Exhibition at CBBB offers a kaleidoscopic look at Indian art.
The India exhibition opens tomorrow in Rio and blends the modern with the ancient; it features 380 pieces, distributed across 18 rooms, brought from important European museums.
Everything is so grand. There are 1,21 billion inhabitants, distributed among more than 200 ethnic groups. There are 20 official languages alone. There are six religions. Summarizing the complexity of India in a single exhibition is a risky task, even for an experienced curator. Because of this, Pieter Tjabbes, a Dutchman based in São Paulo, chose to present what he calls a "kaleidoscopic look" at Indian cultural diversity.
After three seasons in the country, long conversations with Indian artists, and many visits to studios, Tjabbes transformed the flurry of ideas into the beautiful exhibition "India!", which will open tomorrow at the Banco do Brasil Cultural Center in Rio. In 2012, the exhibition will travel to São Paulo and Brasília. "In India, everything is excessive. That's what's fun. It's so much information. So much color, so much smell, so much spice, so many people, so much traffic, so much noise. Everything is too much," says Tjabbes.
Responsible for memorable exhibitions such as "The Magical World of Escher," Tjabbes wants to stir the public. "I convey this confusion that India caused me. I want the visitor to leave a little dizzy, saying Wow!!" Dizzy with so much information, but dazzled by the beauty of the pieces.
Right at the entrance, you can already feel the impact of the works. In the rotunda of the historic CCBB building, an image of the god Ganesh on an altar and a contemporary sculpture by Ravinder Reddy, five meters high, show that the exhibition mixes past and present. The oldest piece, a bust of a female figure, probably the mother goddess Mathura, dates from approximately 200 BC. It is a stone sculpture, on loan from the Asian Art Museum in Berlin.
The older works also came from the Rietberg Museum in Zurich, the Volkenkunde Museum in the Netherlands, private collections, and the National Historical Museum in Rio. Private institutions and Indian artists loaned old photographs.
Spread across 18 rooms and featuring 380 pieces, "India!" is a journey into the mysteries of the country, starting with the power of its folk art. "That's what captivated me most about India. I invested in finding the best artists, commissioning works from them. Many of those who have pieces here are award-winning artists. I also sought out young artists. They are proof that folk art is a living tradition."
The exhibition also shows scenes from daily life and gives great prominence to a passion of Indians: storytelling. Curated by an expert on the subject, the Indian Dadi Pudumjee, there are marionettes, puppets, and shadow puppets. There will be no live storytellers, but the public will be able to watch films from these exhibitions.
The exhibition is divided into four modules: man, gods, the formation of modern India, and contemporary art. It features sculptures, textiles, storyteller puppets, furniture, and even the tuk-tuk, a three-wheeled vehicle with a cabin for transporting two, three, or six passengers, widely used in large Indian cities.