14^th July 2012, is an installation made of a steel drum, with a video projected onto its suspended lid and the smell of liquid fuel. The work takes its inspiration from Bastille Day*, which the artist attended on 14^th July 2012, at the Avenue of Champs-Élysées in Paris. It is one of the oldest and largest military parades in Europe. Amidst tight security and vigilance, spectators cheered the passing cavalcades which displayed the country’s manufactured ammunitions and military regiments.

The empty steel drum was acquired in Paris and represents the volatility of human life and the depletion of resources, that a society experiences in order to perpetuate conflict. The video displays fragmented images of a military parade with accompanying sounds of marching bands. The captured footage progressively slows and blurs, to finally terminate into a white void. While we observe the details of the weaponry, the audio also gradually slows down, and the distorted sounds become reminiscent of bombing. The blurred images reveal an ambiguity and complexity in the relationship between civilians and the military.

The smell of liquid fuel, experienced as part of the artwork, replicates the strong fumes expelled by the tanks and large military vehicles of the parade. The unsettling odour is to suggest the smell from machineries on an actual battlefield. Sensorial experiences of the artwork are intentionally disruptive and leave the viewer confused and curious. This work brings to question the significance and importance of hosting military parades, as part of a national event in France and around the world.

14^th July 2012, takes inspiration from archival photos taken on 14^th July 1916, when the Indian troops were marching as part of the annual Bastille Day Parade on the Champs-Élysées. The installation was developed during Baptist Coelho’s Artist-in-Residence at Centre International d’Accueil et d’Echanges des Récollets, Paris, 2012. The residency was supported by Mairie de Paris; Institut Français; Espace Synethésie, Saint-Denis; Indian Council for Cultural Relations (ICCR), Delhi. In 2013, the installation was first exhibited as part of a group exhibition, ‘Le Mai Qui Te Plaît 4’ at Espace Synethésie, Saint-Denis. The exhibition was curated by Anne-Marie Morice, Cécile Bourne-Farrell.

*Bastille Day is the English name given to the French National Day, which is celebrated on 14^th of July each year. In France it is formally called ‘La Fête Nationale’ (The National Celebration). This event commemorates the 1789 storming of the Bastille prison fortress and is seen as a symbol for the uprising of a modern nation.