Global Prayers

Mumbai, September 2012

In September, the next workshop leads Global Prayers to Mumbai.

From September 26rd to 30th, global prayers organizes together with the Goethe-Institut Mumbai a public symposium and an artistic presentation at the Max-Müller-Bhavan. Project fellows, artists and international guests are invited to present their research projects and to exchange their views  with local experts, activists and the broader public.

 

Public Symposium (26th and 27th of September, 1.30-5.30 pm)

The focus of this symposium which is taking place on September 26th and 27th  is centred around different aspects of “urban-religious configurations” which examine zones of overlapping  and / or shifting boundaries between what is perceived as secular and as sacral: What are spaces and places of faith? Which kinds of borders and of limits can be experienced? And how are the boundaries between „the religious and the sacral“ being established, maintained, transformed or blurred? These questions will be addressed with public presentation of artistic projects, film screenings, discussions, lectures and various interventions.

 

26th September:

global prayers - redemption and liberation in the city: Introduction to the Research Project by Stephan Lanz / Kathrin Wildner (Urban Researchers, Berlin-Frankfurt-on-Oder)

Building the New Religious City: Asonzeh Ukah (Religious Sociologist and Religious Historian, Lagos/Bayreuth)

Faith, Ritual, Labour: Translocal Religion Before, Between, and Beyond Politics
D. Parthasarathy (Sociologist, Mumbai)

Gospel Funk: Pentecostalism and Popular Music in Rio de Janeiro
Martijn Oosterbann (Anthropologist, Utrecht)


27th September:

On the Sacrality of Urban Sprawl: Registering Contemporary Religiosity in India: Smriti Srinivas  (Sociologist, Bangalore / Davis)

Religion and Rehabilitation - Human Biopolitics, City Spaces and Acts of Religion: Yasmeen Arif (Sociologist, Delhi)

Negotiating Gender Boundaries: Religion, Respectability and Access to Public Space in Mumbai: Sameera Khan (Jounalist and Researcher, Mumbai) and Shilpa Phadke (Cultural Scientist, Mumbai) in talk with Julia Eckert (Anthropologist, Berlin/Bern)

 


Artistic Presentation (26th-28th, 1-10 pm, Live-Event: 6-9 pm)

Apart from the academic contributions a live-event presented by Jochen Becker (art curator, Berlin) and Katrin Klingan (cultural manager, Berlin) compromising an artistic presentation and two film events will be open to the public. The event documents the exhibtition 'the Urban Cultures of global prayers' recently shown by metroZones (Berlin) at the Neue Gesellschaft für Bildende Kunst/NGBK (Berlin) and Camera Austria (Graz). 

Works presented during the event can be viewed individually on September 26, 27, 28 from 1-10 pm at Galerie Max Mueller. 


26th September, 6-9 pm: Artistic Presentation

The curatorial team of global prayers will present artistic works and researches produced for the exhibition 'the Urban Cultures of global prayers'. The presentation will be accompanied by an introduction into curatorial aspects of global players. It will be followed by a discussion with representatives of the artistic scene in Mumbai. 


27th September, 6-9 pm: Film Screening

On 27th September, the artistic curator Jochen Becker will present two artistic contributions to the Global Prayers-Project with different as well as specific approaches on questions dealing with documentary film and religiosity, the video installation 'On the set of 1978ff' (58 min.) by Sandra Schäfer and the documentary 'Sometimes I Wonder' (46 min.) by Tom Jide Akinleminu, Titilola Kayode, Matthias Luthardt, Tina Okhai and Jens Wenkel. The presentation will be followed by a discussion with representatives of the art-scene in Mumbai.


27th September, 6-9 pm: Film Presentation

On 28th September, filmic contributions on religious practices in the urban context of Berlin and of Mumbai will be contrasted with excerpts of the documentary 'The Great Passion' by Jörg Adolph. This documentary deals with a widely received passion play in the province of Bavaria which underwent several reforms. The screening of the excerpts will be followed by a discussion with Mumbai-based film-makers and sociologists.

 

For more information see: www.goethe.de