VIENNA, AUSTRIA.- Kunsthalle Wien presents "Capital & Karma - Contemporary Art from India", on view through June 9, 2002. At least since the time when computer experts from India hurt the egos of Central Europe's educational and scientific institutes, the image of a thoroughly underprivileged subcontinent had to be altered even in the German-speaking realm. India's metropolises have been grasped by a vehement push towards globalization. Parallel to the pre-modern local structures, a postmodern, globalized, urban India has arisen. The developments of the past decades have profoundly changed Indian society. Indian artists are working out the new currents of capital and their cultural apparatuses in contradictory ways.



The exhibition in the Kunsthalle Wien is currently the largest presentation of contemporary Indian art in the German-speaking realm. Nonetheless, it does not claim to be either a comprehensive representation of the entire Indian subcontinent, or of contemporary Indian art. Rather, the exhibition shows characteristic ramifications and intersections of the current Indian art with international trends and traditions. It thematizes Indian's broken gaze that arises out of the postcolonial situation.



The participating artists work out private narratives and public myths in their manifold mediations: in the medium classical for India - painting - as well as photography, video, installation and digital art; combining the "national," "local," and "global."



Participating artists are: Atul Dodiya, Subodh Gupta, Ranbir Kaleka, Sonia Khurana, Shantanu Lodh, Surendran Nair, Baiju Parthan, Anandajit Ray / Debnath Basu, Dayanita Singh, and Vivan Sundaram. The Guest curators are: Angelika Fitz, Michael Wörgötter (Vienna), Curator Kunsthalle Wien: Lucas Gehrmann.