My East is Your West

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This book is the outcome of the exhibition My East is Your West, which was a collateral event of the 56th Venice Biennale. The exhibition was commissioned by The Gujral Foundation. It united for the first time at the Biennale the historically conflicting nations of India and Pakistan in a space shared by artists from both countries. Shilpa Gupta (Mumbai) and Rashid Rana (Lahore) presented a new series of works at the Palazzo Benzon, situated in the centre of Venice on the Grand Canal. As neither India nor Pakistan has a permanent national pavilion at Venice, this presentation provided a unique platform for artists from South Asia to enter into a dialogue through the arts, representing the Indian subcontinent as one region. The publication brings together critical reflections on the artists works in the format of essays, interviews and extensive visual documentation. It also includes a section on the public programme Ancestors which was carried out in parallel to the exhibition and travelled across South Asia as an interdisciplinary events platform engaging artists, writers, film-makers, architects and theorist.