Bollywood Basketball
two-channel, synchronized video installation,
the two videos with audio are presented in monitors facing each other, each video 04:00 min,
from the project the tourist, 2002
The footage in this installation is sampled from the popular Bollywood romantic comedy Kuch Kuch Hota Hai (Something Happens).
At the beginning of the film Kuch Kuch Hota Hai, the female lead Anjali (starring Kajol), a sporty ‘tomboy’ in western clothes, continuously beats her friend Rahul in basketball. They are best friends, and it is clear that at least Rahul is not in love with Anjali. At the end of the film they meet again after many years. Anjali has changed her style and is now wearing a sari and has long beautiful hair. In a crucial scene they play basketball again. Anjali is stepping on her sari and it is evident that she has not played for a long time so Rahul wins the game – and finally falls in love with her.
The sampled imagery shows Anjali playing basketball. In one monitor she appears in her ‘western tomboy’ identity (a great basketball player but not loved by a man) and in the facing monitor she is the ‘traditional woman in sari’ (loved by a man but not a great basketball player). The videos are edited so that the basketball bounces from one monitor over to the other, and Anjali seems to be trapped in an endless game with herself, never getting beyond these two constricting stereotypes.
Åsa Elzén
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or Dancing is a Form of Forest Knowledge /
Skogen kallar – Ett oändligt kontaminerat samarbete eller
Dansandet är en form av skogskunskap
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– Extension #1 In Forest Intervals
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Träda – Fogelstadgruppen och jord
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– Biography of a Fallow / En trädas biografi
– Transcript of a Fallow / Avskrift av en Träda
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School at Fogelstad / Ett växande arkiv över Kvinnliga
Ladugårdsutbildningen vid Fogelstad
– A Step to the Side / Ett steg åt sidan
– A Growing Peace with the Earth Collection
– Transcript of Transcripts: Elin – Bang /
Avskrifter av avskrifter: Elin – Bang
– Why do things when you could leave it? – An attempt,
an in-between land / Varför gör man saker då man kunde
låta bli? – Ett försök, ett gränsland
While I am trying to get to know Fredrika, I am always
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YES! Association/Föreningen JA!
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– All that you touch You Change. All that you Change
– (art)work(sport)work(sex)work
– Zyklische Gesellschaftsreise
– We Will Open a New Front/Lee H. Jones
Bollywood Basketball