Three ground-breaking contemporary artists, Anita Dube, Barthélémy Toguo and Jitish Kallat share the inspiring stories of their creative journeys in a candid conversation with Prof. Dr. Thomas Girst, Global Head of BMW Group Cultural Engagement. Do not miss this rare opportunity to hear from three established artists on the transformative power of creativity in envisioning a brighter collective future.
Curated by researcher and arts manager, Priya Chauhan, ART ACROSS —— celebrates the power of critical dialogue and the critical need for celebrating the arts. Spanning key issues in art, design and architecture from a variety of perspectives including from institutions, market experts, philanthropists and creatives, the series aims to foster an inclusive platform to explore contemporary culture, with South Asia at its centre. All talks will also be conducted in Indian Sign Language.
Anita Dube: Born in Lucknow (India) in 1958, Anita Dube is an art historian and critic turned artist. She works with a conceptual language that valorizes the sculptural fragment as a bearer of personal and social memory, history, mythology, and phenomenological experience. Marked by her early engagement with the Indian Radical Painters and Sculptors Association, a self-styled political grouping of artists in the late 80’s; she has since attempted to work both with an ‘erotics’ and a ‘politics’ that investigates the resistance of marginalized individuals and women, against the overarching idea of ‘power’. She is the founder and board member of KHOJ and was the curator of Kochi-Muziris Biennale 2018. She has shown extensively in India and all over the world.
Barthélémy Toguo: Barthélémy Toguo was born in Cameroon in 1967. His work takes inspiration from all the places in which he has lived and has a particular focus on borders, frontiers, and the transition from one to the other. His practice ranges across drawings, paintings, sculptures as well as installations, videos and performances. His work has been presented in exhibitions, biennials, and festivals around the world. They are included in major collections around the world: Tate Modern, London; Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris; Museum of Modern Art New York; Perez Art Museum, Miami; and Kunstsammlungen der Stadt, Düsseldorf. Barthélémy Toguo founded Bandjoun Station, in his father’s hometown in Cameroon, inaugurated in 2013, a contemporary art Center, including an artist residency along with an agricultural project.
Jitish Kallat: Jitish Kallat was born in 1974 in Mumbai, where he continues to live and work. His solo exhibitions at museums, include the Art Institute of Chicago, Frist Art Museum (Nashville), Art Gallery of New South Wales (Sydney), the Philadelphia Museum of Art and a mid-career survey at National Gallery of Modern Art (New Delhi) in 2017, amongst others. Kallat was the curator and artistic director of Kochi-Muziris Biennale 2014.
Prof. Dr. Thomas Girst: Prof. Dr. Thomas Girst is Global Head of BMW Group Cultural Engagement. He studied art history, American Studies and German literature at Hamburg University and New York University. While in New York between 1995-2003 he was head of the Art Science Research Laboratory under the directorship of Stephen Jay Gould, Harvard University. In 2016, Girst received the “European Cultural Manager of the Year” award. Recent books include: Art, Literature, and the Japanese American Internment, The Duchamp Dictionary, 100 Secrets of the Art World. In 2024 Cultural Management: A Global Guide and Esther Mahlangu: A Life in Color will be published by Thames & Hudson.