Veranstaltungen

Auch dieses Jahr findet wieder unsere Weihnachtsfeier statt. Am 11.12.2025 kommen wir zusammen, um die besinnliche Weihnachtszeit zu genießen. Dafür suchen wir wieder Künstler*innen, die Interesse hätten, ein oder mehrere Werke für den Abend auszustellen und kurz etwas über ihre Kunst zu erzählen. Falls ihr Interesse habt, dann meldet euch bitte an aikinfo@uni-bonn.de! Wir freuen uns schon sehr auf euch!

Die Kumbh Mela in Indien ist das grösste Fest der Welt! In diesem Jahr war es wieder soweit: 660 Mio Menschen strömten zum Zusammenfluss von Ganges und Yamuna in Prayagraj und reinigten sich im heiligen Gewässer von ihren Sünden. Der Indien-Kenner Christian Krug war vor Ort. Er berichtet mit zahlreichen Bildern von diesem kaum vorstellbaren Ereignis. Von der grössten Zeltstadt aller Zeiten, der Zusammenkunft tausender Sadhus und Millionen Pilgern, dem spirituellen Kern des Festes und auch seinen politischen Komponenten. Seien Sie herzlich dazu eingeladen! Der Vortrag beginnt mit einer Einführung zur Wasserarchitektur in Südasien von Prof. Dr. Julia A. B. Hegewald. Die Veranstaltungsmoderation übernimmt Dr. Bernd Basting.

Urban Design and Planning In India 1880-1940: The Quest For Indian Identity: The period between 1880-1940, was an interesting period in India leading to its independence from British rule. These decades were marked by a re-kindling and a search on the "Indian identity" as evident in various social and artistic movements. Whereas there are larger counter colonial narratives taking shape in the India during the same period, it was also a time marked by intermingling of ideas and new forms of collaborations between artists and architects across borders. These exchanges especially in the field of architecture, urban design and planning shaped many public institutions and city spaces. This talk focuses on urban design and planning experiments in different parts of the country during this period, that demonstrate a new spirit of enquiry and intent in the society.

Diese unkonventionelle nepalesische Produktion erzählt unter dem Motto „There is a hero inside you“ die inspirierende Geschichte zweier Frauen aus dem subtropischen Tiefland Nepals, die sich gemeinsam gegen Diskriminierung und patriarchale Gewalt zur Wehr setzen. Geschickt wird dabei auf die vielschichtigen Herausforderungen aufmerksam gemacht, mit denen heranwachsende junge Mädchen im ländlichen Nepal heute noch konfrontiert sind, darunter die weit verbreitete Praxis der Kinderheirat. Im Anschluss an die Filmvorführung findet eine interaktive Panel Diskussion statt.

Eyes on the Sacred: Visual Dimensions of Tibetan Pilgrimage: Tibetan pilgrimage offers a rich site for looking at the intersections of visual culture and art history. It is a space where ritualized movement, sacred geography, and devotional practices meet with the creation and circulation of images. Art historical approaches illuminate the aesthetic, symbolic, and material dimensions of pilgrimage, tracing their historical and stylistic significance of sacred architecture, statues, and ritual objects. Drawing on field observations from Tibet in summer 2025, this lecture explores how pilgrimage is both lived and visually constructed. Pilgrimage involves both the sacred act of looking and the negotiation of being looked at, whether through the respectful eyes of fellow devotees or under the eyes of others. These intertwined practices reveal how pilgrimage in Tibet is not only a journey through sacred space but also a profoundly visual experience shaped by asymmetrical relations of power.

„Are you ok? – Eine Kunstausstellung über mentale Gesundheit“: Fünf Künstler:innen der Abteilung für Asiatische und Islamische Kunstgeschichte, Universität Bonn, zeigen persönliche Auseinandersetzungen mit psychischer Gesundheit und wie Kunst zu einem Ventil im oft herausfordernden Studienalltag – und darüber hinaus – werden kann. Zwei mitwirkende Künstlerinnen bieten für unsere Abteilung eine exklusive Führung durch die Ausstellung an. Treffpunkt: Universitätsmuseum, Regina-Pacis-Weg 1, 53113 Bonn. Wenn Sie an dieser Führung teilnehmen möchten, melden Sie sich bitte bis zum 04.11.25 bei Sandra J. Schlage an (Schlage@uni-bonn.de).

This paper has its origins in a research project, an exhibition and a book, all from the British Museum built around a remarkable textile item in the Museum’s collection that is from Assam. It is over 9.00m in length and is made up of twelve different strips of cloth now stitched together. These cloths are all figured and reflect the distinctive Vaisnava culture of Assam. The cloths are figured and also contain text, woven using the sophisticated lampas technique. They were once all separate, and their assembly today, stitched together, is testament to a period when they were used in Tibet, before being acquired by a British journalist, Perceval Landon, who was accredited to the Younghusband Expedition to Lhasa (1903-04). He had given the textile to the British Museum where it remained until discovered by curators from the V&A and displayed by me in 1993. The paper will explore the three ‘lives’ of this outstanding textile item - in Assam, in Tibet and in London.

Vortrag und Bharatanatyam Tanzdemonstration von Lakshmi Parthasarathy Athreya. Eine Veranstaltung in Kooperation mit SPIC MACAY Europe.

Gendered Dependence: Going beyond the usual concepts of dependency relationships located within a post-colonial state, this new research project examines in greater depth how Indian conceptions of the body (depicted in art, iconography and in performance) have been impacted by a moral, religious Western perspective imposed before, during and post-colonial rule. The ‘moralising projects of colonial and post-colonial modernity’ as Davesh Soneji has termed them remain part o f the ‘unfinished pasts’ (2012: 3) of both the place and enactment of performative ritual and performance in India, from the roles of the female temple dancers, the devadāsīs, through to the itinerant folk dance and theatrical performers, and the ‘third gender’ or transgender performers – the hirijas and kothis. In this project I investigate aspects of ‘asymmetrical relations of dependence’ (Hegewald, 2023:8) and issues of empowerment as well as erasures of memory brought about by nationalistic agendas.

Am Mittwoch, den 08.10.2025 finden unsere Einführungsveranstaltungen für alle neuen Studierenden unserer Abteilung statt: 14:00 Uhr s.t. für Bachel-Studierende und 15:00 Uhr s.t. für Masterstudierende. In den Veranstaltungen informieren wir über den Studienverlauf und Module. Es besteht die Gelegenheit, die Abteilung und das Lehrpersonal kennenzulernen und Kontakte zu Kommiliton*innen zu knüpfen.

Curating Indian Art in a Swiss Museum in the 21st Century: Museums and their staff, especially curators, are often perceived as conservative in nature - preserving ancient cultural heritage and collections. However, the job profile of a curator of Indian art today is very different from that of 25 years ago. Globally, museums have not only changed but have become agents of change themselves. This talk will present recent developments in collecting and curating exhibitions with a focus on the Museum Rietberg in Zurich, Switzerland's only museum of non-European art. Focusing on three recent exhibitions, it will explore new challenges in an increasingly globalized world, such as acquisition policy, provenance research, restitution claims, international collaborations, as well as audience-related issues such as inclusion, community engagement and participation. The paper concludes with a critical analysis of recruitment, training, and prospects in the field of Indian art history.

Women, Gender and Labour in the Artistic Practices of Patachitra (Scroll-Painting): Patachitra (scroll-painting) is a long-standing artistic tradition in the eastern Indian region where painting and singing come together in the community performances of the patuas or Chitrakars (scroll-painters). Drawing from my recently published book, The Poet’s Song: ‘Folk’ and its Cultural Politics in South Asia, this paper looks at the entangled issues of gender, labour and livelihood among the women artists. It focusses on the lives and work of two women—one a traditional patua and the other a kobiyaal (folk singer)—and how they have negotiated and challenged community expectations of gender roles. The research is based on fieldwork and interviews with these women in the Indian state of West Bengal.

Going beyond the usual concepts of dependency relationships located within a post-colonial state, this new research project examines in greater depth how Indian conceptions of the body (depicted in art, iconography and in performance) have been impacted by a moral, religious Western perspective imposed before, during and post-colonial rule. The ‘moralising projects of colonial and post-colonial modernity’ as Davesh Soneji has termed them remain part o f the ‘unfinished pasts’ (2012: 3) of both the place and enactment of performative ritual and performance in India, from the roles of the female temple dancers, the devadāsīs, through to the itinerant folk dance and theatrical performers, and the ‘third gender’ or transgender performers – the hirijas and kothis. In this project I investigate aspects of ‘asymmetrical relations of dependence’ (Hegewald, 2023:8) and issues of empowerment as well as erasures of memory brought about by nationalistic agendas.

Live per Zoom: Mittwoch, 28.05.2025, 12.15 Uhr: Im Rahmen unserer BA- und MA-Seminare bieten wir einen virtuellen Rundgang durch das Dorf Korkadu (bei Pondicherry) in Südindien an. Herr Desigan wird uns in Begleitung von Frau Prof. Dr. Ulrike Niklas (online) durch das Dorf führen. Im Rahmen der Tour besuchen wir ein typisches Wohnhaus, die Wohnviertel un-terschiedlicher sozialer Schichten, sowie die wichtigsten Dorftempel. Anmeldung und Zoom-Link: schlage@uni-bonn.de

Concert organised by SPIC MACAY Europe in collaboration with the Department of Asian and Islamic Art History Vocal by Dr. Nabanita Chowdhary and Debasish Bhattacharjee on tabla.

Building Identity: Architecture and Patronage in Goa During the Early Modern Period: Some of the biggest and most elaborate early modern churches in Asia were built in the ‘Old Conquests’ region of the state of Goa (India), administered by the Portuguese Empire until 1961 Several religious orders built their churches convents, and colleges within the city, as most of Goa’s indigenous population was converted to Christianity. During the early seventeenth century, Goan Catholic priests began striving for empowerment and recognition from the Portuguese and their Goan brethren, as they began taking over some of the parishes of Goa from the missionary orders. In this presentation, I will address the connections between identity, patronage and architecture during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries in Goa, as the elite of Goan Catholic Brahmins became increasingly empowered in the midst of a racially bigoted colonial society.

Despite arriving in British India in 1840, it was only in 1884 that Portuguese-held Goa got its first professional photography studio: Souza & Paul. This studio extensively photo-documented Goa in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, partnering with state authorities. In examining Souza & Paul’s archival photographs, this lecture inverts the gaze of colonial visuality; although the striking mix of European influenced architecture is meant to be the punctum of Old Goa’s late-nineteenth century photographs, it is the negative spaces - which hide the ruination of the city - that become its true punctum. The late-colonial state used the camera as a logistical tool, obscuring the ruination of Old Goa and the lack of new development. In the absence of new monuments, the administration utilised photography to showcase leftover monuments of the great imperial past to underscore colonial longevity so as to hold on to their powers during the era of decoloniality.

The temples built during the period of the Hoysalas, a dynasty that ruled large parts of southern India from the 11th – 14th centuries, are known for their exceptionally rich, profuse and intricate figural carving. Two of the earliest such temples are the Chennakeshava temple in Belur and the Hoysalesvara temple in Halebidu, built in the early years of the 12th century. Both these temples underwent several modifications within a century of being constructed, including the additions of decorative stone screens, lintels and brackets. Some of these modifications to the temples were documented in lithic inscriptions. A close examination of discontinuities in the temples’ decorative schemes and sculptures points to several other likely architectural alterations and modifications in both these temples. This talk explores some of these additions to the two temples and the possible reasons that may have prompted them.

Bhutaradhane is a unique tradition of spirit-worship patronized mainly by the Tulu-speaking Hindu community located along the west coast within the southern state of Karnataka in India. Various kinds of spirits (Bhutas) worship are practiced in this tradition, which is characterized by inextricable linkages between its rituality, visuality and materiality. In addition to being consecrated and venerated as sacred objects in Bhuta rituals, the Bhuta masks and sculptures have made their way into the museum spaces where they are exhibited as artefacts, valuable remnants and emblems of cultural heritage. This talk argue that museums as cultural intermediaries are not just repositories of objects but are political institutions that function as sites for construction of historical narratives.

The Contested Use of Siva as Icon and Subject: Using the format of a lecture/demonstration, we offer a glimpse into the dancing forms of Śiva, especially Śiva Naṭarāja, whose position in Hindu mythology and Western understandings gained popularity through the writings of Ananda Coomaraswamy (1918) and Heinrich Zimmer (1946) in the early 20th century. The allure and power of the famous Naṭarāja icon, deeply implicated and foregrounded as the Lord of Dance in the nationalist revival of Indian dance in this period, remains until this day. We illustrate how Śiva began to take centre stage in the dance form of Bhāratanāṭyam both in choreographies and in his presence onstage in sculptural form, providing a virile, hypermasculine ideal especially for male dancers. We show examples from Indian dancer Ram Gopal (1912-2003) as well as Rukmini Devi Arundale’s (1904-1986) new revivalist choreography on Śiva, titled Natanam Adinar (Tamiḻ: naṭaṉaṁ āṭiṉār).

This lecture will reflect on two distinct moments in the speaker’s curatorial practice where technology was and is a tool in breaking barriers across territories for public engagement with arts, heritage and culture. One, when a 3D map of an exhibition curated in Delhi, of Indian and Pakistani origin artists, was used as a teaching tool to expand the notion of ‘ownership’ of history. Second, a global collaboration of technologists and designers to create Augmented Reality filters for a guerilla tour about looted artefacts in a well known museum. Both experiences were moments where information disseminated through technology, and, using technology allowed for space of advocacy of complicated intangible histories through tangible objects. The lecture is a crystallisation of these learnings which the advantage of retrospect and reflection and a possible way-forward playbook on how these learnings can actionalise advocacy and change through the public, if circumstances and intent align.

The dry-zone water-harvesting and management system in Sri Lanka is one of the oldest historically recorded systems in the world. A substantial number of ancient sources mention the management and governance structure of this system suggesting it was initiated in the 4th century BCE and abandoned in the middle of the 13th century CE. In the 19th century CE, it was reused under the British colonial government. Over the centuries,large-scale irrigation works were important to expand and develop the Dry Zone hydraulic civilization throughout the northern lowland plains and to enhance the livelihoods of the people by ensuring water availability throughout the year. After nearly five centuries of abandonment, the water management and governance systems in the Rajarata kingdom were reutilized under the British colonial regime.

"Höre nie auf zu malen, höre nie auf, was du tun willst“, lautet die Botschaft des Films. Er blickt in das Leben der talentierten Naima, die alles fantasievoll bemalt, was ihr unter die Finger kommt. Als ihr Vater, ein Rikscha-Fahrer, schwer erkrank, steht die Familie vor dem finanziellen Ruin. Naima würde gerne Rikscha fahren, aber die anstrengende Arbeit ist nur Männern vorbehalten. Mutig und entschlossen sieht sie nur einen Ausweg: Mit abgeschnittenen Haaren und Jungenkleidung wird sie schließlich ein erfolgreicher Rikscha- Fahrer. Besonders ihr selbst bemaltes Gefährt ist sehr beliebt. Allerdings neiden andere Rikscha-Fahrer ihr diesen Erfolg, und ihr Geheimnis droht, entdeckt zu werden. – Eine Besonderheit des Films sind die farbenfrohen Bilder, die in einigen Szenen animiert werden. Im Anschluss an die Filmvorführung findet eine interaktive Panel Diskussion statt.

Scholarship on religion and visual culture often posits that the birth of modern museums and art historical approaches brought to a secularization and aestheticization of religious art. This might also explain why many scholars of art have explored the intellectual and artistic networks created in the early 20 th century between Japan and India and centering on the encounter between the Bengali poet Rabindranath Tagore and the Japanese art historian Okakura Kakuzō, but they have not considered the importance of Buddhism in this transnational flow of visual culture. This presentation will trace recent scholarship on modern Buddhism that is shedding light on the role of Buddhist priests and intellectuals in the circulation of visual culture between Japan and South Asia, and will focus on the work of one specific Japanese artist, Nousu Kōsetsu, and on the way his art has been redeployed in modern spaces of Buddhist religious practice in a transnational context.

Online conference organised by the Department of Asian and Islamic Art History, University of Bonn, Germany and the Centre for Research in Arts and Creative Exchange (CRACE), University of Roehampton, UK: Join us for two days of exciting presentations on ‘Emerging Trends in Research on Classical Indian Dance’ and related topics. The keynote address ‘Interweaving Questions of Past and Future: Ram Gopal, Innovative Bharatanatyam Pioneer and Modernist’ will be delivered by Professor Ann R David. There will be a special contribution on ‘The Importance of Museum Archives for the Study of Indian Dance’ by Dr Johannes Beltz and a special lecture on ‘Interlinking Indian Dance with Architecture, Sculpture and Literature’ by Professor Choodamani Nandagopal.

A Reimagining of Sikkim’s Sacred Landscapes: Narratives of Conflict and Controversy: Using the Buddhist sacred landscapes of Sikkim as a case study, this lecture examines the relationship between conflict and controversy in narratives concerning the conversion and establishment of sacred sites. Drawing primarily on ethnographic research embedded in the daily lives of Lhopo Buddhists, the presentation explores the belief narratives surrounding the transformation of the sacred landscape, driven by both natural and man-made disasters. It aims to demonstrate how local communities negotiate their beliefs and rituals, adapting to changes by creating new sacred spaces. In this process, the materiality of religious practices—embodied in altars, shrines, and ritual objects—plays a central role in transforming the landscape. By establishing new physical manifestations of their faith, these communities reshape their environment into a conflicted site of religious and cultural significance.

The lecture takes a historical view to the question of urban development and morphology as related to the questions of modification nature. Cities by their very nature modify the natural condition in order to create conducive living environment. However this alteration of natural condition is not a constant phenomenon and has been undergoing a shift in recent past. This lecture will highlight case studies of South Asian historical cities to establish the pattern of natural modifications and its result in the formation of cities.

Nächste Woche finden am Mittwoch (02.10.24) die Einführungsveranstaltungen für die neuen Studierenden unserer Abteilung statt: - 14.00 Uhr s.t. Bachelor-Einführungsveranstaltung - 15.00 Uhr s.t. Master-Einführungsveranstaltung Beide Informationsveranstaltungen finden im Seminarraum der Abteilung für Asiatische und Islamische Kunstgeschichte im Erdgeschoss der Adenauerallee 10 statt (gegenüber der Universitätsbibliothek).

The Labyrinth City of Loulan (Loulan micheng), now kept in the Museum of East Asian Art, Cologne, was created in 1992 by pioneer Modernist Chinese calligrapher Gu Gan (1942–2020). Featuring pictographic variations of ancient Chinese oracle-bone and seal scripts, it exemplifies the Modernist renewal of calligraphic arts in Post-Mao China. Relying on the long-standing premise of ink-drawn brush strokes as unique, cosmographic “mind paintings”, the work expresses an artistic mindset shaped by and shaping the creative generation of Gu’s time. Its composition is, decipherable as a diagrammatic, indeed cartographic spatial design, whose intricate labyrinth of written and painted ‘signposts’ emerges like a visualized mind map of sorts: allowing us to navigate across some of the tangled historical and geographical, epigraphical and archaeological terrains of Chinese art. The presentation so maps out Gu’s work as a “Modernist Metaverse” themed on the ruined ancient Silk Road city of Loulan.

Public lecture by PD Dr. Isabella Schwaderer: At the beginning of the 20th century, two relatively young arts developed in parallel and cross-fertilised each other - photography and expressive dance. In Germany in particular, photography was a welcome means for dancers to achieve a broad impact beyond the stage. A particular interest in art forms understood as "primordial" led to an exchange with with non-European dancers, whose art was perceived as superior because of its ancient tradition. From the 1920s, South Asian artists were increasingly present on European stages and in the studios of star photographers. An analysis of images of Indian dancers from the Weimar Republic to the Nazi era explores the origins of stereotypes and the interaction of dance movements and poses in front of the camera. This reveals a broad commercialisation of the media of dance, photography and film, but also how artists visually interacted and collaborated.