This book is an ethnographic study of the travelling art exhibition Indian Highway that presented Indian contemporary art in Europe and China between 2008 and 2012, a significant period for the art world that saw the rise and fall of the national exhibition format. It analyses art exhibition as a mobile "object" and promotes the idea of art as a transcultural product by using participant observation, in-depth interviews, and multi-media studies as research method. This work encompasses voices of curators, artists, audiences, and art critics spread over different cities, sites, and art institutions to bridge the distance between Europe and India based on vignettes along the Indian Highway. The discussion in the book focuses on power relations, the contested politics of representation, and dissonances and processes of negotiation in the field of global art. It also argues for rethinking analytical categories in anthropology to identify the social role of contemporary art practices in different cultural contexts and also examines urban art and the way national or cultural values are reinterpreted in response to ideas of difference and pluralism.

Rich in empirical data, this book will be useful to scholars and researchers of modern and contemporary art, Indian art, art and visual culture, anthropology, art history, mobility, and transcultural studies.

About the Author

Cathrine Bublatzky is a visual and media anthropologist and Assistant Professor at the Department of Visual and Media Anthropology, Heidelberg Centre for Transcultural Studies, Germany. As a trained photographer she received her Magister in Anthropology with a focus on South Asian History and Visual Anthropology in 2008. In her research and teaching, she investigates contemporary visual practices in the field of art and photography, with a main interest in migration and diasporic studies, citizenship, and urban contexts in South Asia, the Middle East, and Europe.

Reviews

'In the past two decades, Europe has seen more than a dozen exhibitions of Indian contemporary art, but none as dazzling and complex as Indian Highway, which was originated by celebrated curator Hans Ulrich Obrist and traveled between 2008 and 2012. Cathrine Bublatzky casts an ethnographic eye on each of the five stops along the route: London, Oslo, Herning, Rome, and Beijing. As she moves along, she argues persuasively and quite originally that such events must be read as sites of transcultural encounter. This goes against the grain of both contemporary art discourse and the anthropology of art. Rarely has either discipline engaged with such a case, in which a show can be transformed so completely by its cultural context. Bublatzky's richly detailed analysis sheds new light on a key analytic of studies of globalization: mobility.'

Karin Zitzewitz, Interim Chair, Department of Art, Art History, and Design and Associate Professor of Art History and Visual Culture, Michigan State University, Kresge Art Center, USA

'This book is a fresh and pioneering ethnographic work about the dynamics of art exhibitions in a transcultural context. Not only is the case study of Indian Highway's journey through Europe and to China fascinating and unique, Bublatzky's clear and creative approach to read the material makes this book a must-read for students and scholars interested in contemporary cultural production.'

Christiane Brosius, Professor of Visual and Media Anthropology, Heidelberg Center for Transcultural Studies, Germany

'Cathrine Bublatzky has made an important contribution to exhibition history and the emerging understanding of the global milieu of contemporary art production and viewing with this book. It situates its reader squarely where the action is.'

Raqs Media Collective, Delhi, India

'In the past two decades, Europe has seen more than a dozen exhibitions of Indian contemporary art, but none as dazzling and complex as Indian Highway, which was originated by celebrated curator Hans Ulrich Obrist and traveled between 2008 and 2012. Cathrine Bublatzky casts an ethnographic eye on each of the five stops along the route: London, Oslo, Herning, Rome, and Beijing. As she moves along, she argues persuasively and quite originally that such events must be read as sites of transcultural encounter. This goes against the grain of both contemporary art discourse and the anthropology of art. Rarely has either discipline engaged with such a case, in which a show can be transformed so completely by its cultural context. Bublatzky's richly detailed analysis sheds new light on a key analytic of studies of globalization: mobility.'

Karin Zitzewitz, Interim Chair, Department of Art, Art History, and Design and Associate Professor of Art History and Visual Culture, Michigan State University, Kresge Art Center, USA

'This book is a fresh and pioneering ethnographic work about the dynamics of art exhibitions in a transcultural context. Not only is the case study of Indian Highway's journey through Europe and to China fascinating and unique, Bublatzky's clear and creative approach to reading the material makes this book a must-read for students and scholars interested in contemporary cultural production.'

Christiane Brosius, Professor of Visual and Media Anthropology, Heidelberg Center for Transcultural Studies, Germany

'Cathrine Bublatzky has made an important contribution to exhibition history and the emerging understanding of the global milieu of contemporary art production and viewing with this book. It situates its reader squarely where the action is.'

Raqs Media Collective, Delhi, India

Book Information
ISBN 9780367785048
Author Cathrine Bublatzky
Format Paperback
Page Count 194
Imprint Routledge India
Publisher Taylor & Francis Ltd
Weight(grams) 408g