| Following the rapid economic, social, and cultural developments in India in recent years, the exhibition 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 serves as 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. |  |
Gunnar B. Kvaran, Julia Peyton-Jones, and Hans Ulrich Obrist
Following the rapid economic, social, and cultural developments in India in recent years, the exhibition 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 serves as 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 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, globalization, gender, sexuality, and class.
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 organized by the Serpentine Gallery and Astrup Fearnley Museum of Modern Art. It follows China Power Station: Part I, presented by the Serpentine at Battersea Power Station, London, in 2006 and then in 2007 by Astrup Fearnley Museum of Modern Art in Oslo.
Indian Highway pioneers a radical model of curating where curators are invited to develop a “show within a show” inside the exhibition. At the Serpentine, Delhi-based multimedia artists, Raqs Media Collective, invited documentary filmmakers to participate. In the Astrup Fearnley Museum of Modern Art, a new section is curated by the artist, Bose Krishnamachari. In HEART Herning Museum of Contemporary Art, we have together, with curator Stinna Toft, taken further the selection of artists and developed a new presentation of the exhibition. As an extension of Indian Highway, HEART Herning Museum of Contemporary Art has invited Shilpta Gupta to curate a program of Indian contemporary art films. As a part of the initial curatorial concept at each subsequent international venue, in the Museum of Contemporary Art in Lyon (2011), in MAXXI in Rome (2011), in the Garage in Moscow (2012), in Osage Foundation in Hong Kong (2012), and Vadhera Foundation in New Delhi (2013), 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.
