Nachrichten und Veranstaltungen

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 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.

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.