Bilocation
Video and Sound Installation
This artwork featured in Shakti (2013-2014). A Meadow Arts Commission 2013.
As part of his artist’s residency at Kedleston Hall, Harminder Judge was commissioned to create a new work that responds to Kedleston Hall and its links to the Indian Subcontinent through Lord Curzon (Viceroy of India 1899 -1905 and owner of Kedleston Hall).
Harminder Judge first visited Kedleston Hall in 2012 and instantly became drawn to the short film documenting Lord Curzon’s 1903 Delhi Durbar, an extravagant public spectacle thrown to celebrate the Coronation of Edward VII as Emperor of India. Judge was also interested to learn that this footage proved hugely popular and was later shown throughout India in makeshift cinemas in the 1920s-50s.
Inspired by the rare film fragments of the Delhi Durbar, Judge decided to create a film, Bilocation, which would directly connect Kedleston and Delhi. During several visits to Kedleston Hall, Harminder Judge and his crew took hours of footage of every aspect of Kedleston, from the grand architecture of the domed saloon to intimate, stolen moments captured in mirrors. In Delhi he visited Coronation Park, site of the 1903 Durbar and now a forgotten relic of Colonial days: he returned with poignant footage of daily life in this peculiar space.
A soundtrack made in collaboration with professional mezzo-soprano Suzie Purkis accompanies the film: it is an abstracted version of a poem about post colonialism by the young Assamese poet Kamal Kumar Tanti.
Bilocation is screened in Kedleston’s Pleasure Grounds in a seemingly rough structure, which mirrors the simplicity of the original makeshift shacks where films such as the Delhi Durbar footage would have been shown all those years ago. This temporary sculptural space is the artist’s first outdoor work.
Production – 144 Picture, Sound & Music
Camera Assistance – Tristan Hessing
Soundtrack Artist – Suzie Purkis
Image: Harminder Judge, Bilocation, video and sound installation. Image courtesy the artist.
About the artist
Harminder Judge
Harminder Judge exhibited in Shakti, Kedleston Hall, 2014, commissioned by Meadow Arts.
Image: Harminder Judge, Bilocation, video and sound installation. Image courtesy the artist.