Zuleikha Chaudhari
Rehearsing Azaad Hind Radio (2018)
Installation
Courtesy of the artist
Dates
21.9.–15.10.2023
Location
Demon Radio
Graz
Part of
Demon Radio
Production specifics
Commissioned and coproduced by Berlin Biennale for Contemporary Art
With the support of the Goethe-Institut
Mixed messages transmitted over the radio are the main subject of Zuleikha Chaudhari’s installation. It represents a studio of a World War II–era Berlin-based broadcaster of Indian nationalist propaganda. The station was led by Subhas Chandra Bose, a militant patriot and man of many guises who sought the aid of Adolf Hitler and his Japanese allies in the struggle against British rule. Chaudhari’s installation addresses this troubling figure in the context of a new quasi-fascist Hindu nationalism by mixing his speeches, rehearsed by actors, with footage of speeches about nationalism given at teach-outs during the 2016 student movement at Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi.
Cinematographer: Desmond Roberts
Sound designer: Ish S
Costume designer: Amal Allana
Editor: Ganesh Prasad
Make-up: Pardeep Chahar
Backdrops: Satinder Singh
Assistant: Paromita Dasgupta
Costumes: New Prominent Tailors
Texts: radio broadcasts by Subhas Chandra Bose, JNU lectures on nationalism, and excerpts from Heiner Müller’s Hamletmachine
Retrospective
Retrospective