Insurrection 1946: Meanings of Failed Action
- Submitting institution
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University of East London
- Unit of assessment
- 33 - Music, Drama, Dance, Performing Arts, Film and Screen Studies
- Output identifier
- 7
- Type
- Q - Digital or visual media
- Publisher
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- Month
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- Year
- 2017
- URL
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- Supplementary information
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- Request cross-referral to
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- Output has been delayed by COVID-19
- No
- COVID-19 affected output statement
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- Forensic science
- No
- Criminology
- No
- Interdisciplinary
- No
- Number of additional authors
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- Research group(s)
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- Proposed double-weighted
- No
- Reserve for an output with double weighting
- No
- Additional information
- Meanings of Failed Action: Insurrection 1946 was a collaborative exhibition between Chapman, the prominent Indian artist Vivan Sundaram and the cultural historians Ashish Rajadhyaksha and Professor Valentina Vitali (UEL). The installation was intended to mark seventy years of Indian independence and partition by exploring a forgotten moment of Indian history: the uprising of the Royal Indian Navy’s sailors in 1946. The researcher contributed a sound installation that merged archival and contemporary recordings to explore ways to tell a complex historical narrative, with approaches drawn from a diverse range of audio art forms: radio documentary and drama, son et lumière, and experimental sound art.
The sound work was composed of oral history recordings, contemporary interviews, archive sounds, field recordings of sea and shipping, music, poetry, actors voicing historic texts and morse code renderings of original telegrams, alongside a historical narrative and a contemporary assessment of the uprising and its relevance for today’s political and social situation in India. This eclectic mix of forms and materials was designed to allow accessibility to a wide range of audiences, while the use of an 8-channel sound system created an immersive audio experience.
The sound, photographic and print archive for the exhibition was sourced from museums and collections in both the UK and India, and marked a significant gathering together of diverse material on this often-overlooked historical event.
During the exhibition in Mumbai, public and school groups were invited to view the exhibition and participate in organised talks on themes raised by the work. There were also guided tours of Mumbai to visit sites of importance during the uprising.
March 17–25, 2017, Coomaraswamy Hall, Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Vastu Museum, Mumbai, India.
Re-installed: Feb 9–July 20, 2018, Kiran Nadar Museum of Art, New Delhi, India.
- Author contribution statement
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- Non-English
- No
- English abstract
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