Curator's Talk

Curators' Talk

Pushpamala N and Anita Dube
Moderated by Helmut Schippert

Pushpamala N
Curator, Chennai Photo Biennale 2019

Pushpamala N is an internationally recognized photo- and video artist, sculptor, performer, writer, and curator. As one of the pioneers of conceptual art in India, she is known for her strong feminist work and her rejection of authenticity and embracing of multiple realities. Starting her career as a narrative sculptor, she began working in staged photography and photo-performance in the mid- 1990s and has been a major influence on the photography scene in the country. Her richly layered and inventive work uses the idea of cultural memory to explore contemporary society with irony and wit.

She exhibits widely in India and abroad in solo shows, biennales, and museum shows. Her work has been collected by major museums and is taught in universities internationally. She often speaks at conferences and her writing has been published in respected journals and books. In 1996 she created a fictional institute in Bengaluru named Somberikatte (Idler’s Platform in Kannada) through which she conducts talks and seminars. She lives in Bengaluru, India.

Anita Dube
Curator, Kochi-Muziris Biennale 2018

Born in Lucknow in 1958, Anita Dube completed her BA (History) from Delhi University in 1979 and her MVA (Art Criticism) from the Faculty of Fine Arts, Maharaja Sayajirao University, Baroda in 1982. As a member of Radical Painters and Sculptors Association, she wrote the manifesto of the seminal exhibition ‘Questions and Dialogue’ in 1987, and has since been producing critical, politically-driven artwork across media. Dube is the co-founder and board member of KHOJ International Artists’ Association, and has contributed texts to many publications on contemporary art.
Dube lives and works in Greater Noida, India.

Helmut Schippert

Helmut Schippert is the Director of the Goethe-Institut / Max Mueller Bhavan Chennai and the co-founder of Chennai Photo Biennale. He has been working with Germany’s cultural institute for 33 years, most of them abroad in Cairo, Santiago de Chile, Paris, Mexico City and in Chennai since 2014. Being a specialist in international communication and cooperation, he has focused on 'change' projects with public impact in Chennai, such as new approaches to the urban water crisis or the implementation of a major contemporary art event: the Chennai Photo Biennale.