Atul Dodiya
Subodh Gupta
Ranbir Kaleka
Sonia Khurana
Shantanu Lodh
Surendran Nair
Baiju Parthan
Anandajit Ray
Debnath Basu
Dayanita Singh
Vivan Sundaram
Angelika Fitz
Michael Worgotter
Lucas Gehrmann
Contemporary Art from India. The exhibition in the Kunsthalle Wien is currently the largest presentation of contemporary Indian art in the German-speaking realm. The exhibition shows characteristic ramifications and intersections of the current Indian art with international trends and traditions.
Contemporary Art from India
At least since the time when computer experts from India hurt the egos of Central Europe's
educational and scientific institutes, the image of a thoroughly underprivileged subcontinent had to
be altered even in the German-speaking realm. India's metropolises have been grasped by a
vehement push towards globalization. Parallel to the pre-modern local structures, a postmodern,
globalized, urban India has arisen. The developments of the past decades have profoundly
changed Indian society. Indian artists are working out the new currents of capital and their cultural
apparatuses in contradictory ways.
The exhibition in the Kunsthalle Wien is currently the largest presentation of contemporary Indian
art in the German-speaking realm. Nonetheless, it does not claim to be either a comprehensive
representation of the entire Indian subcontinent, or of contemporary Indian art. Rather, the
exhibition shows characteristic ramifications and intersections of the current Indian art with
international trends and traditions. It thematizes Indian's broken gaze that arises out of the
postcolonial situation.
The participating artists work out private narratives and public myths in their manifold mediations:
in the medium classical for India - painting - as well as photography, video, installation and digital
art; combining the "national," "local," and "global."
Participating artists:
Atul Dodiya, Subodh Gupta, Ranbir Kaleka, Sonia Khurana, Shantanu Lodh, Surendran Nair,
Baiju Parthan, Anandajit Ray / Debnath Basu, Dayanita Singh, Vivan Sundaram
Guest curators: Angelika Fitz, Michael Wörgötter (Vienna)
Curator Kunsthalle Wien: Lucas Gehrmann
Image: Dayanita Singh, from the serie "Family Portraits", 1998, © Dayanita Singh
Press Conference. Thursday, 28 March, 2002, 10 a.m.
Opening: Thursday, 28 March, 2002, 7 p.m.
Information and Photomaterial: Claudia Bauer, KUNSTHALLE wien, Office: Museumsplatz 1,
A-1070 Vienna,
T +43-1-521 89-1222, F +43-1-521 89-1220
KUNSTHALLE wien Hall 2
Museumsplatz 1, A-1070 Wien
Tel.: +43-1-521 89 1201, Fax: +43-1-521 89 1260
eMail: office@kunsthallewien.at