I've always thought this work to reincarnate and re-surface at other points on the planet: Jitish Kallat

Interview with Artist

Artist Jitish Kallat has donned many hats during his career - from creating a new visual language using varied media, exhibiting at prestigious institutions such as the Art Institute of Chicago to curating the 2014 edition of the Kochi Muziris Biennale. He has now become the only contemporary Indian artist to have a large-scale sculpture on permanent public display internationally, in Austria. Kallat speaks to Avantika Bhuyan about the process of putting together this 'unending' sculpture and the inspiration behind it

The space that an installation occupies is as integral to the narrative as the actual design. What made you choose the site at the Stockerau town?

It is true that Here After Here After Here emerged out of this specific invitation to Lower Austria. [The project envisioned the sculptures to be installed at select roundabouts in the region. One of these was Stockerau, 20 km north of Vienna, where the roundabout acted as a nodal point on the expressway and a gateway to several towns.] I chose the space in Stockerau simply because of the multiple vantage points from where one could see the piece.

I've always envisaged this work to reincarnate and re-surface at other points on the planet, marking distances from that point to places all over the world - sculptures linked by their mutual planetary distance, an infinite measuring tape. It will be interesting to do another iteration of Here After Here After Here in another place.

What were the references that inspired you?

Following my initial trips, which were made to experience the site and begin the process of conceptualisation, several weeks were spent thinking of how to meaningfully address the format of a "sculpture in a roundabout" and the ideas of movement and circulation that accompany it. I was intuitively eliminating a whole range of forms and imagery until a moment came when the blue signages, omnipresent on an expressway, began to preoccupy me - primarily because of them lacking any direct symbolism or anchorage to a particular location. Numerous references such as the Celtic knots, ancient alchemy diagrams, sacred geometry and the recursive image of the Ouroburos have informed the structure of this work.

What was the process of putting the installation together, in terms of the materials used and whether this created on-site or made elsewhere and put together at the site?

In 2012, I made a scaled and detailed paper model of Here After Here After Here. This remained my primary reference during the realisation of this piece. I worked closely with MVD, an architectural collective based in Vienna. MVD led the processes on the ground, working with fabricators experienced in making large signages, as I wanted the pieces to be as close to authentic highway signage as possible. The font used is the authentic TERN [Traffic European Road Network], as is the usage of high-endurance blue paint, which is exactly the tone of those seen on expressways. The piece was fabricated in parts in large workshops and assembled on site with the help of many skilled installers, cranes and load-bearing machines.

The title of the sculpture is interesting. It conveys a sense of permanence and timelessness. However, sites, places and contexts change and evolve. How will the sculpture, though permanent, continue to reflect these changes?

At one level a roundabout is not a place. A roundabout is an unchanging non-place that you circulate around to get to places - and yes, those places will change. I think Here After Here After Here plays with this. It is located at one point on the planet and reaches out and connects to faraway points on the planet, carrying pointers in the form of the exact directions and distances rendered on its surface. It unfolds several ideas of proximity and distance, of time and space, of measurements, and a certain suspension of the plausible, themes and experiences that recur in my work.