Hamletmachine
Video Installation , 20 minutes looped, sound, 1999-2000
   
   
  The Humiliated bodies of women
Hope of generations
Stifled in blood cowardice stupidity
Laughter from dead bellies
Hail Coca Cola
A Kingdom
For a murderer 		 
   
   
  Based on the text of Heiner Mueller's "Hamletmachine". The video play manifests the rise of Hindu fundamentalism in India, which reached its peak with the frenzied violence of fanatics who brought down the 16th century Babri Masjid (mosque) in December of 1992.

The growing unrest that followed this destruction provided the Hindu fanatics with an opportunity to attack and pillage the shanty- towns of the minority Muslim population in a clear case of land grab in Mumbai. Overnight slum colonies were burnt to cinders. The railway stations were filled with Muslims trying to catch any train that might take them away to the safety of their villages.		  
   
   
 

4 DVDs, 4 LCD video projectors (2000 Lumen), 4 DVD players, sync with single remote sensor for the four DVD players, sound system: 1 amplifier and 4 speakers, mirrored mylar, glass mirror, 300 kilos of coarse sea salt and 2 black benches.
Dimensions variable



Hamletmachine has been sponsored by the Fukuoka Asian Art Museum, Max Mueller Bhavan, a branch of the Goethe Institute and Tate Modern, London. It was Made at the Fukuoka Asian Art Museum Artist- residency-Program alongwith the Butoh dancer Harada Nobuo.


Solo show at the Zenith New Media Lounge, New Museum of Contemporary Art, New York and 'Recent Video Works - Nalini Malani' at Apeejay Media Gallery, New Delhi.
Exhibited at 'Text & Subtext' in Singapore, Sydney and Stockholm; 'Century City' at Tate Modern, London; 'The Hoopoe Curatorial project' in Montreal and Vancouver; 18th World Wide Video Festival in Amsterdam; 'Art and Human Rights: Witnessing to Silence' at Drill Hall, Australian National University in Canberra; 'subTerrain: Body. City' at House of World Culture, Berlin and 'Minority Report' at Aarhus Festival, Aarhus.

 
   
copyright © 2004 Nalini Malani