The Ullens Center for Contemporary Art (UCCA) is hosting Indian Highway, the exhibition's first stop outside of Europe.
Conceived and originally co-curated by Julia Peyton-Jones (Director, Serpentine Gallery and Co-Director Exhibitions and Programs, Serpentine Gallery), Hans Ulrich Obrist (Co-Director Exhibitions and Programs and Director, International Projects, Serpentine Gallery), and Gunnar B. Kvaran (Director, Astrup Fearnley Museet), Indian Highway at the UCCA marks the most comprehensive presentation of contemporary art from India ever mounted in China (Great Hall and Central Gallery, June 24–August 19, 2012).
The culmination and continuation of extensive curatorial research across India, Indian Highway features nearly thirty individuals and collectives whose creative practices span a wide range of media – incorporating sculpture, video, installation, painting, and performance – and subject matter are focused around the situation of modern India. The work of artists who have already made an impact on the international art world is displayed alongside newer practitioners.
Indian Highway is a pioneering project in China – an opportunity to highlight the unique relationship between the neighboring countries within artistic context. It presents artistic commentary and analysis of the social, physical, and political movement that accompanies an economic boom. Human migration, infrastructure, and technological advancement (the title refers directly to the “information superhighway,” a development central to India's global rise) are decisive dynamics in China as in India.
For all their proximity, geographic and discursive, knowledge of India and its vibrant creative scene has been slow to take root in China. In what, to many, will be an introduction to contemporary art in India, Indian Highway brings together the work of some of India’s greatest creative minds. The body of work examines social and political issues key to the contemporary Indian condition, including environmentalism, religious sectarianism, gender, sexuality, and class.
Learn more at www.ucca.org.cn