BodhiBerlin: Exhibition view "Frontlines: Notations from the Contemporary Indian Urban" / Photo: © Nadine Dinter, 2008, courtesy BodhiBerlin

Tom Felber for ceative face Magazine

Over the last years, India has become increasingly important on the international stage and its culture is becoming more and more relevant to the rest of the world. The way the people of India negotiate the complexities of different ethnicities, cultures, languages, religions, ideologies and economic strata to form a democratic nation might be used as a model for other nations on how to resolve their anxieties presented by globalization and post-modernism. Maybe that's one of the reasons why Indian Art is so interesting and attractive today.

Nearly by implication, in May 2008 Bodhi Art opened its first exhibition space in Europe entitled BodhiBerlin close to Hamburger Bahnhof and Heidestrasse, one of Berlin's exciting new art centers. The worldwide operating gallery Bodhi Art with its headquarter in Singapore and galleries in Mumbai, New Delhi and New York is one of the leading galleries for contemporary art from India. BodhiBerlin will feature work in both monograph shows and group exhibitions from a vast range of practitioners based mainly in India, yet will also present curated exhibitions based both on individuated experiences and experiments which develop themes drawn from a wide pool of practitioners from the global sphere.

Tom Felber, from creative face Magazine, talked with Jean Griffin Borho, Associate Director of BodhiBerlin about Indian art and Bodhi Art' s reasons to come to Berlin.

creative face Magazine: Bodhi Art's first European dependence is located in Berlin. Why have you chosen Berlin and not another city in Europe, such as London for example?

Jean Griffin Borho: Bodhi Art decided to open a gallery in Berlin, Germany, primarily because of the vibrant art scene in this city. There are literally thousands of Contemporary Artists in Berlin, creating some of the most dynamic work to be found in the art world today. With the opening of BodhiBerlin, the mission of Bodhi Art evolved to include artists from non-Indian origins, so Berlin is an excellent place to reach out to new artists. Finally, Berlin is located geographically in between the galleries in New York and in India, and as it is also in the center of Europe, it is quite accessible for international collectors.

creative face Magazine: What's from your point of view the difference, if there is any, between the gallery in New York, in Singapore and Berlin?

Jean Griffin Borho: Each gallery is in a different country and so the markets are inevitably different as well. New York may show an artist that Berlin or Mumbai or Singapore would not, and vice versa.

creative face Magazine: During the last couple of years India art has become more and more popular within the country and also outside India. What is the reason for this development?

Jean Griffin Borho: There are several factors contributing to the popularity of Contemporary Art from India. First, the increasing disposable incomes of the growing middle class gave way to a large collector base, eager to support artists from their homeland and to display their new wealth. Second, the extensive media coverage of art in combination with the opening of art galleries concentrating on selling Contemporary Indian Art gave millions of Indians access to this work and peaked their interest in buying the work as a financial investment. Third, with the rise of internet accessibility in India, many sites were devoted exclusively to selling Contemporary Indian Art and it became actually easy to acquire the work.

Internationally, the rapid economic development of India has created new interest in the country and, consequently, the world is looking at all aspects of contemporary Indian culture. The Contemporary Indian Artists (CIAs) are producing excellent, fresh work, employing themes, both universal and specific to India, that have been well received and appreciated by international collectors and museums alike.

creative face Magazine: When people talk about the Indian art-boom frequently Non Residential Indians are mentioned as an important factor. Is that true? If yes, is this one of the significant differences between the Indian and the Chinese art-boom?

Jean Griffin Borho: To compare CIAs and Non-Residential CIAs with Contemporary Chinese Artists is not especially valid as Indian artists are able to move freely within and without India while Chinese artists are generally restricted. To date, most CIAs live in India.

creative face Magazine: Are there any other differences you see?

Jean Griffin Borho: The significant difference between the Indian and Chinese art boom is that the interest in Contemporary Chinese Artists came almost exclusively from the West, while the CIAs were at first supported almost exclusively by Indian collectors.

creative face Magazine: India is a big country with different cultural regions. Is it correct to talk about contemporary art from India or should we talk about art from the different regions?

Jean Griffin Borho: It is always correct to speak about the region from which any artist hails, but when we speak about CIAs we are generally talking about India as a whole.

creative face Magazine: Which are the popular themes which are covered by contemporary art from India? Are these more India-related themes like development in religion, history, society or politics or are these global themes?

Jean Griffin Borho: The popular themes that are covered by CIAs deal with over population and the many resulting problems (like food and housing shortages, overcrowding of cities, etc.), warring religious factions, military occupation, Colonialism and its after-math, are both India-related and global. I feel this is one of the main reasons the CIAs are so well received internationally - their art is accessible within and outside India.

creative face Magazine: Multi-media art from India seems to be very popular. Does that reflect the rapidly growing multi-media industry in India?

Jean Griffin Borho: Multi-media art by CIAs is a reflection of the rapidly growing multi-media industry in India.

creative face Magazine: What's the most interesting development in Indian art at present from your point of view?

Jean Griffin Borho: The most interesting aspect in Contemporary Indian Art for me personally is the way this art deals with traditional and inherited values and objects which so clearly charactarizes the outsiders' idea of „the Indian", but is then presented with a universal approach of formal aestheticism.

creative face Magazine: Thank you very much Jean Griffin Borho for the interview.