Subcontingent. The Indian Subcontinent in Contemporary Art. Il Subcontinente indiano nell'Arte Contemporanea

In 2006 the Fondazione Sandretto Re Rebaudengo focuses on the Far East. The exhibition "Subcontingent. The Indian Subcontinent in Contemporary Art" is situated inside an exhibition program that attempts to define the Asian landscape of today. Curators Ilaria Bonacossa and Francesco Manacorda approached the Subcontinent inviting artists from India, Pakistan, Great Britain, the US and Italy in order to let their work represent and explain a territory burdened by a history of contradictions: a country which registers an explosion of industrial and technological ventures, where global capitals are being invested in the development of informatics and biotechnologies, but the pro capita income is one of the lowest in the world. An example of coexistence between different faiths and political parties, where even if in India Sonia Gandhi is the leader of the Congress Party, women are still the preferred victims of discrimination and violence. An area which registers the highest population density rate in the world, which counts twenty-seven official languages and over two hundred non official idioms, but where being illiterate is still common.
Starting from the double soul of this landscape, in which past and present are constantly merging, where tradition seems to collapse under the impulse of modernity, this exhibition tries to catch the essence of a future identity fed by the values both from the West and the Cast, by consumerism and spirituality, by what's old and what's new. The gaze of twenty-six artists who through sculpture, video, installation and painting, bring to life images and different interpretations of the Subcontinent. Two of these artists, Runa Islam and Sharmila Samant, have already exhibited some years back in the spaces of the Fondazione Sandretto Re Rebaudengo in Guarene d'Alba. This exhibition becomes a moment of reflection and a space of dialogue, of exchange and, moreover, a space that traces the development of a young generation of artists.
If literature, music, cinema from the Subcontinent are already internationally well known, contemporary art has still to be discovered, and i hope that this exhibition and this catalogue will partake in the comprehension of the Asian phenomenon.