Tracing the experiences of Indian Prisoners of War in World War I Germany

Guest Room Series

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  Baptist Coelho: "Jemadar Muhammad Khan (Punjabi Muslim) to Jemadar-Adjutant Abdulla Khan (129th Baluchis, France, 33) [Urdu] 17th August 1915", 2022, Collage with mixed media – Baptist Coelho: "Jemadar Muhammad Khan (Punjabi Muslim) to Jemadar-Adjutant Abdulla Khan (129th Baluchis, France, 33) [Urdu] 17th August 1915", 2022, Collage with mixed media

• Porträt von Baptist Coelho – Porträt von Baptist Coelho

Baptist Coelho’s research revisits the experiences of around 1,000 soldiers from the Indian Army who fought for the British during the First World War. Captured on the Western Front (France, Belgium), they were sent to the prisoner-of-war camp at Zossen-Wünsdorf, near Berlin.

Coelho explores various institutions and their archives which include voice recordings, photographs, leaflets, drawings, paintings, film clips and the yet-to-be-found palatograms (a record of the movement of the tongue and palate in the articulation of sounds). He also researches the presence of music and musical instruments within these archives. Coelho’s findings also highlight a present-day Erstaufnahmeeinrichtung (Initial Reception Facility) for refugees and asylum seekers, which is located on the exact site of Germany’s first mosque (1915 – 1930). It was part of the Halbmondlager (Halfmoon Camp), a prisoner-of-war camp that existed a century ago.

Baptist Coelho is a visual artist from India who articulates unspoken stories and conjures meaning from the psychological and physical disruptions caused by war and conflict. Baptist's research-based practice uses various media. He has exhibited worldwide in museums and galleries such as Somerset House, London; Centre Pompidou, Paris; New Art Exchange, Nottingham; MAXXI, Rome; Gwangju Museum of Art, South Korea; among others. His recent eponymous monograph was published by the In Flanders Fields Museum, Ypres, Belgium. The artist currently lives and works between Ypres and Paris.

Baptist Coelho was CoMuse Fellow at the Ethnologisches Museum and the Museum für Asiatische Kunst in Septeber 2024. This fellowship is part of a cooperation between the Ethnologisches Museum & the Museum für Asiatische Kunst / The Collaborative Museum and Humboldt Universität zu Berlin. It is funded by COST Action CA20134, TRACTS Network and COST EU (European Cooperation in Science and Technology).

CoMuse – The Collaborative Museum is an initiative by the Ethnologisches Museum and the Museum für Asiatische Kunst that aims to develop multi-perspective approaches to collection-based research and to test new formats of international collaborative processes in order to intensify the decolonization and diversification of museum practices in sustainable way.

- free of charge

- Language: English

- Location: Mechanical Arena, ground floor

Next date:

• Date Wednesday, 09/October/2024 17:00 bis 18:00
• Venue Humboldt Forum
• Address Schloßplatz, 10178 Berlin-Mitte