JOIN USThe ‘Art Insight Lecture’ at Goethe Institut/Max Mueller Bhavan saw the deconstruction and redefining of several seminal themes in society through art as a medium as three artistes came together and spoke about their projects and gave the audience a different perspective of reality.
Lutz Hubner, a German playwright, explained how theatre and stage is a social space, while Andre Lutzen, a German photographer, presented a series of realistic photos which showed was mainly centred on the recreation of private spaces in a globalised context.
Rahaab Allana, the editor of the photography quarterly PIX, also presented captivating, powerful images that were taken in different places and centred around important themes. His pictures explored and redefined concepts like self, borders, boundaries and the concept of habitat and natural environment in a globalised world.
Lutz’s play will be adapted to Kannada from English and screened at Ranga Shankara. He drew a parallel with its powerful, visual counterpart, cinema. He explained theatre as a democratic arena where situations happen live and the audience are at sea on what to expect. “Theatre is a slice of reality after fictionalising it.”
He also gave an insight to the audience about his play, “A matter of honour”, which, he said, is about two boys and two girls on a day trip.
“The play ends with a murder of the girl and involves a clash of cultures, values and depicts violence and misunderstanding.” The play is also a bit into the real side of life in Germany and depicts the problems that Turkish girls face in terms of ‘saving one’s honour’. “The murder of the girl is ultimately the murder of honour in itself,” he said.
Andre’s project in Vietnam and Russia, was mainly about global living spaces and he explored how spaces were recreated during certain weather conditions.
“People come out at night in Vietnam as it is cool and people recreate their living space in Russia during the winters. It is interesting to see how these spaces are used and re structured. A living room and a space is very different and personal and is part of someone’s identity.
There is a certain mingling between the private and the public space as well. Andre shared personal experiences during his exciting journey that kept the audience in rapt attention.
He has also spent about four weeks in Kochi, where he documented how people recreate their spaces during the torrential monsoons. “It is mostly documented narrative photography where all the pictures are in a sequence and photography, as an art, is visual story telling.”