/Publikat 2009), "Muralismo Morte" (Fhtf 2010), etc.
Kaltenhäuser has exhibited under various pseudonyms at: The Wyspa Art Institute, Gdansk/P; Zeche Zollverein, Essen; Skulpturenmuseum Glaskasten, Marl; Urban Script Continues, Dresden. He painted graffiti on metropolitan and suburban trains in the scope of "Projeto Wholetrain", Recife, Brasil (2007) and in several European and other cities like Naples, Milan, Paris, London, Prague, Caracas, Barcelona and Venice. His murals are on display in public and private spaces from Düsseldorf to Sao Paulo.
He conducted, along with Gabor Doleviczenyi, the graffiti/muralism workshop "Graffiti – The City Coloured" (Goethe-Institut/Max Mueller Bhavan Bangalore/India, 2010).
Since 2008, Kaltenhäuser has been responsible for stage design and dramaturgy for Unusual Symptoms, the French/German experimental dance-theatre company directed by Samir Akika. Unusual Symptoms has developed and staged plays for Rheinisches Landestheater, Neuss (2009); Goethe-Institut Caracas, Venezuela (2009); Pumpenhaus, Münster (2009); CCF Phnom Penh, Cambodia (2010); National Youth Theater Tashkent, Uzbekistan (2010) and Grillo Theater, Essen (2011).
Know more about him at - http://robert-kaltenhaeuser.blogspot.com/
Samir Akika / Unusual Symptoms
Samir’s aesthetics have changed over the years. At first branded as a cinéaste among the young, up-and- coming contemporary choreographers because of his stagings that were a mixture of live video, dance and cinematic quotes, he has recently turned his attention towards western youth culture. He explores his topics through improvisation, discussions, questions, bodily “tasks“ and games, coupling them with the biographies and everyday lives of the performers. Approaching his themes via the differing perspectives of the people involved; his method of blending fact and fiction, of private and social issues, obliterates the constraints of reality and fiction, which is a quality that lends these works their distinctive characteristics: they are at once entertaining and sensual, delightfully meditative and, in a way, tragi-comic. At the heart of his work are these principles: a strong sense of community and friendship, a truly human approach and the understanding that every person is an individual with a unique character.
This approach reflects the prevailing element in his work: the relationships that exist between social constructs, group dynamics and the nature of each individual involved. Trademarks of Akika’s productions are this unique approach, the many cinematic elements, monologues which tell a story at the outset, facets of the dancers’ biographies, jointly developed outcomes, improvisation and the fusion of reality and fiction. These parallels to ground-breaking independent films are why Akika is also called the Tarantino of dance-theatre.
Akika found his way to dance in an extraordinary and truly individual way that is characteristic of his disposition and his artistic work. Searching relentlessly and with great curiosity for his true calling in life, he happened upon a video of Pina Bausch’s Frühlingsopfer (Rite of Spring), an adaptation of Igor Stravinksky’s Le Sacre du Printemps. It is this production that led him, aged 26, to the field of dance, which he then studied at the Folkwang University in Essen. After graduating in 1997, he joined the Folkwang Dance Studio for two years. During this time a dream came true: he was invited to dance in two productions of his mentor.
Pina Bausch – the artist whose work inspires him and sparked his passion for dance. He also appeared in projects by Malou Airaudo, who is equally influential for him.
In 1999 Samir Akika embarked on his career as a freelance dancer and choreographer. He developed strong ties to the Dance House North Rhine-Westphalia – where he was artist-in-residence in 2003 and 2004 – and to the Theater im Pumpenhaus in the city of Münster. To date he has been awarded the Kurt Jooss Award, the scholarship of the Alfred Toepfer Foundation as part of the Hanseatic Goethe Prize for Pina Bausch and also the Performing Arts Award of the City of Düsseldorf. His works are shown at venues and festivals throughout the world.
Apart from his acclaimed stage productions for adults he has already realised global projects with adolescents. His piece Welle: Asphaltkultur, a production with 18 youngsters from the Hip Hop Academy in Hamburg, has been awarded the prize of the Cultural Secretary of North-Rhine Westphalia as well as the prize of the Youth Jury at FAVORITEN 2010, which is considered to be one of the most important independent theatre and dance festivals in Germany. Among others he works in close collaboration with the Goethe-Institut, for which he has conducted workshops and productions in Cuba, Venezuela, Cambodia, Usbeskistan, Latvia, South Africa, India and Yemen.
Together with his long-time production partner Alexandra Morales he founded the company Unusual Symptoms in 2009. Unusual Symptoms is a young, innovative and international production team around Alexandra Morales and Samir Akika. As artists they realise their own stage productions, but also focus on giving new talent the support they need to develop and realise their own ideas and concepts. As a production team they serve as a kind of network. They build up production structures to take care of other dancers, actors, choreographers and directors. Focusing on friendly companionship, a humane approach as well as individual strength has always been a benchmark of their work.
WORKS
- 2011 young&furious (production with youngsters)
- 2011 Headspin CRITICAL MESS // Schauspiel Essen
- 2011 Where the streets have no name
- 2010 Me &my Mum
- 2010 A Moment to Pretend
- 2010 I should be so lucky
- 2010 Linie 69 (production with youngsters)
- 2009 Welle: Asphaltkultur (production with youngsters)
- 2009 Plastikseele
- 2009 660@K6 (production with youngsters)
- 2009 Crayfish
- 2008 tanz! leonhard (production with youngsters)
- 2007 Extended Teenage Era
- 2005 Loca, Mierda
- 2004 Nayara
- 2004 Globalost Sunday
- 2003 Sharks
- 2002 22 Boulevard Lafayette
- 2001 Didjelli
- 2000 Lilja
- 1999 Gimme Gimme a whisky sour, easy on the ice baby
- 1998 Geronimo
- 1997 Zahnbürste, Chop Suey, Unterhose oder 20 DM für die Münsterpolizei
Watch the 'Me & My Mum' YouTube Video below -
Know more at - http://www.unusualsymptoms.com/
Rasmus Nordholt
Rasmus is a musician who works mainly in the context of theatre, dance and performance. The sound he works with moves between abstract audio plays, soundscapes and groove-music and is mainly based on field recordings, samples, drum machines and synthesizers.
Lene Ter Haar
Since 2006, she has been a contemporary art curator at Schunck Glaspaleis, Heerlen, and Museum Het Domein, Sittard (until 2008; both in the Netherlands). Lene is a regular contributor to catalogues and art magazines. She is part of the advisory commission of the Mondriaan Foundation, local organizations and the Netherlands Foundation for Visual Arts, Design and Architecture (Fund BKVB).
Among the artists she has collaborated with are Kinwah Tsang (Switzerland), Marjolijn Dijkman (NL), Lara Schnitger & My Barbarian (NL/USA), Kati Heck (G), Dzine (USA), Duan Jianyu (Switzerland), Rik Meijers (NL) and Bas de Wit (NL). She was also involved in the international projects Made in Mirrors, Cecac 2008 and the research project What‘s up, what‘s down?, Cultural Catalysts in Urban Spaces.
Since 2000 she has been running an art space B32, situated in a Maastricht squat and financially supported by the City of Maastricht (The Netherlands). Emerging artists and art professionals are encouraged to take their first steps, accompanied by experts.
Inspired by her bottom-up and top-down practice, her theoretical background and underlying research is formed by DIY-mentality and institutionalism, urban culture and modernism. These themes are explored in diverse research projects and exhibitions. Urban Avantgarde Bangalore fits her profile exactly and among the aratists involved, she has earlier collaborated with are: Harald Naegeli (Germany), Erosie (The Netherlands), Os Gemeos (Belgium), Hendrik Beikirch ECB (Germany) and Honet (France). She is looking forward to working with Indian artists within the ambit of this project.
