2024 Artistic Showcase

Indian Miniature Paintings and the Chazen Museum of Art

The Chazen Museum of Art invites you to explore its collection of Indian miniature paintings, featuring works from the 13th to 19th centuries.

On display in the Simon & Rosemary Chen

Image: Artist Unknown, Vishnu’s Fish Incarnation, late 18th century. Gouache and gilt pigments on paper. Gift of Mr. Wolf Ladejinsky, 68.28.11

Family Study Room for Works on Paper, the exhibition includes Buddhist, Jain, and Hindu manuscript illuminations, along with Mughal, Rajasthani, Pahari, and Deccan paintings. The open house-style event allows attendees to view the collection during their selected time slot on October 31 or November 1. Each time slot accommodates up to 25 visitors, ensuring an intimate experience.

The Chazen Museum of Art is located at 750 University Avenue, Madison WI. It is a 16 minute walk or 6 minute car ride from the main conference venue.

Please note that backpacks, food, beverages, and pens are not allowed in the Study Room; free lockers are available on the first floor. Registration is required, and visitors are encouraged to bring pencils, paper, or personal devices for note-taking. Flashless photography is welcome. Don’t miss this unique opportunity to immerse yourself in the rich traditions of Indian art.

Feel the Beat: Felted Textiles

The Lynn Mecklenburg Textile Gallery presents “Feel the Beat: Felted Textiles,” an exhibition running from September 4 to December 1, 2024.

Felt, one of the oldest textiles, is created through a rhythmic process of rolling, agitation, and beating wool fibers, leading it to be known as a “percussion textile.” This exhibition features pieces from the Helen Louise Allen Textile Collection alongside new works from feltmakers of the Association of Craft Producers in Kathmandu, Nepal, and Unay Muchiku in Iluman, Ecuador. It explores felt’s ancient history and its contemporary significance as a symbol of cultural identity, creative expression, and sustainable material. The exhibition also highlights a cultural exchange between the ACP and Unay Muchiku artisans, who collaborated virtually to share techniques and create new works inspired by each other. Supported by the 4W Initiative, Nancy and David Borghesi through the Global Artisans Initiative Fund, and co-sponsored by various university programs, this exhibition underscores felt’s enduring relevance across cultures and industries

Shilpa Gupta

I did not tell you what I saw, but only what I dreamt

The exhibition I did not tell you what I saw, but only what I dreamt showcases the thought-provoking work of Mumbai-based artist Shilpa Gupta. Featuring recent installations, sculptures, photographs, and drawings, Gupta’s conceptual art explores the power of language and information in shaping identity and societal norms. Her interactive pieces, like the audio installation Speaking Wall (2009–2010), invite visitors to engage with themes of geopolitical struggle, censorship, and the repression of free speech. Utilizing everyday materials and contemporary technologies, Gupta’s art challenges viewers to reflect on the use of language by institutions to define reality and exert control. The exhibition, curated by Ruth Estévez and co-produced by Amant and the Madison Museum of Contemporary Art, emphasizes Gupta’s ability to communicate across cultures, allowing audiences to draw their interpretations based on personal experiences.

Shilpa Gupta, a graduate of Sir J. J. School of Fine Art in Mumbai, has exhibited globally for nearly two decades. Her work is included in prestigious collections such as the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, Centre Pompidou, and the Louis Vuitton Foundation, among others.

Framing the Archive

This exhibit is part of Anthony Cerulli’s ongoing and ever-expanding photo-ethnographic art project, “Manuscriptistan,” which began in 2003. “Framing the Archive” features photographs of manuscripts, archives, and archival workers in three states in India: Uttar Pradesh, Telangana, and Kerala. The exhibit presents the material heft and structural complexity of India’s manuscript cultures as art objects and curated spaces that are at once aesthetically compelling and capable of conveying historical knowledge. The exhibit also aims to underscore the value, for students and scholars alike, of bringing sensual, spatial and artistic awareness and consideration to the things with which, and the spaces in which, we do our research. Instead of looking at the contents of India’s manuscripts, which scholars have been studying and translating for centuries, this exhibition uses color and black-and-white photography to probe the aesthetics of Indian manuscripts and archival spaces. The exhibit will run from Oct 11 to Dec 15 2024 at the Fluno Center Gallery.