The artistic director of Serpenti Infinito Mumbai discusses the agency of mythology, cultural responsibility and how the exhibition demonstrates that artistry can, and should, transcend the status quo
Canvas: What resonates most with you personally about the snake, and therefore, Serpenti?
Sean Anderson: At the outset of thinking about this exhibition, I was particularly drawn to the notion that the serpent is the ultimate shapeshifter and is simultaneously beneficial, feared and embraced. In many parts of India, the icon is venerated and informs the design of architectural and artistic motifs, as well as ritual practices. Whether seen in ancient bronzes or painted within a wall mural, the serpent is visually recognisable within many spaces across the Sub-continent. It transcends scales of time. The same holds true as it is seen in some of the earliest forms of art throughout the world. Yet we could also argue that the human is congruent with the serpent – we are all shapeshifters today; we move in different worlds, whether restrictive or without impediment, sometimes of our own making.
How do history and mythology co-exist alongside contemporary production today?
At the beginning of preparing Serpenti Infinito, I asserted that there must be a palpable simultaneity of past and present, without the artificial divisions of what is often reductively categorised as art, craft and design – not only in the production of art and design in India but also with the symbolic nature of the serpent. This simultaneity allows for artforms to exist in the same spaces in dialogue with each other, while also suggesting continuities and resonances across time. This is the agency of mythology – that it informs our own perceptions and actions, belief systems and quotidian practices, sometimes without our knowledge. I was adamant that artists who are often reduced in value or stature in the so-called ‘art world’ because of their associations with indigenous practices should be shown front and centre. I wanted to break down the notion that some artworks and artists were more significant than others.
This exhibition marks the third edition of Serpenti Infinito. What was the first question you asked yourself with regard to the curatorial approach?
I did not look initially at the first iterations in Shanghai and in Seoul. Rather, I felt it was an extremely important moment at which to assert the powerful role that Indian and South Asian art and artists have today. To share in the beauty of continuities that escape chronology. To make a contemporary cosmogram. The works of art and the Serpenti should be seen together, in dialogue, with overlaps, as conceptual links, and sharing in analogous languages of how and why we assert ourselves in the world. They must be seen and felt in analogous registers. Like us, it transcends singular meanings.
From the start, it was also essential that I immediately contacted as many art galleries as possible and cultural institutions throughout India to hopefully contribute to the exhibition. This was not going to be a singular presentation by Nature Morte, but potentially one of the rare opportunities in which commercial and cultural spheres from across the country could come together with a shared vision toward opening broader dialogues about the role of art and artists in India. I am extremely grateful to the lenders and artists who also believed in this possibility for sharing and belonging.
Scenography plays a powerful role in active viewing – how do you safeguard thought-provoking and meaningful experiences while still ensuring accessibility?
Our exhibition tells many stories that interweave and overlap vis-à-vis a viewer’s own experience within and among the works presented. I believe that the scenography – which has been carefully designed specifically with elevating narratives while at the same time giving space to individual works – gives credence to pieces that can be understood together as telling a broader story about India’s relationship with Rome, for a start. We have attempted to bring together disparate ideas and forms about and for the serpent – but also how these works reveal something more complex about interactions between, and confrontations with, diverse ideas of self and other. Each work has a longer written description attached that has been created with an eye towards being interpreted by many. It is my hope that the scenography, which at one moment suggests the continuities present in Bvlgari’s worldview and history, also proposes new ways in which to locate and signify the unknown. There is no fixity in meanings, but rather an unfolding of experiences.
What does the Mumbai iteration bring to the discussion?
This exhibition can be a beginning for Indian and South Asian institutions. It has been challenging to not only create spaces for seemingly disparate works of art and adornment but also remain true to the mission of Bvlgari. Not only does the exhibition begin to assert the extraordinary power of ideas and forms that have existed for millennia, but it also offers the opportunity for individuals and collectives to further strengthen the ways in which art and design found on the Sub-continent is not static. There should be far more openness. Art and design are active forces that will continue to shape the lives of countless individuals. How do we create more opportunities to open art and design to everyone and not just for a select few? It is more important now than ever before.
When working – whether as an artist, curator, craftsperson, designer – with a timeless and universal symbol, is there a sense of responsibility?
Indeed, as individuals working in the public realm we have a responsibility toward viewers and each other, whether they are seasoned art viewers or a person walking in without prior knowledge of the exhibition or even of Bvlgari. Whether working as an architect in South Asia and North Africa, or curating exhibitions within museums and cultural institutions, I strongly believe there are extraordinary opportunities for thinking with people, past and present. Exhibition making is the ultimate work of visual storytelling. It is never fixed. My work has always been not about solving problems in a modernist sense but situating questions and ideas for others to consider, debate, experience, reflect upon and reveal for themselves. For this exhibition, it was important to share discrete stories of Indian art and design alongside that of Bvlgari – and of course, the symbol of the serpent, as embedded within more expansive narratives that move beyond the nation. There could be countless new exhibitions made around the symbolic nature of the serpent/snake in India and South Asia and beyond – and I hope there are more that emerge from the responses to this one.
