Saas-Fee Summer Institute of Art (SFSIA) is pleased to present a public lecture by Jitish Kallat who will share a cross section of his work, exploring the many processes, themes and ideas that recur throughout his wide-ranging artistic practice. Kallat’s work engages with the ideas of time, transience, sleep and sustenance, the ecological and the cosmological. These explorations take the form of elemental drawings that participate in atmospheric phenomena such as wind and rain, investigative animation videos, photo-works, paintings and sculptures. In his works such as the Public Notice trilogy (2003-2010), or Covering Letter (2012) which is currently exhibited at the Venice Biennale, a historic moment is invoked, prompting a contemplation on our present by mediating it through the past. This artist-talk could unfold into a two-way dialogue, a conversation that could explore ideas of cognition and the very act of looking.

Born in 1974, Mumbai-based artist Jitish Kallat has exhibited his work widely across the world in contexts such as galleries, museums and biennials. In 2017 the National Gallery of Modern Art (New Delhi) presented a mid-career retrospective of his work titled Here After Here 1992-2017 curated by Catherine David. Kallat has had solo exhibitions at museums such the Art Institute of Chicago, Philadelphia Museum of Art, Bhau Daji Lad Museum (Mumbai), the Ian Potter Museum of Art (Melbourne), CSMVS Museum (Mumbai), the San Jose Museum of Art and Art Gallery of New South Wales (Sydney) amongst others. He has exhibited widely at museums and institutions including Tate Modern (London), Martin Gorpius Bau (Berlin), Serpentine Galleries (London), Mori Art Museum (Tokyo), Astrup Fearnley Museum of Modern Art (Oslo), Valencia Institute of Modern Art (Spain), Mori Art Museum (Tokyo), Art Gallery of Ontario (Toronto), and the Gemeente Museum (The Hague) amongst many others. His work has been part of the Havana Biennale, Gwangju Biennale, Asia Pacific Triennale, Asian Art Biennale, Curitiba Biennale and Kiev Biennale amongst others. Kallat also served as the Curator and Artistic Director of the second edition of Kochi-Muziris Biennale in 2014.

ABOUT SFSIA

Saas-Fee Summer Institute of Art (SFSIA) is a nomadic, intensive summer academy with shifting programs in contemporary critical theory. SFSIA stresses an interdisciplinary approach to understanding the relationship between art and politics. The program consists of seminar-style lectures, deep readings, and workshops. An evening lecture program is free and open to the public. SFISA was founded and is directed by Warren Neidich and is co-directed by Barry Schwabsky. Sarrita Hunn is the artistic coordinator.