Arko & Sandra Indo-German Collaboration

Playing live at Performing Architecture Program Series organized by Goethe Institute, Germany after attending the Anti Fascist Convention on fascist spaces and architecture. Live at Morion, Laboratorio Occupato, Antifascist Centre, Venice.

Did we ever ask ourselves about the hidden smell of sweat, blood, tears and systematic historical exploitation of people when we drink our coffee or tea or cook with our loved spices? Did we ever ask a street cleaner about how he is marginalized in his own life everyday for cleaning our garbage? It is a long-standing area of research that has continued for centuries, with many questions left unanswered or avoided. In this performance we will together indulge into these grey stories. With our music, our dance and our thoughts. All of us collectively.

While clothing from unjust international conditions of production is displayed fragrantly in local boutiques, the physical risk and effort that goes into each of these garments is outsourced to India, China or Bangladesh. People’s sweat from work and fear, the pesticides, oils and solvents to which their bodies are exposed, are masked and suppressed – and not just in fashion production. Sweat metaphorically carries this industrialized exploitation and at the same time is an expression of the uniqueness of each individual person in this machinery. The performance “SWEAT – Smells of Labour” takes up this complex entanglement and develops a multi-layered examination of the smells associated with work. “SWEAT – Smells of Labour” uses dance, music and olfactory performance to examine sweat in the context of consumption, work, exploitation, social class and neo-colonial trade and production relations. Workers’ songs and percussion meet electronic soundscapes. Smells determine dance and storytelling, the performers translate sensual perception into moving impulses. Workers themselves have their say through interviews and sweat-soaked clothing.
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Sweat- Smells of Labour is a project by Sandra Chatterjee with Melmun Bajarchuu, Joyraj
Bhattacharjee, Srabanti Bhattacherjee, Cana Bilir-Meier, Constanze Knapp, Arko Mukhaerjee,
Kanishka Sarkar, Duduzile Voigts
Philosophical Input: Dr. André Grahle | Advice smells: Dr. Fabienne Hübener
Technical Direction: Andi Kern | Production: Sara Mack freispiel Kulturagentur| Assistence:
Antonia Grahmann and Annika Schwederski | PR: Pfau PR

While clothes from unfair international production are displayed fragrantly in local boutiques, the physical risk and effort that go into each of these garments are outsourced to India, China or Bangladesh. The worker’s sweat from labour, exertion and anxiety, the pesticides, oils and solvents their bodies are exposed to are drowned out and repressed – not only in the fashion industry. Sweat is a carrier of this industrialized exploitation and at the same time an expression of the uniqueness of each person in this machinery. The performance “SWEAT – Smells of Labor” takes up this complexity and develops a multi-layered investigation of the smells of labor.

“SWEAT – Smells of Labour” uses dance, music and olfactory performance to investigate sweat in the context of consumption, labor, exploitation, social class, and neocolonial trade and production relations. Workers’ songs and percussion meet electronic soundscapes. Smells determine dance and storytelling, the performers translate sensual perception into moving impulses.

Multilingual; mainly English and German.

A project by Sandra Chatterjee with Melmun Bajarchuu, Joyraj
Bhattacharjee, Srabanti Bhattacherjee, Cana Bilir-Meier, Constanze Knapp, Arko Mukhaerjee, Kanishka Sarkar, Duduzile Voigts
Philosophical Input: Dr. André Grahle | Advice smells: Dr. Fabienne Hübener
Technical Direction: Andi Kern | Production: Sara Mack freispiel Kulturagentur| Assistence: Antonia Grahmann and Annika Schwederski | PR: Pfau PR

In memory of the inimitable voice of Tara Devi and Swar Samrat Narayan Gopal, this is a little humble improvisation on our rooftop, where three friends come together to celebrate nostalgia, love and creativity.

Happy new year to everyone. Stay safe. Help the underprivileged.

This was a wonderful experience of going Live at Cafe Mona Bar ,the residence of Thomas Mann in Munich.

special thanks to Basab Mullik and the entire unit at Cafe Bar Mona.

I have been waiting to start this video blog having informal chats and artistic exchange of ideas and expressions of improvisation and finally here is the first episode with my dear friend Sandra Babli Chatterjee, a beautiful dancer presently based out of Munich and Salzburg in Europe. I was lucky to have her in my home in Kolkata when the idea materialised. Here we improvise on 3 songs 1. Sunta Nahi Dhun Ki Khabar (Sant Kabir – 15th Century) 2. Pidhi Ma Basera ( Nepali folk song – Late Buddhi Krishna Lamichhane, Nepal ) and 3. Tui Ki Korite Eli Bhobe – ( Bangla Sufi Song – Kajol Dewan, Bangladesh ). I also got the opportunity to discuss with her about our common views on art in a class divided society and stories of marginalisation and a few instances of how we have faced racism of colour in our lives.

Sandra is half German and half Bengali and trained in Bharatnatyam and Kuchipudi along with Hula, Salsa, Bachata and several other dance forms from around the world. Having been an academic, Sandra Chatterjee’s (PhD, UCLA) choreographic and scholarly work is situated at the intersection of theory and practice deals with performance, dance, and the body with a focus on gender, postcolonial and migration studies. She studied Dance and “ Culture and Performance” in Honolulu and Los Angeles (Bachelor of Arts in Dance (ethnology emphasis), University of Hawai ’i at Manoa (UHM); Master of Arts in Dance, University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA); PhD in Culture and Performance, UCLA: dissertation: Undomesticated Bodies: South Asian Women Perform the Impossible); post-graduate programme in “ Kultur und Organisation”, University of Vienna and Institut für Kulturkonzepte.

Artistically she has been investigating performance and smell for approximately 2 years. Her current artistic project has the working title “the smell of racism”.

Another major project she is involved in currently is CHAKKARs-Moving Interventions, an initiative dedicated to intersectional anti-racist, postmigrant and postcolonial /decolonizing approaches to choreography in Munich together with Sarah Bergh.

In her current research, recent publications, talks, and lecture performances she has been critically interrogating the aesthetic category of the “contemporary” in the context of concert dance in central and northern continental Europe and analyzes selected choreographic articulations between European and Indian dance (2012- 2016 as postdoctoral researcher at the Department of Art, Music and Dance studies, University of Salzburg). Additional (research) interests include (artistic) collaboration, and the possible intersection of artistic practice, civil engagement and claiming cultural and artistic citizenship. Currently, she is part of the research team of the FWF-funded project Border Dancing across Time (P 31958-G) at the University of Salzburg.

Sandra has taught a wide range of interdisciplinary classes ranging from dance studies, dance practice, gender studies to participatory art, comparative cultural studies and discourse analysis at universities including UCLA (Department of World Arts and Cultures); University of Salzburg; Kunstuniversität Linz; and University Mozarteum. In the Wintersemester 2018/19 she was guest professor for Dance Studies at ZZT – Zentrum für Zeitgenössischen Tanz in Cologne. Since 2017 she is on the Rutgers Arts Online Faculty as instructor.

Sandra is a co-founder of the Post Natyam Collective, an internet-based network of choreographers/scholars, working in live performance, video, and scholarship. She was also a co-initiator and co-organizer of ArtSensation (2006) and Integrier-Bar, Munich (2011-2013) and iIn collaboration with Siglinde Lang she has co-organized the 7hoch2//Festival für zivile Auftragskunst in Salzburg, which is a festival at the intersection of civil engagement and art.

An improvisation on a beautiful sufi song from Bangladesh. This is a tribute to Shainji Matal Razzak Dewan and Shainji Kajol Dewan. Bangla Pala gaan is one of the most quintessential ancient spiritual tradition celebrating dialectics of society and human co-existence. These songs inspire me to love and share my happiness with all beyond divides.

This is from an interview and a live session on my rooftop with Sandra Babli Chatterjee, one of the finest dancers and improvisers I know. Sandra is half German and half Bengali and a teacher, performer and a compassionate soul helping thousands in the time of crisis. My sincere gratitude to Sandra and Amit who shot the actual interview.

For all my friends who missed the entire session

ARKO AND SANDRA | PIDHIMA BASERA | LATE BUDDHI KRISHNA LAMICHHANE
A NEPALI FOLK SONG ON THE LIVES OF MIGRANT LABOURERS
A DANCE MUSIC IMPROVISATION

Very proud to have my dear friend, dancer/researcher/choreographer Sandra Chatterjee from Munich. Sandra is half German and half Bengali and has been dancing and researching on dance and music for decades, travelling and collaborating with dancers around the world.

In memory of the inimitable voice of Tara Devi and Swar Samrat Narayan Gopal, this is a little humble improvisation on our rooftop, where three friends come together to celebrate nostalgia, love and creativity.

Happy new year to everyone. Stay safe. Help the underprivileged.

This is a beautiful old Paschimi Nepali Folk Song of the Gandharvas, we discovered a few months ago. We were longing to improvise in this one.

This is a winter rooftop jam of us three friends having immense fun improvising on this beautiful folk song. We love Nepali music and especially the hidden treasures of Nepal’s folklore.

Shot and edited by our dear brother Amit Biswas

Special thanks to my dear friend Samriddhi Shakya from Kathmandu for transcribing this ancient gem for us.

Enjoy. Spread love and togetherness. beyond all divides and politics.

Kabir was a 15th-century Indian mystic poet and saint, whose writings influenced Bhakti movement and his verses are found in Sikhism’s scripture Guru Granth Sahib. He was a poet of equality, a poet of love, a poet against all divisive forces.

We three friends from three countries, Sandra Chatterjee from Munich, Germany, Ida Jo from Minnesota, USA and myself Arko Mukhaerjee from Kolkata, India bring to you our humble interpretation of the song. This is a improvised version of this legendary song where we have tried to give our humble best. All three of us, living in these trying times, hope sincerely that human kind finds it’s thread of oneness, through love and togetherness.

This video is edited and partly shot by our dear brother Amit Biswas, a sincere village boy, who have tirelessly worked during the entire time of countrywide lockdown, to support the poor and underprivileged of his area. We express our gratitude to him and every one who have helped in the making of this video.

Earnest gratitude to the people and organizations who helped in the making.
Camera (Munich): Christoph Mukherjee with support of Die Färberei Kreisjugendring München-Stadt.

Special Thanks to Sourav Bagchi our dearest brother for mixing and mastering this project and Srijan Biswas for helping in the shoot and providing multiple footages from his archive that helped in the making of this video.