“The Imaginary Institution of India: Art 1975-1998” is the world’s first exhibition to explore and chart this period of significant cultural and political change in India. Featuring nearly 150 works of art across painting, sculpture, photography, installation and film, this landmark group show examines the ways in which 30 artists have distilled significant episodes of the late 20th century and reflected intimate
moments of life during this time. A specially curated film season, “Rewriting the Rules: Pioneering Indian Cinema after 1970,” will run alongside the exhibition.
Bookended by two pivotal moments in India’s history—the declaration of the State of Emergency by Indira Gandhi in 1975 and the Pokhran Nuclear Tests in 1998—“The Imaginary Institution of India” aims to delve into a transformative era marked by social upheaval, economic instability, and rapid urbanisation.
The exhibition takes the declaration of the Emergency in 1975 and the ensuing suspension of civil liberties as a moment of national awakening, signalling how it provoked artistic responses, directly or indirectly. It surveys the artistic production that unfolded over the next two decades or so, within the turmoil of a changing socio-political landscape. Culminating in the 1998 nuclear tests, the show illustrates how far the country moved from the ideals of non-violence, which once had been the bedrock of its campaign for independence from British colonial rule.
Unfolding loosely chronologically across both floors of the gallery, “The Imaginary Institution of India” guides the visitor through this tumultuous time. The artists featured grapple with the shifting context of late 20th century India; some responding directly to the national events that they were living through, while others captured everyday moments and shared experiences. All of them combined social observation with individual expression and innovation of form to make work about friendship, love, desire, family, religion, violence, caste, community and protest. This has determined the four axes that shape the exhibition: the rise of communal violence; gender and sexuality; urbanisation and shifting class
structures; and a growing connection with indigenous and vernacular practices.
Most artists will be represented by multiple works, providing a fuller view of their practices and highlighting the aesthetic evolution in their oeuvres. In this way, the exhibition also traces the development of Indian art history from the predominance of figurative painting in the mid-1970s, to the emergence of video and installation art in the 1990s. Primarily wallbased art in the upper galleries will give way to installations downstairs, with works presented alongside an exhibition design inspired by the transforming urban landscape of India during the period and the shifting boundaries between the public and the private; the street and the home.
Shanay Jhaveri, Head of Visual Arts at the Barbican, said: “The exhibition takes its title from an essay by Sudipta Kaviraj, which discusses the processes of instituting democracy and modernity in a post-colonial society characterised by diversity and plurality. These negotiations form the core of ‘The Imaginary Institution of India: Art 1975-1998,’ a show that underscores, through powerful and evocative artworks, the essence of a truly democratic society—where people communicate, coexist, and connect on various levels, from the exuberantly sexual to the defiantly political.”
Kiran Nadar, Founder & Chairperson, KNMA, said: “The Kiran Nadar Museum of Art (KNMA), in its ongoing partnership with the Barbican presents the second exhibition focused on bringing visibility and critical attention to the practice of Indian and South Asian artists through selected seminal works highlighting social, political, and artistic transformations in India from 1975 to 1998. We are delighted to have loaned a substantial number of major artworks to the exhibition that energise the theme, taking viewers through a spectrum of materials, media, and content.”
at Barbican Art Gallery, London
until January 5, 2025