It was in December 2008 that the traveling show found its first home in Serpentine Gallery in London before it unwound in Oslo, then in the Danish city of Herning, and later in Lyon before moving to Rome’s MAXXI contemporary art museums.
One of the highlights was a 25m long stainless steel installation by Subodh Gupta. It featured cooking utensils peculiarly stacked on shelves. Jitish Kallat’s ‘Autosaurus Tripous’ (2007), a skeleton model of a rickshaw, ‘prehistoric’ vehicles was also widely applauded.
At a broader level, the highway’s impact on and importance for movement and development is core theme of this exhibition series. Its title also refers to technology and the information superhighway that has played such a crucial role for India’s financial boom and for the development undergone within the nation’s art scene in recent decades.
The rapid and dramatic development in India’s socio-political situation during recent years is definitely among the defining turn of events of the new millennium, even from a global perspective. The country’s constantly evolving, complex scenario is often compared to China’s own emergence as a world superpower, and rightly so.
A vibrant generation of Indian artists now works across a range of artistic media from painting, sculpture, and photography to installation and video art, reflecting on the country’s role as an important player within the global economy. However, knowledge of India as a country, its people, culture and its vibrant creative landscape has been rather slow to take root in its powerful neighbor.
In this context, the fact that ‘Indian Highway VI’ finally makes way into the city of Beijing is a huge development. The group exhibition travels to various cities, not necessary as the original version, but as a unique collaborative effort with the respective hosting museum. The impressive showcase flags just some of the more ambitious and more concerted efforts to present Indian art to global audiences. It serves as a powerful platform to provide viewers as well as potential buyers, a big picture and good introduction to art from the emerging art powerhouse of the world.
One of the highlights was a 25m long stainless steel installation by Subodh Gupta. It featured cooking utensils peculiarly stacked on shelves. Jitish Kallat’s ‘Autosaurus Tripous’ (2007), a skeleton model of a rickshaw, ‘prehistoric’ vehicles was also widely applauded.
At a broader level, the highway’s impact on and importance for movement and development is core theme of this exhibition series. Its title also refers to technology and the information superhighway that has played such a crucial role for India’s financial boom and for the development undergone within the nation’s art scene in recent decades.
The rapid and dramatic development in India’s socio-political situation during recent years is definitely among the defining turn of events of the new millennium, even from a global perspective. The country’s constantly evolving, complex scenario is often compared to China’s own emergence as a world superpower, and rightly so.
A vibrant generation of Indian artists now works across a range of artistic media from painting, sculpture, and photography to installation and video art, reflecting on the country’s role as an important player within the global economy. However, knowledge of India as a country, its people, culture and its vibrant creative landscape has been rather slow to take root in its powerful neighbor.
In this context, the fact that ‘Indian Highway VI’ finally makes way into the city of Beijing is a huge development. The group exhibition travels to various cities, not necessary as the original version, but as a unique collaborative effort with the respective hosting museum. The impressive showcase flags just some of the more ambitious and more concerted efforts to present Indian art to global audiences. It serves as a powerful platform to provide viewers as well as potential buyers, a big picture and good introduction to art from the emerging art powerhouse of the world.
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