This book is the outcome of the exhibition My East is Your West, which was a collateral event of the 56th Venice Biennale. The exhibition was commissioned by The Gujral Foundation. It united for the first time at the Biennale the historically conflicting nations of India and Pakistan in a space shared by artists from both countries. Shilpa Gupta (Mumbai) and Rashid Rana (Lahore) presented a new series of works at the Palazzo Benzon, situated in the centre of Venice on the Grand Canal. As neither India nor Pakistan has a permanent national pavilion at Venice, this presentation provided a unique platform for artists from South Asia to enter into a dialogue through the arts, representing the Indian subcontinent as one region. The publication brings together critical reflections on the artists works in the format of essays, interviews and extensive visual documentation. It also includes a section on the public programme Ancestors which was carried out in parallel to the exhibition and travelled across South Asia as an interdisciplinary events platform engaging artists, writers, film-makers, architects and theorist.
The Gujral Foundation was founded in 2008 by Mohit and Feroze Gujral, son and daughter-inlaw of renowned Indian Modernist artist, Satish Gujral. The foundation is a non-profit trust dedicated to supporting contemporary cultural engagements within the realms of art, design and culture in the Indian subcontinent. For the past three years, The Gujral Foundation has fostered a range of projects steadily expanding its reach with the world of contemporary art and is committed to building infrastructures that sustain cultural freedom, social engagement and the artistic imagination.
