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# Artist Jitish Kallat Projects a Letter from Gandhi to Hitler
- URL: https://hyperallergic.com/artist-jitish-kallat-projects-a-letter-from-gandhi-to-hitler/
- Published: 2016-11-04T18:34:25.000Z
- Updated: 2025-11-24T16:28:30.000Z
- Description: Jitish Kallat: Covering Letter, an immersive installation and video projection by Mumbai-based artist Jitish Kallat, opens at the Philadelphia Museum of Art on November 13, 2016.
- Author: Philadelphia Museum of Art
- Tags: Announcement, Exhibition Announcement, Philadelphia Museum of Art, #wp, #wp-post, #image-position-hidden, #Import 2025-11-24 07:23 (2016, 2017, part 2)

![philadelphia-museum-of-art-hyperallergic-post](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/hyperallergic-newspack-s3-amazonaws-com/uploads/2016/10/philadelphia-museum-of-art-hyperallergic-post.jpg)

Jitish Kallat, Installation view of Covering Letter, 2012, FogScreen Projection, Installation dimensions variable (Image courtesy Galerie Templon, Paris and Brussels. © B.Huet/Tutti)

Experience a powerful work that features a letter from Gandhi to Hitler.

[*Jitish Kallat: Covering Letter*](http://engine.nectarads.com/r?e=eyJhdiI6NzMwODUsImF0IjoyMCwiYnQiOjAsImNtIjo0OTc3NDksImNoIjoxOTMwLCJjayI6e30sImNyIjoxNzU3NjM3LCJkbSI6NCwiZmMiOjIwODYyODEsImZsIjoyNTY5MjQzLCJpcCI6IjU0LjIyMS4xNTAuNDUiLCJudyI6MjA3LCJwYyI6MCwiZWMiOjAsInByIjoxNjY2LCJydCI6MSwic3QiOjAsImJmIjp0cnVlLCJwbiI6ImF6a3ByZXZpZXciLCJ1ciI6Imh0dHA6Ly9vdy5seS9JcnhEMzA1NElEVyIsInJlIjoxfQ&s=6oifcOHHNoWfk-5D2K%5FE5GX7jk0&ref=hyperallergic.com) is an immersive installation and video projection by Mumbai-based artist Jitish Kallat, which opens at the Ruth and Raymond G. Perelman Building of the Philadelphia Museum of Art on November 13, 2016.

Projected onto a traversable curtain of cascading fog, this work presents a historical letter by Mahatma Gandhi to Adolf Hitler, written just weeks before the start of World War II. In the spirit of his doctrine of universal friendship, Gandhi begins the letter with the greeting “Dear friend.” Mist diffuses Gandhi’s projected text, echoing the fate of his message, which went unheeded.

Jitish Kallat describes this correspondence as a plea from a great advocate of peace to one of the most violent individuals who ever lived. It is equally an open invitation for self-reflection, as its scrolling words speak to the extreme violence in the world today.

Kallat’s interest in remediating history through the actions and words of historical figures aligns *Covering Letter* with his earlier work. In his Public Notice series, Kallat staged sculptural and interactive interventions that similarly appropriated texts by Gandhi, Jawaharlal Nehru (India’s first prime minister), and Hindu monk Swami Vivekananda. In revisiting these documents, Kallat calls attention to the possibilities of peace and tolerance in a world plagued by control and surveillance.

*Jitish Kallat: Covering Letter* is the first exhibition of this work in the United States. It also marks the tenth anniversary of the Museum’s *Live Cinema* series, which is dedicated to exploring the vast production of contemporary video and film work.

A public opening reception with the artist will be hosted on Saturday, November 12, 7:00–9:00 p.m. in the Ruth and Raymond G. Perelman Building.

[*Jitish Kallat: Covering Letter*](http://engine.nectarads.com/r?e=eyJhdiI6NzMwODUsImF0IjoyMCwiYnQiOjAsImNtIjo0OTc3NDksImNoIjoxOTMwLCJjayI6e30sImNyIjoxNzU3NjM3LCJkbSI6NCwiZmMiOjIwODYyODEsImZsIjoyNTY5MjQzLCJpcCI6IjU0LjIyMS4xNTAuNDUiLCJudyI6MjA3LCJwYyI6MCwiZWMiOjAsInByIjoxNjY2LCJydCI6MSwic3QiOjAsImJmIjp0cnVlLCJwbiI6ImF6a3ByZXZpZXciLCJ1ciI6Imh0dHA6Ly9vdy5seS9JcnhEMzA1NElEVyIsInJlIjoxfQ&s=6oifcOHHNoWfk-5D2K%5FE5GX7jk0&ref=hyperallergic.com)  
November 13, 2016 – March 5, 2017  
Visit [philamuseum.org](http://engine.nectarads.com/r?e=eyJhdiI6NzMwODUsImF0IjoyMCwiYnQiOjAsImNtIjo0OTc3NDksImNoIjoxOTMwLCJjayI6e30sImNyIjoxNzU3NjM3LCJkbSI6NCwiZmMiOjIwODYyODEsImZsIjoyNTY5MjQzLCJpcCI6IjU0LjIyMS4xNTAuNDUiLCJudyI6MjA3LCJwYyI6MCwiZWMiOjAsInByIjoxNjY2LCJydCI6MSwic3QiOjAsImJmIjp0cnVlLCJwbiI6ImF6a3ByZXZpZXciLCJ1ciI6Imh0dHA6Ly9vdy5seS9JcnhEMzA1NElEVyIsInJlIjoxfQ&s=6oifcOHHNoWfk-5D2K%5FE5GX7jk0&ref=hyperallergic.com) for more information.