Manjari Sihare of Saffronart shares details of a forthcoming conference on modern & contemporary Indian art in New York

 New York: In 2014-15, the Queens Museum of Art will present the exhibition The Rising Phoenix: A Dialogue Between Modern and Contemporary Indian Art (working title), organized by Dr. Arshiya Lokhandwala.  In advance of the exhibition, the Queens Museum in conjunction with New York University’s Asian Pacific American Institute presents After Midnight: Indian Modern and Contemporary Art, 1947-1997, a two-day symposium on October 26-27, 2012 at New York University.

After Midnight: Indian Modern and Contemporary Art, 1947- 1997, takes its impetus from the exhibition. The symposium contemplates and compares two critical moments of Indian history: the first, the period of post-Indian independence that began in 1947, one of the most critical moments in the history of Indian modern art which saw the rise of the Progressives Artists Group; and the second, the globalization of Indian art that started in 1997 with a younger generation of artists including Shilpa Gupta, Jitish Kallat, and Sharmila Samant, presented with opportunities to travel, scholarships and residencies abroad that expanded their horizons.  This period was also when Indian artists started showing in large-scale international exhibitions and biennales. The interval between 1947 and 1997 also marks first fifty years of India’s independence, a significant period in Indian history.

The symposium will undertake an examination of a space between these two fractured moments, Progressives/Modern and the contemporary artists, and will also address the larger question of modernity found and viewed from different geo-political perspectives that belong to Africa, Asia and Latin America to counter the narrative of the west.

For a detailed program schedule, visit the Queens Museum website. 

Watch this space for more updates on this important Symposium.