Consultant & Curating Museum Exhibitions in Indian, Pakistani & Bangladeshi Traditional Arts

Consulting & Curating Museum Exhibitions

Rolf Killius is a consultant (museums, exhibitions, and media), exhibition curator, ethnomusicologist (MMus SOAS, London University ), sound recordist, film producer & editor and radio journalist whose work appears in a variety of contexts.

In this capacity Rolf is able to consult to cultural institutions and organisations all around the world combining such diverse elements as exhibition curating, object research and collection, music and sound production, film production and editing, and the delivery of music and arts installations related to the cultures of South Asia (especially India, Bangladesh and Pakistan).

Apart from his in-depth knowledge of cultures in India, Bangladesh and Pakistan and media production, Rolf offers project management and team leading skills. Working closely with his clients he creates tailor-made projects, developed and managed from inception to delivery. This comprises project research, concept design, facilitation, and delivery towards agreed deadlines. If required he can draw on a vast range of experts from different countries specialising in research area, language, or technical skills.

Most Recent Consultancy Work

At present Rolf works as a South Asia Consultant for the Musical Instrument Museum (MIM) “the first truly global musical instrument museum” in Phoenix, Arizona (USA), where he is responsible for collection, research and documentation in India, Bangladesh and Pakistan.

Recently he co-curated the exhibitions:

          Indian Strings & Dances at the Museum of Croydon (April - August 2009)

          Utsavam - Music from India at the Horniman Museum, London (February - November 2008)

          British Library Sound Archive, Music from India (from April 2009) (provided text and music)

Rolf facilitated the documentation and construction of a Bhunga dessert farm, from the Rann of Kutch in Gujarat,Western India on the premises of the anthropological Grassi Museum in Leipzig Germany.

Utsavam - Music from India at the Horniman Museum London

Utsavam: Music from India was a major exhibition that opened at the Horniman Museum, South London, and ran during 2008.

Taking its name from the ancient Sanskrit word ‘Utsavam’ meaning festivities and / or celebration, Utsavam: Music from India presented the subcontinent’s rich musical heritage through music, film footage and musical instruments to provide a unique insight into traditional Indian music. It drew on extensive curatorial fieldwork from across rural regions of the subcontinent from Assam to Kerala by ethnomusicologist and broadcaster Rolf Killius and curator Margaret Birley.

LINK TO: UTSAVAM: MUSIC FROM INDIA PAGES

Chenda Melam, Kerala Monpa Singer

Indian Strings & Dances Exhibition: Croydon Museum - Clocktower 2009

Indian Strings and Dances – An interactive exhibition at the Croydon Museum Clocktower

by the Museum of Croydon and the London Sitar Ensemble which ran during 2009.

LINK TO: INDIAN STRINGS AND DANCES PAGES

Bhunga Farmhouse Building at the Grassi Museum Leipzig

At the beginning of 2005 Rolf Killius spent two months in the Kutch District of the Indian state of Gujarat. On behalf of the Grassi Museum Leipzig in Germany, he conducted research on the construction of a traditional roundhouse a Bhunga made of clay and reed, to be constructed for the museum's new permanent exhibition.

The Bhunga building, along with its farmyard, is intended to reflect the cultural, social, religious as well as the complicated ecological conditions in which its inhabitants live. Kutch shares a long border with Pakistan. Thus, over the centuries various sections of the population have mixed as people migrated to and from the area.

With the support of many local aides and the co-organiser Aarif Khatri, Rolf succeeded in engaging five Meghwar crafts people (2 women and 3 men) from the village of Hodka. In the summer of 2005 these people built a traditional Bhunga farm house and a roofed kitchen, along with complete interior and exterior decoration inside the ethnographic museum Leipzig.

LINK TO: THE GRASSI MUSEUM, LEIPZIG, GERMANY

Sora Cultural Centre & Museum Project in Orissa (India)

At present Rolf Killius, in discussions with local NGOs and the management of Engineering College ‘Centurion School of Rural Enterprise Management’, is in the process of designing a cultural centre for the Sora Adivasi (original inhabitants of India) in southern Orissa. The proposed centre would comprise a museum (anthropological and musicological objects); performance space and study/research facilities, thus covering four areas: Exhibitions – Performances – Study – Research. Unlike other rural institutions this centre will feature state-of-the-art Multi-Media equipment, which will satisfy the aesthetic and professional needs of the centre’s staff and visitors (especially young people).

Priestesses Sora

Soundscapes of India: Horniman Museum

This one day conference was organised by the British Forum for Ethnomusicology and the Horniman Museum.Stephen Cottrell and Tina K. Ramnarine for the Forum and Margaret Birley and Rolf Killius for the Horniman.It was held at the Horniman Museum's Education Centre on the 23rd of February 2008. The conference explored the diverse environments of musical performance in India and it's Diaspora, drawing attention to (1) the kinds of ethnomusicological research projects that have been pursued in these contexts an (2) cultural repositories and their impact on musical practices. It coincided with the Horniman Museum's "Utsavam - Music from India" exhibition (February - November 2008).

Contact Rolf: rolfkillius 'at' yahoo.com