Impossible Conversations

Impossible Conversations is an exhibition and film installation by artists and filmmakers, Pratāp Rughani and David Chung. The film centers a seemingly impossible dialogue between Arno Michaelis, a former Neo-Nazi gang founder and Pardeep Kaleka, son of the Sikh Temple President, Satwant Singh Kaleka, one of seven people killed in the shooting attack at the Oak Creek Sikh Temple (Gurudwara) by a white supremacist in 2012. 

The film installation delves into the journey of Pardeep and Arno, who, over more than a decade, dedicated themselves to restorative communication — listening deeply and seeking to understand the motivations behind each other’s actions in the genesis and aftermath of atrocity.

How does healing begin? From the toxic polarization, division and extreme racist violence that resulted in one of the worst mass shootings at a religious site in American history, Pardeep insists that complete healing must eventually be a collective process for all, to liberate both sides.

This event will include a screening, followed by a conversation with the central figures in the film, Pardeep Kaleka and Arno Michaelis; the filmmakers, David Chung and Pratāp Rughani; and the exhibition curator, Srimoyee Mitra.

Pardeep Kaleka is an advocate, educator, and author dedicated to fostering understanding and unity across diverse communities. As the Executive Director of the Interfaith Conference of Greater Milwaukee, he promotes dialogue and collaboration among faith groups to combat hate and bigotry. Pardeep’s work is deeply rooted in personal experience, following the tragic 2012 Sikh Temple shooting in Oak Creek, Wisconsin, where he lost his father. In response, he co-founded Serve 2 Unite, a peacebuilding organization that engages youth in countering hate through service and creativity.

Arno Michaelis is a peace activist, author, and speaker dedicated to promoting compassion and understanding. Once a founding member of a white supremacist group, Michaelis transformed his life through the power of forgiveness, human connection, and his role as a single father. Today, he works to combat hate and violence, drawing from his personal journey to inspire positive change. Michaelis is the author of My Life After Hate, and has worked with Serve 2 Unite, an organization that engages young people of all backgrounds as peacemakers.

David Chung is an acclaimed visual artist and filmmaker. His work focuses on how identities are shaped in immigrant communities and the challenges of refugees as they integrate into new homelands. Chung has exhibited his drawings, prints, and video installations at the Boston Museum of Fine Arts, the Asia Society, the Walker Arts Center, the Studio Museum in Harlem, the Gwangju Biennale, the Smithsonian Institution, the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, and the Whitney Museum of American Art. Chung has received a National Endowment for the Arts Fellowship and the National Board Film Board of Canada’s Award for Best Documentary Film. Chung is a professor and the director of the MFA Graduate Program at the University of Michigan Stamps School of Art & Design.

Pratāp Rughani is a writer and non-fiction filmmaker. His work develops documentary practice to enable people of radically different perspectives to connect, sometimes in the aftermath of violence and atrocity. Configuring a pro-filmic space to enable shared​“witnessing” and the path towards restorative justice is a driving force in​“Impossible Conversations” evolving through his practice in over thirty documentary films and exhibitions for BBC TV, Channel 4, Modern Art Oxford, galleries and activist groups. The ethics of giving sustained attention to the experiences of marginalized, excluded or sometimes reviled​“others” and bringing them in relationship to the broader culture is central to his research into ethics of storytelling and the development of​“Restorative Narrative.” Rughani is Professor of Documentary Practices at the University of the Arts, London.

Srimoyee Mitra is an award-winning curator and writer whose work is invested in building empathy and mutual respect among diverse communities through exhibitions, discussions and publications. She has worked as a curator and artist writer in Canada and India and is published widely in journals and exhibition catalogs. She is the author of Border Cultures (Black Dog Publishing 2015), and Stephanie Dinkins: On Love & Data (University of Michigan Press, 2024), and is the Director of Stamps Gallery at the University of Michigan Stamps School of Art & Design.

Presented in partnership with the University of Michigan Stamps Gallery. This project was made possible by a grant from the Arts Initiative at the University of Michigan.

Impossible Conversations is generously supported by the Arts Research: Incubation & Acceleration (ARIA) program of The University of Michigan Office of the Vice President Research and the Arts Initiative, Institute of Firearm Prevention Pilot Grant, the Stamps School of Art and Design, and the University of the Arts London. 

Series presenting partners: Detroit PBS, ALL ARTS, and PBS Books. Media partner: Michigan Public.