Public art, performance and reflections on land at Birla Academy, Kolkata

In the halls of Kolkata’s Birla Academy of Art and Culture, , an engagement with “land as inheritance, resource, memory, and contested ground” through the prism of contemporary Indian art. The works of Zarina Hashmi, Shambhavi Singh, Mithu Sen, Riyas Komu, K.R. Sunil, Sumedh Rajendran, Birendra Yadav, V. Vinu, Debasish Mukherjee, Ratheesh T, and Vikrant Bhise stand out in contemplation of what it means to inhabit a land and embody it. The works are part of Zameen, the marquee exhibition of Birla Academy of Art and Culture’s 59th annual celebrations.

Zameen, which will be on view till February 8, leads the celebrations. “In the world we inhabit everything whittles down to land and this truth reinforces itself every time we look around us, at the conflicts and challenges that people face in domestic spaces and in the larger world,” says Ina Puri, curator of Zameen. In my dialogues with artists this subject was a constant and we argued over how the very concept of Zameen differed from one person to another. I felt the time had come to share our thoughts and views with others and invited the participating artists to share their ideas through their work.”

Each artist brings their own interpretation, material and meaning to the theme, many drawing from personal narratives. Puri highlights Zarina Hashmi’s rendition of land as “an emotional geography shaped by quiet meditation and memories” and Shambhavi Singh’s metal installations contemplating ancestral roots and ownership. “She speaks of her grandmother who taught her to respect the land and its offerings. The simple meal she served me the day I visited consisted of the grains and vegetables grown on her family’s farms in the rural area of Bihar,” the curator says about Singh. “Each artwork is a different interpretation of Zameen and the diversity of the medium they have chosen brings their perspective across powerfully and authentically,” she adds.

Birender Yadav, whose work is also on display at the ongoing Kochi-Muziris Biennale, showcases his 2015 work, Debris of Fate—a work reassembling construction waste into stunning forms reminescent of mosaic. Debashish Mukherjee’s Forty Five Attempts at Remembering a Familiar Land (2025) situates Varanasi at its centre while KR Sunil’s Chavittu Nadakam is a photographic series documenting performers in their everyday coastal lives. In Non-Spinal (2025), Mithu Sen juxtaposes the body and a pickaxe while Sumedh Rajendran draws parallels between landscape and body.

If Zameen presents one aspect of the celebrations, Projects presents another. The new initiative aims to showcase public arts installations in Bengal. In a state where Durga Puja festivities often become an annual occasion for pandals to become sites of art, curator Uma Ray notes that Projects aim to broaden the scope of public arts. In its inaugural edition, the Birla Academy’s lawns are playing host to ‘Terra Kolkata | Burnt Earth and Living City’, conceived by Anirban Das for Dakshindari Youth Club Durga Puja in 2023. “The project will also feature some of the unseen research material tracing the origins of terracotta traditions to the rural hinterland of West Bengal,” says Ray. “The project was developed essentially as a tribute to the unrecognised clay artisans of Dakshindari, skilled in their artistry and striving to keep these age-long traditions alive.”

Apart from the exhibitions, the annual festival includes a number of performances through January. Dancer Anjana Chandak performed Draupadi, a mono-act on January 10. Forthcoming programmes include Sharaccaru Chakram, a dance drama by Chidakash Kalalaya Centre for Art and Divinity on January 17 and Swar Ranjani, a recital by Pt Ajoy Chakrabarty based on Khayal-Thumri.