Meeting Points – Contemporary Art Networks in South Asia

Border disputes and internal conflicts remain endemic in South Asia.  However, in the art world, exchange activities have flourished since the 1990s among artists who are overcoming religious and ethnic differences.  Non-profit artist organizations have been crucial to their endeavors.  Several groups, including “Khoji”(established in 1997) in India, “Vasl”(2001) in Pakistan, “Threertha”(2000) in Sri Lanka, “Britto”(2002) in Bangladesh and “Sutra”(2003) in Nepal, have emerged in this time.  Particularly centering around “workshops” which artists create their work as living under one roof for a certain period, they have actively undertaken their various activities, including artist in residence programs, exhibitions, screenings, symposiums and publications, as supporting each other.

At the point of the inceptions, the infrastructure and support for experimental arts in South Asia was weak that artists set out to open a possible new approach to break the deadlock conditions by assembling individuals’ powers and transforming it into networks.  The exciting exchange space emerged from “workshops” have prompted the artists a shared understanding of the outside world while also triggering re-evaluation in their own local and cultural context.  One encounter and one activity, which spread over into the other area and triggered much further activities, finally have developed into a phenomenon unique to South Asia.  This movement can be stated as “workshop movement,” which empowered the South Asian art scene and achieving international recognition.

This exhibition draws together valuable archive materials and photographs recording the” workshops” and introduces the work of key members of each group and of artists involved in activities from our collection.  Although showing just a fraction of their movements, we hope this exhibition will convey the passion of the artists and groups which played a role in connecting the South Asian art scene to the world.

What is “workshop?”

Originally, the term “workshop” means a common working place for making something such as an atelier or a workplace.  In the context of art, it is used to refer to the interactive and creative space where artists themselves can learn, discuss and create something from the involvement and experience of the mutual influence in a group.