Helmut Dick-Report

                     

The KHOJ Public Arts Residency Programme 2006 in New Delhi –
a report by Helmut Dick

In August / September 2006 I accepted the invitation of KHOJ International Artists' Association and participated in their Public Arts Residency Programme in New Delhi, India. A group of 5 artists were invited to spend 6 weeks in Delhi. Resisting the temptation as much as possible to just spend our time exploring this amazing city, we were asked to develop and realise a project in the public space of Delhi. Besides myself, Bambang “Toko” Witjaksono from Jogjakarta, Indonesia; Jasmeen Patheja from Bangalore, India; Mohammad Ali Talpur from Hyderabad, Sindh, Pakistan; and Navjot Altaf from Mumbai, India were participating. With this choice of artists KHOJ selected a very diverse group where the cultural backgrounds and the different working strategies caused an interesting exchange and discourse on many levels. In order to advance the communication process, discussion-rounds were regularly held. They were organised and led by Takahiro Noguchi who was our “critic in residence”. Beside these meetings, the fact that most of the participants lived in the same apartment created plenty of additional opportunities for discourse. Talks about different artistic attitudes and aims naturally flowed into exchanges and explanations of cultural differences.

One very special alliance that occurred in the course of this process, was the way how Ali Talpur and I “protected” each other on our trips through Delhi. Ali (potentially local) helped me with his presence or simply by speaking Hindi at the right moment. On the other hand Ali (as a Pakistani) was quite worried about being controlled by the local police (in the beginning of our residency there was a situation where this fear was actually justified…) So he felt more safe wandering around with me, because it would be very unusual for an terrorist from Pakistan to be accompanied by a white European.

I realised that this strong experience of being a tourist and stranger in an overwhelming city like Delhi was indeed becoming one of the starting points for my new work. Together with the fact that I had been invited to spread my artist-ego over the public domain in a culture that I encountered for the first time, made my decision complete: “33 Helmut Dicks are visiting New Delhi”.

Together with another 32 Helmut Dicks, I was driven to different locations around Delhi where I started to unload the 32 life-size cardboard figures. They were “wearing” the same clothes as I was and had slightly confused and amazed looking facial expressions. It took between 30 - 45 minutes to arrange these cardboard Helmut Dicks in a big group. After I hung out with “myselves” for a while, I reloaded “us” back into the transport vehicle. The work appeared at Natjaf Khan’s tomb (Sept. 10), at Nehru Place (Sept. 12) and at Sheik Sarai Community Center (Sept. 15). This tourist-group of myself raised a lot of questions and speculations. Here a selection of comments given by passers-by…

- young man in his mid-twenties: “Is this man a political leader? Which party is he representing?” (Nehru Place, Sept. 12)

- a young boy: “Why has he made so many of himself ? He is not like Hritik Roshan (Indian movie star), he is not that good looking.” (Nehru Place, Sept. 12)

- man  approx. 30 years old: “I am on my way to go to the publisher and I am already late, but I want to see this…I will tell my boss that the publisher was closed…..I think what we see here is ”acha jughar hee” - a quick method to become very famous in India. (Nehru Place, Sept. 12)

- a 10 year old boy: “This uncle has not changed his clothes even once!” (Najaf Khan’s tomb, Sept. 10)

- several men talking together: “These Englishman come to India, make stupid actions, and then they will show it back home and become famous...” (Nehru Place, Sept. 12)

- a young man who had lived in Europe: “Do you know what ‘Ausländer’ (German word for foreigner) means....do you really know that?….what would happen if I would do this in your country?…what do you think?….how would the people in your country respond to me….?  (Sheik Sarai Community Centre, Sept. 15)

- 23-year-old man: “And what are we supposed to do now? (Sheik Sarai Community Centre, Sept. 15)

- a retired government clerk, approx. 50 years old: “This artist has tried to create more bodies of himself in order to do gods’ good work….like in the avtaras (Hindu mythology of reincarnation). (Najaf Khan’s tomb, Sept. 10)

The shameless extension of a likeness that we find in political campaigns is as well known as the digital effect of multiplying in science fiction movies. When this aesthetic is used by a character that seems unworthy of being duplicated, and it appears in an ordinary reality (for Delhi circumstances) the familiar becomes suddenly intangible.
 
The strategy and the outcome of my work was part of one of the fundamental and obvious differences between the artists that have been invited for the residency. The work of the participants could be roughly divided in two categories. Some of us were engaged with forms of “community art”, meaning work that is made together with certain groups with the aim to create an impact (often an improvement) in or around these groups. For example the work that Jasmeen Patheja made during her residency. She gathered groups of people via the internet and organised public actions that alerted passers-by to the issue of sexual harassment in the streets of Indian cities. Navjot Altaf tried to start a discussion-process about the relationship that inhabitants of Delhi have with their city. She collected different quotes and published this material on stickers including a “Delhi  me ?” The stickers were spread via the popular motor-rickshaw.
The second category, also including my work, were public interventions that work with the transformation of familiar structures and objects without providing a linear or clearly explainable purpose. This alteration of the “known” aims to cause subtle frictions in people’s explanation patterns and suggests extended or different possible realties. Bambang “Toko” Witjaksono used ordinary transport-vehicles for his work. He spray-painted the vehicles with images that showed him together with popular Indian movie actresses. By doing their daily rounds the vehicles carried his work out in the city. Mohammad Ali Talpur used the local television to place an ad to find a missing person: he used a photo and a description of himself.

More information and images of the work described above you can find at: http://khojworkshop.org/project/public_art_residency_06

All the work of the participants was carried out and organised at KHOJ studios. KHOJ provided simple atelier-spaces and an office unit with telephone and internet. They also provided guides and people that helped with organising material and construction. Later on assistance with executing and documenting the work at the different locations was arranged.
Although I had to get used to the different quality that “organising” implies in a city like New Delhi all in all I was satisfied with support that KHOJ offered.

Getting to know my colleges and following their different working–processes was in most cases a great pleasure. Further there were plenty of possibilities to get an impression from ongoing art activities in Delhi. KHOJ provided us regularly with information about the latest activities and exhibitions.

The fact that I was able to organise and realise a work in a public space of New Delhi brought me in an extraordinary and crazy way in contact with the local culture that never would be possible as a normal visitor. I enjoyed my residency at KHOJ, it was very special experience that I can only recommend.

My special thanks again to the KHOJ- team, the Goethe Institut New Delhi, Fonds BKVB and everybody that helped making possible that 33 Helmut Dicks visited New Delhi.

P.S. in the scope of the exhibition “Beings and Doings” documentation of my work was shown at the gallery of the British Council in March 2007 in New Delhi.