Sahej Rahal (fellow 2018/2019) receives art funding from the Innogy Foundation

With his project Citizen Strange, former fellow Sahej Rahal (humanities, 2018/2019) received a grant from the Innogy Stiftung für Energie und Gesellschaft. The fellowship on the topic »Mensch-Maschine« (Man-Machine) was awarded for the first time in cooperation with the foundation of JUNGEN AKADEMIE of Akademie der Künste Berlin.

In his project Citizen Strange, Sahej Rahal questions mythological narratives used by the Indian state to propagate authoritarianism. His scenarios take shape as absurd rituals of world-building, collectively staged by ghostly creatures, shamanic beings and quasi-sentient AI programs. What can possible worlds look like in which human and non-human systems converse across the boundaries between the real, the imaginary, the physical and the virtual?

During his fellowship at Akademie Schloss Solitude, Sahej Rahal realized the program Juggernaut, in which he already took up similar ideas.