In print

While others build doors to shut themselves inside four walls,the rebel in artist Shilpa Gupta,builds doors to break those walls.

While others build doors to shut themselves inside four walls,the rebel in artist Shilpa Gupta,builds doors to break those walls. With her solo show at Castle Blandy,France,by Galleria Continua in collaboration with Yvon Lambert Gallery on till October 24,the Mumbai-based new media artist has not only opened new doors to success,but also brought Indian contemporary art into global focus.

The 33-year-old artist who has recently been nominated as one of the the top 29 artists of the 21st century is the only Indian contemporary artist picked up by Swiss curator Hans Ulrich Obrist in his Curating 21st century exhibition,in Europes Du Magazine. In 1997,at my maiden exhibition,my work was placed next to the door at Jahangir Art Gallery,Mumbai. I still love being by the door. Being there gives me the freedom to belong to both the inner and outer worlds, says Gupta.

Despite preparing for her next solo show at OK Center for Contemporary Art,Linz,Austria after her return from France,Gupta has been able to set aside time to celebrate the publication of a monogram of her work,edited by Nancy Adajania and released by Prestel Publishers and Vadehra Bookstore. The book will be launched in Delhi next weekend. It will present an informative and analytical account of her works,her ideas and projects,and the global political contexts in which she situates them.

This is my first monogram and I am excited since it traces the beginning of my practice. There is an interview with German artist,curator and theoretician Peter Weibel too,in which he places things in the context of my practice in Europe. In many ways it is to introduce to a white audience,the practice of a new media artist working in India, says Gupta. The book also talks about other organisations like SEHMAT,Khoj,Aar Par and Majlis that have supported her work and provided a context from which she operates. The book is not just about me as an artist. It also highlights how these practices rub against each other, she says.

Guptas show at Castle Blandy included a combination of her new and old works. I Keep Falling At You is an installation of thousands of microphones with multi-audio channel. This is the age when the medium defines communication. Through this installation I want to convey the change in communication pattern. Now the medium speaks to the sender and the receiver rather than vice versa, says Gupta who graduated in 1997 from JJ School of Fine Arts,Mumbai,in sculpture.

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