An anagram of “all bad”, BALLAD is a series of short pieces that reflect on our fractured existence, trapped by contemporary circumstances. Continuing the socio-political aspect of BALLAD 4 with the religious critique of PSALMS 63 & 69; Ballads 5 & 7 form a distinct group, united by their setting of abandoned monuments and spaces in Delhi, and linking guerrilla performances in those spaces (See also GEBROCHENGEL, NO ROAD) to contemporary religious intolerance and historical forgetting.
RUNNING TIME: VARIOUS | COMPLETED: 01/16 | DIRECTOR: Stephen Chen
BALLAD 5 (Caro, Dolce, Amico Amplesso) – a dry, forgotten step well in Delhi becomes the intersection of Hindu and Western myths, and a site that connects the contemporary drought and LGBT discrimination in India to colonial Britain.
BALLAD 7 (Giusto Ciel) – a promenade through abandoned ancient mosques in Delhi recalls past dynasties when Muslims were the dominant civilizing force in science and culture. Connecting contemporary Islamophobia to the same fundamentalist tendencies that led to their decline.
