dir. Avijit Mukul Kishore
2013, India, 93 & 53 mins
To Let The World InĀ is a two-volume film project that looks at a significant period in the history of contemporary Indian art from the early 1980s to the present day, featuring the work of two generations of visual artists.
VolumeĀ I chronicles the spirit and legacy of a movement that marked the return to narrativity and figuration in Indian art. The exhibition titles āPlace for Peopleā, which was held in Delhi and Mumbai in 1981, brought together a group of artists and a critic who sought to explore locality, class and politics in their practice. The film traces the artistā concerns reflected in their work, tracing it down to the present day. Among the inheritors of the legacy of this movement were younger artists who continued this dialogue and also became the interlocutors for the work started by the earlier generation.
The artists featured in this volume are Arpita Singh, Gulammohammed Sheikh, Vivan Sundaram, Nilima Sheikh, Nalini Malani, Sudhir Patwardhan, Ranbir Kaleka, Pushpamala N., Anita Dube and Atul Dodiya along with art critic and curator Geeta Kapur. Their conversations see frequent visitations by the endearing spirit of Bhupen Khakhar, their friend and co-artist.
To Let The World In, Volume II looks at a period of monumental change in the context of art-practice in India, following economic liberalisation and the simultaneous resurgence of religious fundamentalism in politics. Beginning in the early 1990s, this was also a period of crisis in art education, one that required artists to frequently reinvent themselves to adjust to a globalised, market-dependent environment of art-production.
The film reflects on this period of anxiety and the artistsā struggle to have an individual voice.
The artists featured in this volume are Anju Dodiya, Archana Hande, Benitha Perciyal, Sharmila Samant, Parvathi Nayar, Riyas Komu, Tushar Joag, Shilpa Gupta, Josh P.S., Garni Raina, Sumakshi Singh, T.V. Santosh, Nataraj Sharma, Anandajit Ray, Gigi Scaria, Reena Saini Kallat and Jitish Kallat.
dir. Avijit Mukul Kishore will be attending
