Import / Export -  Cultural Transfer between India and Germany, Austria

A trans-disciplinary research and culture project by Werkleitz Gesellschaft e.V. (Halle), The House of World Cultures (Berlin),  Majlis (Mumbai) and DeEgo (Vienna).

Within the networks sprawling between India and the EU, Berlin and Vienna - besides London - increasingly emerge as remarkable spots on the map. A young generation of artists, scientists and theorists is looking for ways and means to channel the dialogue between metropolitan cities of the North and the South. On the one hand the aim is to present the complex images of today's multicultural India, of which we who are involved in the process of the EU becoming ever more multi-ethnic, can learn much more than to just pick up fashionable trends and and indulge in historical phantasies. On the other hand it is important, to have a closer look at the marginal scenes of the postcolonial discourse and to visualise the living history of migration and representation in both Germany and Austria.
"Import / Export" aims to render visible the usually imperceptible screen mounted between India and the German-speaking Europe, onto which both sides are projecting their mutual perceptions of the other as much as they are mirroring and reflecting their self-images.

Romanticised ideas, as well as economic expectations and exoticising phantasms of all kinds will be closely examined. These are the aspects to be researched, discussed and exhibited:
Moving People
deals with the individual, incidental and uncontrollable forms of cultural transfer under the heading of migration and travel.
Moving Concepts
examines the circulation of philosophical or political ideas, concepts and theory, between India and German-speaking Europe.
Moving Goods
is concerned with the strategic forms of the import and export of material culture, from both economic and cultural viewpoints.

"Import / Export" is organised in four chapters: The Bombay Chapter will be opened up from March 25th to 27th, 2005 in the 'Mohile Parikh Centre for Contemporary Culture (MPC3)' in Mumbai, the Vienna Chapter from May 20th to 22nd, 2005 at the 'Künstlerhaus' in Vienna, and the Berlin Chapter from August 11th to 14th, 2005 at 'The House of World Cultures' in Berlin. Each chapter consists of the following project modules: A symposium introducing six independent research projects, an exhibition of commissioned photographs and installations, and a film series consisting exemplary historical and contemporary movies concerned with the ideas of "Import / Export". As a fourth and concluding chapter the publication of the 'Import / Export - Atlas of Indo-German Fantasies' will merge the basic threads and topics of the local events. Three documentary film essays will be produced by the "Import / Export" network in the three participating countries. These three films are published on DVD as part of the publication - "IMPORT EXPORT - cultural transfer - India | Germany | Austria" - Parthas Verlag, Berlin

Authors:
Nancy Adajania, Flavia Agnes, Chetan Bhatt, Sun–ju Choi, Anke Illing, Vinay Choudary, Helmut Dietrich, Madhusree Dutta, Philip Scheffner, Angelika Fitz, Axel Fussi, Nayantara Ghosh, Urmila Goel, Christiane Hartnack, Vinzenz Hediger, Meenakshi Shedde, Ranjit Hoskote, Anuradha Kapur, Merle Kröger, Dorothee Wenner, Shantanu Lodh, Wolfgang Müller–Funk, Mamta Murthy, Shoba Raghuram, Ashish Rajadhyaksha, Alexandra Schneider, Mishka Sinha, Navina Sundaram, Nicole Wolf, Michael Wörgötter.

Order "IMPORT EXPORT - cultural transfer - India | Germany | Austria"

Distribution in India: Katha Press