INDIAN HIGHWAY
02.04 – 23.08.09
Dronningens gate 4,
Oslo, Norway
Gunnar B. Kvaran, Director, Astrup Fearnley Museum of Modern Art, Julia Peyton-Jones, Director, Serpentine Gallery and Co-Director Exhibitions and Programmes, Serpentine Gallery and Hans Ulrich Obrist, Co-Director Exhibitions and Programmes and Director, International Projects, Serpentine Gallery, in association with Hanne Beate Ueland and Grete Årbu, Curators, Astrup Fearnley Museum of Modern Art.
Included artists: Ayisha Abraham, Ravi Agarwal, Nikhil Chopra, Dawood/Deora, Debkamal Ganguly, Sheela Gowda, Sakshi Gupta, Shilpa Gupta, Subodh Gupta, N.S. Harsha, Abhishek Hazra, M.F. Husain, Anant Joshi, Ruchir Joshi, Jitish Kallat, Amar Kanwar, Bharti Kher, Riyas Komu, Bose Krishnamachari, Nalini Malani, Kavita Pai/Hansa Thapliyal, Pors & Rao, Prajakta Potnis, M.R. Rajan, Sumedh Rajendran, Raqs Media Collective, Priya Sen, Tejal Shah, Surabhi Sharma (with Siddharth Gautam Singh), Sudarshan Shetty, Dayanita Singh, Kiran Subbaiah, Ashok Sukumaran & Shaina Anand, Hema Upadhyay, Avinash Veeraraghavan, Vipin Vijay and Vivek Vilasini.
Indian Highway is the second chapter in our focus on the arts of three major cultural regions, China, India and the Middle East, reflecting a shift from Western to emerging global economies, conceived and organised by the Serpentine Gallery and Astrup Fearnley Museum of Modern Art.
Following the remarkable and rapid economic, social and cultural developments in India in recent years, Indian Highway is a timely presentation of the pioneering work being made in India today, embracing art, architecture, film, literature and dance. The culmination of extensive research over a lengthy period, Indian Highway is a snapshot of a vibrant generation of artists working across a range of media, from painting, photography and sculpture to installation and Internet-based art and video. It features those who have already made an impact on international art juxtaposed with emerging practitioners.
Some artworks in the exhibition have been selected for their connection to the theme of Indian Highway, reflecting the importance of the road in migration and movement and the link between rural and urban communities. Other works make reference to technology and the ‘information superhighway’, which has been central to India’s economic boom. A common thread throughout is the way in which these artists demonstrate an active political and social engagement, examining complex issues in an Indian society undergoing transition, which include environmentalism, religious sectarianism, globalisation, gender, sexuality and class.
Indian Highway pioneers a radical model of curating, in which curators will be invited to develop a ‘show within a show’ inside the exhibition. At the Serpentine, Delhi-based multi-media artists Raqs Media Collective have invited documentary film-makers to participate. This curatorial practice will be developed on the exhibition’s tour, starting at the Astrup Fearnley Museum of Modern Art in Oslo, with a section curated by the artist Bose Krishnamachari. At each subsequent international venue, over the next four years, a different Indian artist or group will invite their contemporaries to exhibit, bringing views of Indian art from the inside and allowing the exhibition to grow and develop in new and unexpected ways.
Astrup Fearnley Museum of Modern Art is generously supported by Stiftelsen Thomas Fearnley, Heddy and Nils Astrup, and Astrup Fearnley AS.