Aktuelles aus den Abteilungen

Public lecture by Dr. des. Sandra J. Schlage: "Travelling Images: Some Observations on Angkor Sculptures and the Cultural Exchange between South- and Southeast Asia.": Visiting the ancient temples of the Angkor Empire in Cambodia is a unique experience for anyone familiar with (South-)Indian art. Although, many mytho-logical scenes and deities of the Hindu/Buddhist pantheon can be easily identified, they display individual traits and decorative designs which are unique to Khmer art. What can these sculptures tell us about the cultural exchange between India and Mainland Southeast Asia? What can we find out about the creative process of the artists? I am going to share my thoughts about these questions based on an analysis of my favourite motifs, (re-)discovered during our Cambodia excursion in summer 2023.

Art Nouveau’s style and ideology were developed as an answer to the need for a new approach to art and design at the end of the nineteenth century. At the backbone of this development was Japanese art (and Japonisme), which provided a major inspiration to the art and design world of the time. However, the popularity and global development of the movement in its turn provided a new impetus to the art and design worlds of its land of origin, which was struggling with similar problems. In Japan, Art Nouveau encouraged artists to transcend art and design genres, and to re-evaluate traditional crafts and designs, activities that can be said to be the starting point of modern Japanese craft design. This lecture will provide an introduction to Japanese Art Nouveau. It will introduce some representative artists, and will focus on the development of the movement in the medium kimono in specific.

In Kooperation mit der ANDHERI HILFE e.V. und der Bonner Filmfair: Filmvorführung und Diskussion mit Maja Meiners (Regisseurin), Dr. Heike Kluve (ANDHERI HILFE) und Dr. des. Sandra J. Schlage (AIK, Uni Bonn): "BREAKING BARRIERS: The Casteless Collective": The Casteless Collective is a protest music band from Chennai, South India, playing an exciting mix of folk music and Gaana art coming from North Chennai’s slum area, combined with modern musical styles of rap and rock. The songs are dealing with diverse social issues pertaining to people from underprivileged and marginalised backgrounds, as represented by the band members themselves. The film shows the young band’s powerful attempt to break cultural stigmas and joins their journey towards an Indian future of casteless mentality and reality. Im Anschluss an die Filmvorführung (Englisch) findet eine interaktive Panel Diskussi-on (Deutsch/Englisch) statt.

Publich lecture by Dorothée Kreuzer: The spate of recent publications on late 15th century Timurid book art opens up critical space for reconsidering the conventional text-image relationship approach. A close reading of the sumptuous three double page opening sequence of the Cairo Bustan reveals the illumination program of the manuscript not only as meta-commentary to Sa’di’s text but emerges as literally pre- and pro-scriptive: showing what precedes words and a guidance to how to read the following text. Taking my cue from the unpublished double-page spread placed between the famous frontispiece and the gateway to the written text or incipit, the issue of beauty appears as the non-trivial steppingstone en route to the ineffable. Very much like the Platonic agalma as launch pad to the higher good, the intricate montage of the figures of goose and phoenix draws the reader’s attention to processes of understanding.

Songs of Love and War from Classical Tamil Poetry (2 BCE - 2 CE) through Bharatanatyam: The Sangam anthology contains poems of love and war which dates back to over two millennia. The literature is lesser known due to the linguistic complexity of the poetry. The body of literature brings out the inextricable link of the external landscape which has a direct connection to the internal emotional states. In today’s world, where people are slotted based on several stereotypes of gender, religion and language, Sangam poetry comes as a breath of fresh air since it observes human nature instead of ordering them. Since Bharatanatyam is a versatile language to communicate, the sheer humanness of the poems makes the poetry from over two millennia to have a message which is alive and relevant in today’s context. The aim is to promote the body of literature as not only the pride of Tamils but a treasured contribution of India to world literature, dance and theatre.