A new initiative seeks to understand socio-political incidents and revolutions in the course of history through the lens of art and literature
A still from the 2012 film, Something in the Air
If you read it carefully, you would know why history repeats itself. The thing is, no incident is an isolated occurrence, but rather a culmination of things that precede it and a precursor to things that follow. For screenwriter, filmmaker and scholar Vaibhav Abnave, this concept is clearer than it is to us. Coming from a philosophical domain, Abnave describes a historical event as a concept and refers to it as an unprecedented rupture with the existing status quo. In that sense, everything from the Quit India Movement to the French Revolution to the #MeToo campaign qualifies as a concept.
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Vaibhav Abnave
In a series of literature readings and film screenings that Abnave is organising, spread across eight months, he hopes to unpack these theories and constructs by juxtaposing such incidents with literature and art relevant to that specific event or era. And the first of its kind is scheduled for this weekend, titled An Event and its Afterlife: A Cinematic and Literary Memorial of 1968.
With the focus on the socialist-communist movement against the Gaullist regime (the government under President Charles de Gaulle) that spread like wildfire in France in 1968, Abnave has curated a weekend full of screenings that will feature films which capture the essence of the political and cultural uprising during the time. That apart, there will also be readings of literature, including slogans, artwork, graffiti and court speeches of arrested dissenters.
"The philosophy of an event emerged after '68 and most notably because of Alain Badiou's works [a French philosopher credited for his writings on existentialism and truth]. Badiou was also an active participant in the movement," Abnave tells us, adding, "So, through the '68 movement, we are trying to reflect on many things that happen around us, be it in the domain of student protests, political cinema or general anti-establishment attitudes. In some ways, we are contemporaries to what took place then, because much of it remains unfinished and unrealised."
ON: August 25, 1 pm to 10.30 pm; August 26, 11 am to 10.30 pm
AT: Studio Tamaasha, Aram Nagar, Versova.
LOG ON TO: tamaashatheatre@gmail.com (to RSVP)
CALL: 9819830578
COST: Rs 150 to Rs 500
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