With both the 4tables Art Projects, the Triennale ShopArt ArtShop (SAAS) and the exhibition IN THE WOODS (ITW)- which is held in the in-between years- we intend to engage, through art events, artists, art lovers, visitors and villagers in an interactive dialogue with one another about two major Indian themes: 1) What is our (pre-)conception of rural Indian spaces and how can these spaces be perceived through the prisms of conceptual art?; and 2) What is the state of the Arts in India, universally, in comparison to contemporary international art practice and in particular, from the perspective of emerging Indian artists?
The framework for our own art engagement was developed in 2012 (see manifesto below) and put to practice for the first time during the inaugural edition of the month-long and village-wide conceptual art residency, ShopArt ArtShop, in 2013. In the following two editions (2016, 2019), the initial theme was actualised to build upon the findings of the previous editions. Also, a shorter exhibition, IN THE WOODS, was introduced in 2017 to provide opportunity for emerging Indian artists to demonstrate their work in the unusual setting of a forest.
