Ujjwal Kanishka Utkarsh
Lecture Performance: From Shadows to the Stars
THURSDAY 19.12.2024/ 19.30/ duration 45min

“Let my funeral be silent and smooth. Behave like I just appeared and gone. Do not shed tears for me. Know that I am happy dead than being alive. ‘From shadows to the stars.”|
This is an eXcerprt from Rohith Vemula’s suicide letter. Rohith killed humself due to the institutional harassment he faced for being vocal and politically active Dalit student.is death caused a wave of protests across India. The state tried to and succeedded in suppressing many of them.
Among the events the state suppressed was a candlelight vigil organised for him in Delhi. Attending this vigil, I started recording some sounds and ended up making a filmic piece, Special Service. This lecture-performance is a reflection on making the work, conteXtualising it with the sequence of events around it.

BIO
Ujjwal Kanishka Utkarsh is a Phd-in-Practice candidate at the Academy of Fine Arts, Vienna, ujjwal kanishka utkarsh has been trying to develop a form that emerges out of the observational cinema tradition. In the past years, he has been trying to see if and how through this form he can look at and reflect upon direct political activity and social movements. While ujjwal primarily makes films while frequently dabbling into other forms like photography, sound and theater. His works have been showcased in several national and international film festivals, eXhibitions, video art festivals and so on. He has also been teaching in various aspects of filmmaking in several institutes across India and in Vienna.