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Everything we do is music - Exhibition Catalogue
Sarnath Banerjee, Claudio Caldini, Francesco Clemente, Sabah Husain, Prabhavathi Meppayil, Nasreen Mohamedi, Tania Mouraud, Lee Mullican, Michael Müller, Hetain Patel, Lala Rukh, Vidya Sagar, Mohan Samant, Shahzia Sikander, Dayanita Singh, Marian Zazeela.
Everything we do is music explores Indian classical music as a source of inspiration for a diverse group of modern and contemporary artists. This catalogue reflects upon the ways in which something as distinct as Indian classical music is connected with the visual arts. It brings together a host of approaches, from the figurative and graphic to the abstract and performative. Drawing and the act of mark making emerges as a guiding principle within the diverse artistic approaches to prompt reflections on how an oral tradition like Indian classical music has come to be experienced and represented; to wonder at how artists react and respond to sound to create images.
Everything we do is music is curated by Shanay Jhaveri, Assistant Curator, South Asia, Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York.
Edited by Shanay Jhaveri and Kate Macfarlane. Essays by Saira Ansari, an independent researcher and writer living in Dubai, UAE, Shanay Jhaveri and Alexander Keefe, a writer living in Los Angeles, California.
We are grateful to the R and S Nanavati Charitable Trust No. 2, for their generous support of the catalogue.
Sarnath Banerjee (b. 1972, Kolkata, IN) lives and works in Berlin, DE. Studied (BSc Hons.) Biochemistry, University of Delhi, IN and (M.A) Image and Communication, Goldsmiths College, University of London, UK (2003). Awarded Best Young Publisher Award, the British Council (2008); nominated for The Television Network award, Hong Kong for his debut film 12 Years after…on the Bhopal Gas tragedy. Selected solo exhibitions: Frieze Art Fair, New York, US (2015); Barwa Khiladi, Project 88, Mumbai, IN (2012); Frieze Art Fair, London, UK (2009); Tito Years, Project 88, Mumbai, IN (2008); Complex systems, Karton Gallery, Budapest, HU (2007). Selected group exhibitions: Doublethink: Doublevision, Pera Museum, Instabul, TR (2016); Corruption: Everybody Knows, e-flux, New York, US (2015); Being an Island, DAAD, Berlin, DE (2013); Lines of Control, Johnson Museum, Cornell University, US (2012); Frieze London, with Project 88, Mumbai (2012); Paris-Delhi-Bombay… Centre Pompidou, Paris, FR (2011).
Claudio Caldini (b. 1952, Buenos Aires, Argentina) studied at the Centro Experimental del Instituto Nacional de Cinematografía, Buenos Aires (1971) and studied Modern and Audio-perceptive Dance in São Salvador da Bahía (1978) and São Paulo, Brazil ( 1982). He was the film and video curator at the Museo de Arte Moderno de Buenos Aires, Argentina (1998-2004). He undertook an artist residency at the Glenfiddich Distillery, Dufftown, Scotland, UK (2005) and was a Visiting Artist at LIFT Liason of Independent Film Makers of Toronto, Canada (2015). Awards include the Premio Leonardo, the Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes (1997); Beca de la Fundación Antorchas (1998); the Gran Premio at the III Festival Franco-Latinoamericano de Video Arte for his work Heliografía (1994); and the Primer Premioat the Primera Semana del Cine Experimental, Madrid, Spain, for his work El devenir de las piedras (1991).
Francesco Clemente (b. 1952, Naples, Italy) Lives and works in New York, US. Clemente has also frequently lived and worked in India (1973 -1981). Selected solo exhibitions: Mixed media works, in collaboration with the Rajasthan artist community, MASS MoCa (2015) and Carriageworks in Sydney, AU (2016).Museo Archeologico Nazionale di Napoli, IT (2002–03); Guggenheim Museum Bilbao, ES (2000); Guggenheim Museum, New York, US (1999–2000); Galleria d'Arte Moderna, Bologna, IT (1999); Musée National d'Art Moderne, Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris, FR (1994–95); Royal Academy of Arts, London, UK (1991); Philadelphia Museum of Art, US (1990); Museum für Gegenwartskunst, Basel, CH (1987–89); Nationalgalerie, Berlin, DE (1984–85); The Fourteen Stations, Whitechapel Gallery, London, UK (1983).
Sabah Husain H (b. 1959, Peshawar, Pakistan) lives and works in Lahore, PK. Studied (BFA) Fine Arts, National College of Arts, Lahore, PK and (MFA) Fine Arts, specialising in printmaking at Kyoto National University of Fine Arts, JP (1988). Artist residencies include Department of Indian and South-East Asian Collection, Victoria and Albert Museum, London, UK (1995); Tokyo National University of Fine Arts and Music, Department of Printmaking, JP. Awarded the Japan Foundation Fellowship (2004-5); School of Museum of Fine Arts Boston, US (2014-15). Selected solo exhibitions: Embassy of Pakistan, Washington D.C., US (2015); Yamaso Art Gallery, Kyoto JP (1999); Prints and Paper works, October Gallery, London, UK (1995); Gallery Space 21, Tokyo JP (1987). Selected group exhibitions: Koel Art Gallery, Karachi PK (2015); Annual Exhibition, School of Museum of Fine Arts Boston US (2014); Women Artists of Pakistan, National Art Gallery Islamabad, PK (2012); Pakistan: Another Vision – 50 years of Painting and Sculpture, Brunei Gallery, London, UK (2000); India and Pakistan: Contemporary Prints, Victoria and Albert Museum, London UK (1997). Husain’s work is held in a number of public collections including U.S Embassy, Islamabad, PK, Art in Embassies (AIE), U.S Department of State; British Museum, UK; Victoria and Albert Museum, London, UK; National Art Gallery, Islamabad, PK, Bradford Art Galleries and Museums, Bradford, UK and Okinawa Museum of Contemporary Art, JP.
Prabhavathi Meppayil (b. 1965, Bangalore, IN) lives and works in Bangalore IN. Studied (BA) Bangalore University, IN (1986) and (Diploma) Fine Arts, Ken School of Art, Bangalore, IN (1992). Selected solo exhibitions: Prabhavathi Meppayil, Gallery Ske, Vasant Kunj, New Dehli (2017); Prabhavathi Meppayil, Pace Gallery, New York (2016); Prabhavathi Meppayil: berlinoneseven, Johnen Galerie, Berlin (2014); Prabhavathi Meppayil: nine seventeen, American Academy in Rome (2014); Prabhavathi Meppayil: Recent Works 2013, Gallery Ske, Bangalore (2013); Prabhavathi Meppayil: Recent Work, Vadehra Art Gallery, New Dehli (2010). Selected group exhibitions: and The Encyclopedic Palace, 55th Venice Biennale (2013); Equator #1: Shadow Lines: Indonesia Meets India, Yogyakarta Biennale, Indonesia (2011); Orientations: Trajectories in Indian Art, Foundation De 11 Lijnen, Oudenburg, Belgium (2010); Horn Please: Narratives in Contemporary Indian Art, Kunstmuseum Bern (2007–08).Meppayil's work is held in a number of collections including: Kiran Nadar Museum of Art, New Delhi; Mori Art Museum, Tokyo; Pinault Collection, Venice, IT; the Samdani Collection, Dhaka, BD.
Nasreen Mohamedi (b. 1937 in Karachi,IN; d.1990) studied at St. Martins School of Art, London, UK (1954-57) and a French Government Scholarship, Paris, FR (1961-63). Mohamedi joined the M.S. University, Faculty of Fine Arts, Baroda, IN (1972 -1988). Select solo exhibitions: Tate Liverpool, Liverpool, UK (2014); Kiran Nadar Museum of Art, Delhi (2013); Nelson Atkins Museum, Kansas City, MO (2013); Kunsthalle Basel, Basel, Switzerland (2010); Milton Keynes Gallery, UK (2009). Selected group exhibitions: Drawing Room, London (2014); Parasol Unit Foundation, London (2012); The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA), New York (2010); Documenta, XII, Kassel, Germany (2007); Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles, CA (2007); Queensland Art Gallery, Brisbane, Australia (2006); Drawing Center, New York (2005); and Walker Art Center, Minneapolis, MN (2003); Talwar Gallery, New York (2003). The Estate of Nasreen Mohamedi is represented by Talwar Gallery, New York, US and New Delhi, IN.
Tania Mouraud (b.1942 Paris, FR) lives and works in Paris, FR. Selected solo exhibitions: Exhausted Laughters, Musée d’Art Moderne de Saint-Etienne Métropole, FR (2014); La Fabrique, Krasnoye Snamia, St Petersburg, RU (2010); City performance N°1, 54 affiches dans la ville, FRAC Lorraine, Metz, FR (2005); Cityscape, Galerie Fernand Léger, Ivry-sur-Seine, FR (1998); Galerie Françoise Lambert, Milan, IT (1972); Mouraud, Galerie Zunini, Paris,FR (1966). Selected group exhibitions: Une spiritualité au féminin, Musée d’Art Sacré, FR (2013); Once Upon a Time, Video Installation, Nuit Blanche, Toronto City Hall, CA (2012); REVOLUTION? Kunsthalle, Budapest, HU (2007); Art grandeur nature, Biennale d’art contemporain en Seine Saint Denis, FR (2004); From One Point To Another, Atelier Soardi, Nice, FR (1997); Femininmasculin, MNAM, Centre Georges-Pompidou, Paris, FR (1995). Mouraud’s work is held in a number of public collections including Musée d’Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris, FR and Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris, FR.
Lee Mullican (b. 1919 Chikasha, Oklahoma, US; d. 1998) lived and worked in California, US. Studied Kansas City Art Institute, US. Recent solo exhibitions include: James Cohan, New York, NY (2016); Susan Inglett Gallery, New York, NY (2016); Lee Mullican: Shatter Space Special, Beverly Hills, CA (2015); Paintings 1956-1977, Texas Gallery, Houston, TX (2015); Meditations on a Line, Marc Selwyn Fine Art, Los Angeles, CA (2014). Recent group exhibitions include: Art of Northern California: Three Stories, San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, San Francisco, CA (2016); Soldier, Spectre, Shaman: The Figure and the Second World War, The Museum of Modern Art, New York, NY (2015); Shatter Special, Equitable Vitrines, Los Angeles, CA (2015); Transcendence: Abstraction & Symbolism in the American West, Nora Eccles Harrison Museum of Art, Logan, UT (2015); The Art Show, Art Dealers Association of America, New York, NY (2015). Mullican is in the collections of San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, the Whitney Museum of American Art, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and the Los Angeles County Museum of Art.
Michael Müller (b.1970, Ingelheim am Rhein) lives and works in Berlin. Graduated from the Kunstakademie Düsseldorf. Awards include the Kunstpreis der Böttcherstraße, Bremen (2017); and the Sanofi Art Project (2013). Select solo exhibitions For All Those Who Trust in Form and Not in Content, Jhaveri Contemporary, Mumbai (2017); SKITS – 13 Exhibitions in 9 Rooms, Staatliche Kunsthalle Baden-Baden, Baden-Baden (2016/17); Who's Speaking?/ Wer spricht?, KW Institute for Contemporary Art, Berlin (2015/16); 18 exhibitions (2011- 2017), Galerie Thomas Schulte, Berlin (2015); and Musikstücke und Farben, Jhaveri Contemporary, Mumbai (2011). Select group exhibitions include Farewell to an Idea, Plattenpalast, Berlin (2016); ...und eine Welt noch, Kunsthaus Hamburg, Hamburg (2016); 10x10, Konrad Adenauer Stiftung, Berlin (2015); Fire and Forget. On Violence, KW Institute for Contemporary Art, Berlin (2015); 1/1, Brandenburgischer Kunstverein Potsdam, Potsdam (2015); One place next to another, Winzavod Center for Contemporary Art, Moscow (2014); L'Art et La Santé, Sanofi France, Paris (2013); How to make – Ideen, Notationen, Materialisierungen, Kunsthaus Dresden, Dresden (2012); 360° - Landart Biennale, Ulaanbaatar (2012); and Dopplereffekt. Bilder in Kunst und Wissenschaft, Kunsthalle zu Kiel, Hamburg (2010). His work is held in private and public collections including Centro Galego de Arte Contemporanea (CGAC), Santiago de Compostela; MOCA Grand Avenue, Los Angeles; and Sammlung Bergmeier Halle, Berlin.
Hetain Patel (b. 1980, Bolton) lives and works in London. Graduated from BA Fine Art, Nottingham Trent University, Nottingham (2003). Recipient of the Jerwood Choreographic Research Project Award (2017); and the Decibel Award, Arts Council England (2004). Patel is a New Wave Associate at Sadler’s Wells, London (2013-present). Select solo exhibitions and performances include Let's Talk About Dis, Royal Opera House, London and Sadler’s Wells, London (2018); American Boy, CODA Festival, Oslo (2018); Don’t Look at the Finger, QUAD, Derby, Manchester Art Gallery, Manchester, and touring (2017-18); The Fight, Manchester Art Gallery, Manchester and QUAD, Derby (2017); The Jump, Wood Street Galleries, Pittsburgh (2015); The Other Suit, Chatterjee & Lal, Mumbai (2015); iMovie 2.0, Extinction Marathon, the Serpentine Galleries, London (2014); and To Dance Like Your Dad, Watermans Arts Centre, London (2010). Select group exhibitions include Deeper within its silence: Form and Unbecoming, Devi Art Foundation, Delhi (2019); Shall We Dance?, MUCEM, Marseille (2019); London Short Film Festival, ICA, London (2019); Everything We Do Is Music, Drawing Room, London (2017-18); Asia Pacific Triennial, Brisbane (2015-16); Doug Fishbone’s Leisure Land Golf, 56th Venice Biennale, Venice (2015); SPHERES 7, Galleria Continua, Le Moulin (2014); and Heaven & Earth, Southbank Centre, London (2014). His work is held in public and private collections including Kiran Nadar Museum of Art, Delhi; Devi Art Foundation, Gurgaon; and Lakeside Arts Centre, Nottingham.
Lala Rukh (b. 1948, Lahore, PK. d. 2017) studied Fine Art, Punjab University, Lahore, PK and (MFA) University of Chicago, US. Selected solo exhibitions: sagar, Grey Noise, Dubai, UAE (2017); Drawings, Koel Gallery, Karachi, PK in collaboration with Grey Noise; Exhibitions of Works: 1989 – 2004, Zahoor - al - Akhlaq Gallery, National College of Art, Lahore, PK. (2017). Selected group exhibitions: Documenta 14, Athens, Greece and Kassel, DE (2017); LISTE, Art Fair Basel, Basel, CH, (2017); For an Image, Faster Than Light, Yinchuan Biennial, Yinchuan, CN (2016); but even if I cannot see the sun, Grey Noise, Dubai, UAE (2016); The past, the present, the possible, Sharjah Biennial 12, Sharjah, UAE (2015).
Vidya Sagar (b. 1938, Dera Gazi Khan, Punjab; d. 2016) lived and worked in London, UK. Studied at Gurukul Kangri University, Haridwar (1949–1955) and College of Art, Delhi (1955–1958). Wins Shankar Painting competition (1955); initiates The Unknowns, an artist collective based in Delhi (early 1960s). In 1964 Sagar received a scholarship for The London School of Film Technique and studied there 1966–8. Performances with David Medalla in London and Paris (1967). Arts Lab screening of Alienation (1968). Sagar designs sets and works for a period of time with the film maker and performance artist Lindsey Kemp (1969–1970). Solo exhibitions: Primrose Hill Gallery (1993 & 1989); Thoughtform, Vidya Sagar contextualised by The Otolith Group, Museu d’Art Contemporani de Barcelona, MACBA and Museo Nazionale Delle Arti Del Secolo, Maxxi, Rome (2011). Included in Symbolism and Geometry in Indian Art, National Gallery of Modern art, Delhi, IN (1998).
Mohan Samant (b.1924 Goregaon, Mumbai, IN. d. 2004, New York City, US) received a Diploma from Sir J.J. School of Art, Mumbai (1952) - the same year that Samant joined the Progressive Artists Group. Awards include the Govenor’s Prize, Bombay Art Society Annual Exhibition (1953); The Gold Medal at the Calcutta Art Society Show and the Lalit Kala Akademi All India Award (1956); A scholarship in Rome (1957-58); Rockefeller fellowship, New York City (1959); Asian American Heritage Award for lifetime achievement in the arts (2000). Selected solo exhibitions: Abby Grey and Indian Modernism Grey Art Gallery, New York University, US (2015); Mohan Samant, presented at the Jehangir Nicholson Gallery / Art Foundation (2014); Mohan Samant: Paintings exhibition relating to artist monograph and paintings, Nehru Centre, London, UK (2013). Selected group exhibitions: Contemporary East Indian Artists (1997); The Group of Eight, Contemporary Arts of India, New York, US (1995); Contemporary Indian Art: An Exhibition of the Festival of India, Royal Academy of Arts, Burlington House, London, UK (1982); Dunn International: 102 Best Painters of the World, Beaverbrook Art Gallery, Fredericton, New Brunswick, Canada and Tate Gallery, London, UK (1963); Progressive Artists’ Group: Gaitonde, Raiba, Ara,Hazarnis, Khanna, Husain, Samant, Gade, Jehangir Art Gallery, Mumbai, IN (1963)Trends in Contemporary Painting from India Graham Gallery, New York, US (1963); A Collection of Contemporary Art Museum of Modern Art, New York, US (1961). Samant’s work is held in a number of public collections and archives including Tata Institute of Fundamental Research (TIFR), Mumbai, IN; National Gallery of Modern Art,(NGMA), New Delhi, IN; Birla Academy of Art and Culture, Calcutta, IN and Museum of Modern Art, New York, US.
Shahzia Sikander is a Pakistani-born, internationally recognized, visual artist whose pioneering practice examines historical Indo-Persian miniature painting, challenging the strict formal tropes of miniature painting as well as its medium-based restrictions by experimenting with scale and media. Such media include animation, video, mural, mosaic andcollaboration with other artists. Her process-based work is concerned with examining the forces at stake in contested cultural and political histories. Informed by South Asian, American, Feminist and Muslim perspectives, Sikander has developed a unique, critically charged approach to this time-honored medium, employing its continuous capacity for reinvention to interrogate ideas of language, trade and empire, and migration. Sikander’s breakthrough, The Scroll (1989-90), received national critical acclaim in Pakistan, subsequently launching the medium into the forefront of National College of Arts’ program, and bringing international recognition to this medium within contemporary art practices. Sikander has been the subject of major international exhibitions around the world, including, amongst others, MAXXI | Museo nazionale delle arti del XXI secolo, Rome (2016-17); Asia Society Hong Kong Center, Hong Kong (2016); the Guggenheim Museum, Bilbao (2015); Bildmuseet Umea, Sweden (2014); Linda Pace Foundation, San Antonio, Texas (2012-13); IKON, Birmingham (2008); Museum of Contemporary Art, Sydney (2007); Irish Museum of Modern Art, Dublin (2007); The San Diego Museum of Art, San Diego (2004); the Whitney Museum of American Art, Philip Morris/Altria Branch (2000); Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden (1999); Renaissance Society at the University of Chicago (1998); The Drawing Center (1997); The Whitney Biennal (1997); and has participated in more than 400 group shows and international art forums. Sikander has received numerous grants, fellowships and awards, including the Asia Society Award for Significant Contribution to Contemporary Art (2015), the U.S. Department of State National Medal of Arts Award (2012); Young Global Leader, World Economic Forum (2006– 11); DAAD (Berliner Künstlerprogramm, Deutscher Akademischer Austauschdienst), Berlin (2007–08); the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, MacArthur Fellowship (2006); Tamgha-e-Imtiaz (2005); the South Asian Women’s Creative Collective Achievement Award (1999); Shakir Ali Award (1992); and the Haji Sharif award for excellence in miniature painting (1992).
Dayanita Singh (b. 1961, New Delhi, IN) lives and works in Delhi, IN. Studied Visual Communication, National Institute of Design, Ahmedabad and Photojournalism and Documentary Photography, International Center of Photography, New York, US. Awarded the Chevalier dans l’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres (2014); Prince Claus Award, Amsterdam (2008); Robert Gardner Fellowship, Harvard University (2008). Recent exhibitions include: Museum Bhavan, Tokyo Photographic Art Museum, Tokyo, JN (2017); Suitcase Museum, Dr. Bhau Daji Lad Museum, Mumbai, IN (2016); Museum of Shedding, Frith Street Gallery, London, UK (2016); Museum of Chance — Book Object, Hawa Mahal, Jaipur, IN (2016); Conversation Chambers Museum Bhavan, Kiran Ndar Museum of Art, Delhi, IN(2015); Book Works, Goethe-Institut, New Delhi, IN (2015); Museum of Chance – A book story, MMB, Delhi, IN (2015); 15th Istanbul Biennial, curated by Elmgreen & Dragset, Istanbul, TR (2017); 10 years old, Fondazione Fotografia Modena, Foro Boario, Modena, IT (2017); An Imagined Museum: Works from the Centre Pompodou, the Tate, and MMK, Museum für Moderne Kunst, Frankfurt am Main (2016); The Humble Vessel, the New Art Gallery Walsall, Walsall, UK (2016); Suitcase Museum and Kitchen Museum, Museum of Contemporary Art Australia for the 20th Biennale of Sydney, AU (2016); Museum of Chance – Book Object, Dhaka Art Summit, BD (2016). Singh's work is held in public collections such as: Tate Gallery, London, UK; The Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago; The National Gallery of Modern Art, Houston, Texas, US; Mead Art Gallery, University of Warwick, UK; Louisiana Museum of Modern Art, Humlebaek, DK
Marian Zazeela (b. 1940, New York, US) lives and works in New York City. Studied (BA) Painting, Bennington College, Vermont, US (1960) and later began studies at the Kirana School of Hindustani Classical Music (1970). Awards, grants and fellowships include DAAD Berliner Kunstlerprogramm Residency, Berlin, DE (1991-1992); Visual Artist Fellowship , National Endowment for the Arts, Washington, DC. (1978); Scholarship in Painting , Brooklyn Museum Art School, Brooklyn, NY (1958). Select exhibitions include Kunst im Regenbogenstadl Polling, Bavaria, DE (2007); Summer of Love: Art of the Psychedelic Era exhibited at the Whitney Museum of American Art, US (2007), Kunsthalle Wien, DE (2007) and Tate Liverpool, UK (2005); Experiencing duration Biennale d'Art Contemporain de Lyon, FR (2005); Dream House Sound and Light Environment from the FNAC Collection (2005); Sons et Lumiéres Musée National d'Art Moderne, Centre Pompidou, Paris, FR (2004); Magenta Day / Magenta Night site-specific installation (2003); Dream House one year installation, Dia Art Foundation, New York US (1990); Light for Night Ragas light environment with sound by Pandit Pran Nath, Trading Floor Grand Hall (1984); Sound / With / In Light sculpture with sound (collaboration with La Monte Young), Galerie Lara Vincy, FR (1993); Knot: Four-in-Hand Galerie Krinzinger, Vienna, AT. Fluxus exhibition (1990); Artists in the Dharma exhibition Light sculpture from Still Light Samaya Foundation, New York, US (1986); Light, recent issues in illumination Morris Museum of Arts and Sciences, Morristown, N.J (1983). Zazella’s work is held in a number of private and public collections including the Dia Art Foundation, New York, US; Fondazione Mudima, Milan, IT and Fonds National d'Art Contemporain, FR (FNAC).
