Taking place next door to the exhibition at silent green Kuppelhalle on Thursday 2 February, a daylong programme within CTM’s Discourse series will reflect upon the current situation of contemporary experimental and electronic music in South Asia and the global South Asian diaspora, giving new readings on the role of electronic sound within the ideological development of post-colonial India and its bonds with the Modernist philosophies of Germany and Europe.
13:00 We Found Our Own Reality
Paul Purgas in conversation with Rahila Haque
Curator and researcher Rahila Haque will be in conversation with Paul Purgas, unpacking the central themes and inspirations behind »We Found Our Own Reality,« discussing the influence of Western investment and soft power within post-colonial India and the conditions that defined the development of Modernism within art, design, and music across South Asia.
14:30 Karmic Relationships, Accelerated: Influences & Incidents in India (and Beyond)
Lecture by You Nakai
This talk surveys David Tudor’s long relationship to India, which culminated in his 1969 visit to Ahmedabad to establish the electronic music studio at the National Institute of Design, but was preceded by a strange history of exchanges and misunderstandings between Western mysticism and India, as well as succeeded by an equally strange history of consequences and byproducts that, among other things, might explain why I have been summoned to give this talk at CTM Festival today.
15:30 Schools of Tomorrow: Design Pedagogies as Transcultural Affairs
Lecture by Dr. Regina Bittner
In the geopolitical context of the Cold War and national independence, the NID in Ahmedabad and the HfG Ulm represent unique microcosms for the redefinition of the relationship between design and society. Embedded in international networks and exchange relationships of midcentury modernism, the entangled history of both schools offers insights into the complex interplay of the struggle for concepts for contemporary design education. This lecture discusses the two experimental learning environments as breeding ground for debates focused on re-establishing a critical design practice capable of intervening in everyday life and by doing so striving to find a contemporary reference to the Bauhaus.
17:00 Feminist Perspectives on Night Life and Music Scenes in India and its Global Diaspora
Lush Lata in conversation with Nabihah Iqbal
Lush Lata, co-founder of Coven Code, India’s first all-female/non-binary electronic music collective, will speak with Nabihah Iqbal about feminist perspectives in India’s nightlife and music scenes.
Curated by Paul Purgas. Funded by the BpB – Federal Agency of Civic Education. Supported by Goethe-Institut, and British Council.