Your Story, Our Stage: Curate the ECSAS 2025 Exhibition - Join Us at the Online Informational Meeting on Monday, Oct. 14
What is ECSAS?
The European Conference on South Asian Studies (ECSAS) is a biennial event that brings together leading and emerging scholars to engage in interdisciplinary discussions on South Asia. The 2025 edition of ECSAS will be hosted by the South Asia Institute (SAI) at the Centre for Asian and Transcultural Studies and will take place at the Neue Universität at the University of Heidelberg from 1st to 4th October 2025.
For this event, we are partnering with the Völkerkundemuseum (VKM) of the v. Portheim-Stiftung and the CATS library to curate a special exhibition to bring aspects of South Asia into Heidelberg's city space. While some objects will be positioned in the Völkerkundemuseum and in the exhibition space at the CATS library, the main aim of the exhibitions ("Paths through the City") is to bring South Asia into select places of the city of Heidelberg, or to explore the transcultural ties between Heidelberg and South Asia.
The Exhibition
The exhibition project “Heidelberg meets South Asia: Paths through the City” aims to bring aspects of South Asia's cultural and socio-political heritage to life in connection with the city of Heidelberg.
Museum objects shall be picked by you from VKM's vast archive (in consultation with the museum director) to feature in the Völkerkundemuseum, at the CATS library, in the conference space, and at select sites within Heidelberg city, connected by an interactive ‘path through the city’, leading museum visitors into the city space and city visitors into the museum space.
The exhibition shall offer an immersive, multisensory experience, featuring app-based city tours that connect the VKM, the CATS library, and the city by guiding visitors to different sites. These tours can incorporate audio content and artefacts from the museum’s collection – it’s up to your imagination and creativity.
Curate, Create, Connect: Join the ECSAS 2025 Team!
We are seeking teams of enthusiastic BA, MA, PhD students and PostDocs to join us in curating this exhibition. This project will involve a creative and hands-on approach, incorporating app development, videography, and interactive media. As such, we are particularly interested in students who either have experience or are eager to learn about digital curation, media production, and public history projects.
Importantly, your participation needs to be a commitment to active and proactive engagement throughout all project phases, continuing through to the end of the winter semester 2025.
By participating in one of the courses or the workshops offered in preparation of the exhibition, you will earn credit points, and a few spaces as intern in the VKM will be offered to participants after the completion of the exhibition, allowing you to gain insights into museum work and to gather working experience outside of the University context.
How can you apply?
As application, we ask you to submit a 2-3-minute video that introduces your idea for such a "path through the city". You are encouraged to bring South Asia into the cityscape, to tell stories that resonate with (or create) Heidelberg's connection to South Asia, or simply to bring aspects of South Asian cultural and socio-political heritage into the city space. We encourage you to be as creative as possible in showcasing aspects of South Asia in Heidelberg, utilizing any visual, narrative, or audio materials at your disposal.
Make Your Mark: Submit Your Video Proposal
Video Format Requirements:
- Videos should be between 3 and 5 minutes in length.
- Acceptable file formats include MP4, AVI, or MOV.
- Ensure video quality is at least 720p for clarity.
Content Focus:
- Tell us what kind of "Path through the City" you would like to curate.
- How do you imagine to bring South Asia into the VKM, CATS library, and the Heidelberg city space?
Group Submission:
- Each submission must be made by a group of minimum 3 and maximum 6 people.
Language and Subtitles:
- Videos can be in English or German, with English or German subtitles.
Submission Process:
- Send us your videos through heiBox
- The submission deadline is 1.11.2024.
Shortlisted applicants will be notified by 5.11.2024.
Support / Credits and Classes
The SAI and HCTS are offering classes and workshops to support the curatorial aspects of the group projects, which you shall attend. Through these courses and workshops, participants can acquire Credit Points in their respective study programs.
Class in the Winter term 2024/25:
Curating an interactive walk through the city, bringing aspects the festival Navarātri/Durgāpūjā to Heidelberg; teachers: Ute Hüsken, Astrid Zotter. The topic of this “Path through the city” is determined by the thematic focus of the class. Students can register in HeiCo without further application.
Short description: Navaratri, the nine-night long worship of the goddess Durgā revolving around the goddess' fight with and victory over the buffalo demon, is a festival that has been celebrated since many centuries and all over the Hindu world. As part of the seminar, students will curate a mini-exhibition featuring ten pieces selected by them, showcasing to a wider public their understanding of the festival's elements and meanings. This exhibition will be inaugurated at the ECSAS 2025 conference in Heidelberg, providing a unique opportunity to share the students' work also with a broader academic audience.
Class in the Summer term 2025:
- Christiane Brosius (HCTS) will offer a class related to the exhibition format and theme with a focus on organizing walks, on curatorial methods and concepts.
Workshops
- During the Winter term 2024/25 and the Summer term 2025 we will offer workshops with Katharina Weiler, Curator at the Museum Angewandte Kunst in Frankfurt, to assist with and accompany the curatorial work
- In the Winter term 2024/25 Hei_Innovation will offer a workshop entitled “Briding the Gap” on the transfer of science (Wissenschaftstransfer), to assist with the “Paths through the city”, a 90 minutes workshop that provides students with initial insights and knowledge in the field of knowledge transfer in an interactive way. We will address the conceptualisation of the city walks, potential impact, target group, time management, etc.
Queries:
We will conduct an online meeting / information event to answer questions you might have before you start with your proposal on 14.10.2024 from 2pm to 3:30pm. This meeting shall also facilitate networking among the prospective contributors.
We are very much looking forward to your submissions!