Category Archives: digital media / art

Viva Declaration! live in Morecambe 18th June

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Viva Declaration! uses global jazz music with live mixed video to evocatively place human rights as fundamental principles able to lever movements against structural racism and global inequality, both of which have become highlighted during the pandemic era and which underpin issues of migrant justice.  Created and performed by film and digital media artist Kooj Chuhan and multi-instrumentalist composer Tagné Tebu, with guest musician the saxophonist-flautist Helena Summerfield. Viva Declaration! live in Morecambe focuses on the story of migration from ancient history to the present day. Plus a Q+A after the show with the artists and Gisela Renolds and Zia Khan from Global Link.

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Making Climate Connections

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Can words, pictures and social media empower people to protect our environment?
A project exploring some ways in which local libraries, communities and artists in Oldham and Bremen are making climate connections using educative methods and creative media.

Making Climate Connections

An online event Weds 19th May, 6.30pm (UK) / 7.30pm (Germany)

Register your place
  • Announcing the winning entries from the Climate Connections competition
  • Presenting the work produced by diverse groups in Oldham (UK) and Bremen (Germany) in the first phase of the Climate Connections project

How do local people relate to and voice their feelings about climate change? Can this expression combine with social media to have some impact on climate change? This event brings together artists, activists, libraries and community members to explore these questions. If you are interested in communities and climate change, also the arts and social media, then this informal sharing event is for you.

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Viva Declaration! counters post-Brexit threats against human rights

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Title poster image for Viva Declaration

A new music and multimedia performance raises the bar against the anti-human rights and anti-migration agenda hoisted onto Brexit.  Viva Declaration! uses global jazz music with live mixed video to evocatively remind us of how important our human rights are.  Created and performed by film and digital media artist Kooj Chuhan and the multi-instrumentalist composer Tagné Tebu, it focuses on the story of migration from ancient history to the present day.

The live show takes place at the People’s History Museum (PHM) on Saturday 22nd February at 2pm to launch their year-long programme of activity around migration.  At the heart of the Viva Declaration! project is a strong message about human rights, that they are vital and that they should not be watered down.  This is the potential scenario now that we have left the EU as was recently asserted loud and clear by Boris Johnson’s new Attorney General, Suella Braverman.

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In Humanity: borders, detention, human rights

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In Humanity art installation and exhibition

In Humanity art installation and exhibition
1st – 23rd February 2020
at People’s History Museum, Left Bank, Spinningfields, Manchester  M3 3ER

+ ARTISTS’ TALK AND GUIDED TOUR
by Kooj Chuhan @ 2pm on Saturday 1st Feb.

In Humanity asks how far do we treat people needing refuge in humanity and with care?  The UK is the only place in Europe with no time limit on detention.  Nearly 30,000 people are locked up each year most of whom are eventually released, this is a shameful civil rights abuse that cannot be ignored.

By artist and film-maker Kooj Chuhan in collaboration with These Walls Must Fall and Greater Manchester Immigration Aid Unit, including soundtrack fragments by musician and composer Tagné Tebu.  In Humanity is part of the Declaration project by Metaceptive. 

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Migration Justice event featuring Declaration performance

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Respected activist Viraj Mendis, video and music artists Tagné+Kooj and playwright-poet Louise Wallwein MBE are on the bill at a unique event to support migration justice on 25th September 2019 in Manchester.

migration justice, rights and resistance feat. Declaration performance - at Partisan 25 Sept 2019

Justice, Rights and Resistance

at Partisan, 19 Cheetham Hill Road, Manchester M4 4FY
Doors open 6.30pm / event runs 7pm-9.30pm
Food and refreshments will be available to buy
Tickets £8 / £5 / Pay-what-you-can

>> Click HERE for Tickets <<

Greater Manchester Immigration Aid Unit (GMIAU) mark their 30th birthday with this event looking back over their 30 years of delivering Justice, Rights and Resistance. Among the performances, speakers and discussion the event will feature a special performance of ‘Declaration’ by Kooj Chuhan and Tagné Tebu. Combining live music and projected visuals, they have collaborated with GMIAU and These Walls Must Fall to create this emotive work (more info below).  The event will look back on successful campaigns against racist immigration policies and discuss future challenges in the continued fight for immigration justice.

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Poppy Retake at M-Shed Bristol 10th April-7th May

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The Poppy Retake

 and other work exploring
Colonies, Militarism and WWI

At M Shed, Princes Wharf, Wapping Rd, Bristol BS1 4RN Tel:
0117 352 6600
From Weds 10th April until Tues 7th May 2019
Open Tuesday – Sunday and Bank Holiday Mondays 10am-5pm (closed on all other Mondays)
https://www.bristolmuseums.org.uk/m-shed/whats-on/the-poppy-retake-from-the-shadows-of-war-and-empire/

The Poppy Retake at M-Shed

It’s great that we are about to have The Poppy Retake at M-Shed Museum on show for a month as a part of the Commemoration, Conflict and Conscience festival – see https://everydaylivesinwar.herts.ac.uk/ccc/ . Special thanks to the Remembering the Real World War I group, and also Tony T at Sweet Patootee www.sweetpatootee.co.uk for inviting the work to be shown. More about The Poppy Retake at http://crossingfootprints.com/poppy-retake/ but here’s a quick summary:

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MINI-CONFERENCE World War I’s Hidden Voices and Poppy Retake exhibition

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World War I’s Hidden Voices MINI-CONFERENCE
Saturday 10th February 2018, 1pm – 4.30pm
at Manchester Central Library (First Floor), St Peter’s Square, Manchester M2 5PD, UK    Tel. +44 (0)161 234 1983

Registration is strongly advised and completely FREE at https://conferencehiddenvoicesww1.eventbrite.co.uk

India, Africa, the West Indies, colonialism and recruitment, the impacts of war and our ongoing culture of war explored in a free afternoon conference.

Saturday 10th February 2018, 1pm – 4.30pm
at Manchester Central Library (First Floor), St Peter’s Square, Manchester M2 5PD, UK Tel. +44 (0)161 234 1983

This mini conference is a part of the ‘WWI’s Hidden Voices’ exhibition offering an afternoon of presentations and discussions offering the most critical perspectives on World War I in any current public forum. The speakers will expose the full extent of involvement from the British colonies in World War I, the impact the war had on those regions, its legacy for those countries and cultural representation of the war. Sessions include:

The West Indies join the War by Washington Alcott
Women’s Perspectives from East Africa by Susan Chieni Cookson
Cultural Representation of World War One and other wars by Kooj Chuhan
Teaching Hidden Histories in Schools by Dipali Das
Community Research from a ‘Southern’ Perspective by Southern Voices Continue reading →

Video Preview for Manchester World War I’s Hidden Voices incl. The Poppy Retake

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‘The Poppy Retake’ video art installation by Kuljit ‘Kooj’ Chuhan is the focus for a new short film about the upcoming Manchester World War I exhibition titled World War I’s Hidden Voices which launches on Weds 6th December 2017 at the amazing Central Library building in the heart of Manchester.

‘The Poppy Retake’ is partnering with the extensive ‘From The Shadows Of War And Empire’ set of educational graphic panels by Southern Voices to create the exhibition, which runs from 7th December 2017 – 24th February 2018.  Key details below: Continue reading →

The Gift Of India poem by Sarojini Naidu

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Rani will dramatise a reading of the poem by Sarojini Naidu

Rani Moorthy

At the exhibition launch of World War I’s Hidden Voices (6th December – CLICK HERE TO REGISTER) the Manchester actress Rani Moorthy will perform a dramatised reading of a powerful poem reflecting on the effects of the First World War from an Indian and colonised country perspective.  She will be accompanied by musician Jaydev Mistry and also VJ projections by Kuljit ‘Kooj’ Chuhan.  The poem is by Sarojini Naidu and is titled The Gift Of India, written in 1915 while the war was ravaging.

The exhibition features The Poppy Retake art installation by Kooj Chuhan, the launch event will be on Weds 6th December from 5.30pm and the performance and speakers begin at 6.30pm.  More information at www.metaceptive.net/poppy-retake .  The event is free but registration is strongly advised at www.hiddenvoicesww1.eventbrite.co.uk .  #poppyretake

About Sarojini Naidu

Sarojini Naidu was a distinguished poet, renowned freedom fighter and one of the great orators of her time.  She was famously known as Bharatiya Kokila (The Nightingale of India) and was a prolific poet with over three books of published poems, highly praised by Rabindranath Tagore.  Sarojini Naidu was the first Indian woman to become the President of the Indian National Congress and the first woman to become the governor of a state in India. Continue reading →

World War One’s Hidden Voices: documentary and art in two parallel exhibitions

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India, Africa, the West Indies, colonialism and recruitment, impacts of war and our ongoing culture of war explored in two parallel exhibitions under the title World War One’s Hidden Voices

World War One's Hidden Voices
The Poppy Retake (v3) by Kooj Chuhan // From the Shadows of War and Empire by Southern Voices // #poppyretake

On show 7th December 2017 – 24th February 2018
at Manchester Central Library (First Floor), St Peter’s Square, Manchester M2 5PD, UK // Opening times 9am-8pm Mon-Thurs and 9am-5pm Fri-Sat (Sunday closed) Tel. +44 (0)161 234 1983

OPENING NIGHT – 6th December 2017 5.30pm-7.30pm
including speakers Ahmed El-Hassan (Southern Voices) and Colette Williams (Mbari), plus live performance from Jaydev Mistry (music), Rani Moorthy (dramatised readings) and Kuljit ‘Kooj’ Chuhan (VJ projection) // First Floor exhibition from 5.30pm, then speakers and performance from 6.30pm on Ground Floor
Booking for this free event is strongly advised: www.hiddenvoicesww1.eventbrite.co.uk

MINI-CONFERENCE – 10th February 2018
thought-provoking talks, workshops, films and discussion for World War One’s Hidden Voices – full details to be announced www.metaceptive.net/poppy-retake

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The Poppy RetakeTHE POPPY RETAKE (v3)

…colonial narratives, spirits from the dead and video war games…

video art installation by Kooj (Kuljit Singh Chuhan) – new version

Modern war propaganda began with World War I which obscured its pointlessness and deep colonial connections, while pretending to be the ‘war to end all wars’. This artwork explores coercion into war, involving an African woman working for a war-themed park. She finds herself caught between colonial narratives, spirits from the dead and video war games.

Since the end of WWI we have seen numerous wars with the majority in regions once colonised. Modern video gaming is now the epitome of obscuring both the horror and the colonial roots of much conflict. The Poppy Retake suggests our multiple connections with wars as forms of cultural recruitment but which impact mostly on people from ex-colonies. It extends the perspectives developed in the documentary exhibition ‘From The Shadows Of War and Empire’. Continue reading →