Johannes Hedinger on Research Trip to India
Johannes Hedinger
Photo credit: Lisa Hörterer
TALKS
10 February 2023
Mumbai
G5A Foundation for Contemporary Culture
7 PM
11 February 2023
Goa
Sunaparanta Centre for the Arts
6 PM
16 February 2023
Kochi Biennale, venue and time TBA
Bloch Urnäsch Switzerland 2011. Photo credit: Johannes Hedinger
Johannes M. Hedinger is a curator, artist, educator, author, and researcher. He studied art history and cultural studies in Zurich and Berlin and fine arts in Zurich and Los Angeles. Hedinger is the director of the Institute for Land and Environmental Art (ILEA), the outdoor Biennale Art Safiental, and the summer school Alps Art Academy. He is also a lecturer at the Zurich University of the Arts (ZHdK) and at the University of Cologne.
Hedinger organized over 35 curatorial projects in Switzerland, Germany, USA, Russia, Hong Kong, and South Africa. As an author and editor Hedinger published over 15 books on contemporary art. In 1997 he founded the art collective Com&Com. Its work has been presented at several art biennials, including the Venice Biennale in 2001, and in over 150 exhibitions worldwide. Their project Bloch will come to India in 2023.
Environmental Art is an art genre that is created in and with nature and is also partly presented in it. Its predecessors are Earth Art (60s), Land Art (70s) and Eco Art (70/80s). Its central themes are nature in general, biodiversity, climate and sustainability. These projects address ecological, political, social and systemic concerns. They are usually site-specific and have evolved from sculptural to processual, conceptual and transdisciplinary forms.
After a short historical review of the beginnings of Environmental Art, we get an insight into the initiatives of the ILEA Institute for Land and Environmental Art in Switzerland over the last seven years as well as the first transcontinental projects of EAE (Environmental Art Exchange) between India and Switzerland. Finally, two current artistic positions will be presented: the Indian artist Dharmendra Prasad and the Swiss art collective Com&Com, with their cultural exchange project Bloch, which arrives in India later this year.
