India and the World. New Arcs of Knowledge

Studying the visual and material culture of the Indian subcontinent constitutes a gateway toward querrying much of the intellectual and cultural heritage of the globe, from antiquity to the present day. The assemblages of objects and images produced and used in the subcontinent – Buddhist stupas, sprawling temple-cities, Mughal carpets, Chettiyar homes, Satyajit Ray films, bazaar paintings, family photographs and much else – represent more than the inheritance of the subcontinent. This Academy invites scholars who are critically investigating such objects and images, and are interested in explicating how they are equally the heritage of many others cultures and communities. Many of them have emerged from encounters with other mediums and with other regions, which, in turn, have been reflected, reshaped, and reformed by the art of subcontinent.

The Academy will be held at Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Vastu Sangrahalaya in Mumbai, Centre for Studies in Social Sciences, Calcutta, and Dakshina Chitra Museum in Chennai.

Steering Committee: Nachiket Chanchani (University of Michigan, Ann Arbor), Rosinka Chaudhuri (Centre for Studies in Social Sciences, Calcutta), Deborah Thiagarajan (Dakshina Chitra Museum/ Madras Craft Foundation, Chennai), Hannah Baader (KHI Florenz – Max-Planck-Institut/ Forum Transregionale Studien), Gerhard Wolf (KHI Florenz – Max-Planck-Institut/ Forum Transregionale Studien).