Martin Wälde was in Mumbai when the Berlin Wall collapsed in 1989. As a trainee at the city’s Goethe-Institut Max Mueller Bhavan, it was his first time outside Europe, but conversations about the Berlin Wall could be heard miles away, in the taxis of Mumbai. “It changed my perception about the city,” says Wälde, sitting in his office in Kala Ghoda on an unusually chilly February afternoon. It is fairly evident that Wälde is besotted by the metropolis he currently calls home and its curiosity about the world. After being posted in various Goethe-Instituts in the Indian subcontinent, including Karachi, Lahore and Kolkata, as a director, Wälde gleefully found himself in Mumbai again in 2013. After five and a half years as the director at the city’s Goethe-Institut, it’s time for him to move on — this time to Myanmar.
Under Wälde’s leadership, the Goethe-Institut executed several programmes and initiatives, notably the ‘Poets Translating Poets Project’, a two-year-long initiative that brought together poets from Germany and the Indian subcontinent to translate each others works; a year-long lecture series on German philosophers; and establishing a gallery space. “When I came to Bombay I had no plan [about] what to do,” recalls Wälde. Fortunately for him, his predecessor Marla Stukenberg had negotiated and regained the hall below the institute which was given up for ten years due to financial constraints. After much contemplation, Wälde decided to convert the space into Gallery MMB after renovating it. From 2014 till date, the gallery has hosted 28 exhibitions and received a footfall of over 1,20,000 visitors and hosted solo exhibitions of contemporary artists like Amar Kanwar and Yael Bartana. “It is now the throbbing heart of this institute and has changed the perception of us in Bombay significantly,” declares Wälde. “We are the only Goethe-Institut worldwide to have such a gallery space.”
Creating space
Wälde describes Gallery MMB an “alternative space” between commercial and government-run galleries in Mumbai. He believes that the State has a very different understanding of art and culture driven by political agendas, leading to a neglect of museums. While private galleries in the city are filling the void by supporting local artists, they have commercial interests and seldom provide a platform for international artists. “We are non-commercial, do not follow any political agenda and are open spaces for Indians to look outside,” informs the 60-year-old director. The institute hasn’t limited the gallery to exhibitions but opened up the space for interdisciplinary conferences like ‘State of Nature in India’, and several workshops. For instance, Social Criticism and War, a show featuring the works of German painter and Otto Dix, an influential painter of the Weimar Republic, was supplemented with print making and image reading workshops.
The institute has also realised that the cultural pulse of the city is not concentrated in South Mumbai any more. “People came to Kala Ghoda for events, screenings, sessions earlier but that time is over,” observes Wälde. The effort therefore has been to collaborate with other cultural spaces like Harkat Studios, museums and galleries, and educational institutes like the Sophia College for Women and Tata Institute of Social Sciences, for joint events, lectures, performances and exhibitions.
Inclusive and diverse
As compared to international cultural organisations like the British Council and Alliance Française de Bombay, the Goethe-Institut has had a significant presence in the cultural landscape of Mumbai in the last few years. “For Germans, it is important to have intercultural collaborations which other countries are not doing,” shares Wälde. “The German parliament and politicians are very supportive of us and [of] using culture to communicate with others.” The Goethe-Institut’s focus therefore has been on inclusion of both Indian and German artists, performers, intellectuals and thinkers. “We don’t want to create a one-sided, image polishing campaign with our work and I don’t think that Indians see us as colonisers but partners and friends,” says Wälde.
The institute has abstained from working with the government to maintain absolute independence. Instead, they prefer to work with civil societies and cater to their needs. “In India, civil society is enormous and has fought for several rights, for instance they were responsible for bringing about freedom for the LGBTQ community,” says Wälde. But the institute is also conscious of not imposing values. “We think it is important to support minorities but we are not going around teaching people about equality,” he asserts.
Forever home
Looking back at his tenure, Wälde feels that theatre and cinema are two art forms he couldn’t explore as much as he wanted to. “But your approach has to be focused and you can’t do everything,” he reasons. His position in Mumbai will be filled by Björn Ketel. “He is much younger, worked in Sudan, Colombo, then at the head office and now won the lottery for Mumbai,” chuckles Wälde. He hopes to attend the 50th anniversary celebrations of Max Mueller Bhavan Mumbai, which will take place this year with a special programming, including an exhibition by contemporary Indian artist, Nalini Malani.
There’s also a personal reason for him – his Parsi partner, who he first met in 1989, is from Mumbai. But the sadness and trepidation to leave Mumbai, a place he started his Goethe-Institut journey in, is apparent. Despite spending 15 years in the Indian subcontinent, he is nervous about his posting in Myanmar. “It’s a blank paper and I will have to spend a lot of time listening to people. For me it is like going into the province,” he confesses. “But sometimes what even the diplomats can’t do, you can do with culture.”
