Two artists at the forefront of contemporary Indian art, and currently represented in “Indian Highway” at UCCA, Dayanita Singh and Sudarshan Shetty join exhibition co-curator Gunnar B. Kvaran in a dialogue which considers their work in both a local and global context. Singh, a renowned photographer and creator of poignant visual narratives has been known to push artwork from the public into the private realm, sometimes distributing it for people to take home. Shetty, an installation artist and explorer of the social lives of objects, uses mechanical materials and ready-mades to experiment with familiarity and alienation. Both artists will introduce their work, process, approaches to audience and the handling of societal boundaries. How can their work be read and experienced outside of the Indian environment it is informed by? The discussion will be followed by an open question and answer session.

Guests:
“Indian Highway” Exhibiting Artists;
Dayanita Singh
Sudarshan Shetty

Dayanita Singh (b. New Delhi, 1961) is one of India’s most accomplished photographers, internationally recognized for the highly expressive and poetic quality of her work. She trained as a photojournalist at New York's International Center of Photography (ICP), which she attended after her study of graphic design at the National Institute of Design in Ahmedabad. Singh’s photographs often present an uncanny view of the seemingly everyday. Using both color and black and white, her images reveal a landscape which exists as much in the artist’s imagination as in the real world. Publishing is also a significant part of Singh’s practice: in books, often published without text, she experiments with different ways of producing and viewing photographs. She currently lives and works in New Delhi, India.

Sudarshan Shetty (b. 1961, Mangalore, India) is well known for his large-scale sculptures and installations. His work finds points of departure within a lyrical world full of playfulness and freedom, unfettered by where political questions find oblique responses in objects. Through fragments of the everyday he presents a fascinating combination of the representational and the poetic/metaphoric that evokes the inherent contradictions and flux of modern society. Shetty has always worked with the concept of boundaries within the realms of the personal, the psychological, the social, and the carnal. He uses specially selected materials to celebrate, define and undermine such boundaries and to hint at their inevitable demise. Shetty currently lives and works in Mumbai, India.

Moderator: Gunnar B. Kvaran (Director, Astrup Fearnley Museum of Modern Art)

Sponsor: Mercedes-Benz Smart