One of India’s leading contemporary artists, Kallat’s work explores the intersections of science, historical memory and existential inquiry, often reflecting on humanity’s planetary presence and place in the cosmos. He often juxtaposes the everyday with the cosmic, the present with the historical, and the earthly with the heavenly.
Solo exhibitions of his work have been featured at the Art Institute of Chicago; Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney; Frist Museum of Art, Nashville; Ian Potter Museum of Art, Melbourne; Museum of Dr. Bhau Daji Lad, Mumbai; Asian Art Museum, San Francisco; and the Philadelphia Museum of Art, among others. The National Gallery of Modern Art, New Delhi presented a mid-career study of his work in 2017.
His work has also been presented at institutions including Tate Modern, London; Martin-Gropius-Bau, Berlin; Gallery of Modern Art, Brisbane; Kunstmuseum Bern; Serpentine Galleries, London; Mori Art Museum, Tokyo; and Pirelli HangarBicocca, Milan. He has participated in major international exhibitions including the Venice Biennale, the Gwangju Biennale and the Havana Biennale, as well as the Asia-Pacific Triennial of Contemporary Art, the Guangzhou Triennial, the Fukuoka Asian Art Triennial, the Kyiv Biennale and the Curitiba Biennale.
Kallat’s curatorial projects include Compound explorationsthe second edition of the Kochi–Muziris Biennale (2014–15); I draw, therefore I think for South-South in 2021; Confused Hierarchy at the John Hansard Gallery in Southampton; AND Confused Hierarchy 2presented by the Kiran Nadar Art Museum as part of the Invitational Program of the 5th Kochi–Muziris Biennale in 2022.
The sixth edition of the Kochi–Muziris Biennale, titled For Timeis currently under development. Curated by Nikhil Chopra with HH Art Spaces, the edition will end on March 31, 2026. The biennale is organized by the Kochi Biennale Foundation, a non-profit organization founded in 2010.
