AMAR KANWAR
Born:
New Delhi, India, 1964
Lives and works in New Delhi, India
Awards:
Laureates of the Prince Claus Award 2017
Leonore Annenberg Prize for Art and Social Change, 2014
Best Public Service Short Film Award, Vatavaran International Environment Film Festival, New Delhi, India, 2012
Best Film Award, One Billion Eyes Film Festival, Chennai, India, 2011
Honorary Doctorate in Fine Arts, Maine College of Art, USA, 2006
Edvard Munch Award for Contemporary Art, Norway, 2005
Certificate of Merit, San Francisco International Film Festival, for ‘Freedom’, 2002
Certificate of Merit, San Francisco International Film Festival, for ‘Baphlimali 173’, 2002
Golden Tree Award, Vatavaran, National Environment & Wildlife Film Festival,
for ‘The Many Faces of Madness’, 2002
The Grand Prix, EnviroFilm, Slovak Republic, for ‘Freedom’, 2002
National Jury Award, Mumbai International Film Festival, for ‘The Many Faces of Madness’, 2002
The First Prize, Torino International Environment Film Festival. Italy, for ‘Freedom’, 2002
Jury’s Award at Film South Asia, Kathmandu, Nepal, for ‘King of Dreams’, 2001
2nd Prize at the Niscort All India Video Festival, for ‘The Many Faces of Madness’, 2001
MacArthur Fellowship, India, 2000
Golden Gate Award, San Francisco International Film Festival, for ‘A Season Outside’, 1999
Golden Orange Award, 36th Antalya International Film Festival, for ‘A Season Outside’, 1999
Golden Conch Award, Mumbai International Film Festival, for ‘A Season Outside’, 1998
SELECTED SOLO EXHIBITIONS AND SCREENINGS
2017
Such a Morning, Marian Goodman Gallery, London
The Sovereign Forest, Bildmuseet, Umea, Sweden
2016
The Lightning Testimonies, Max Muller Bhavan, Goethe Institute, Mumbai, India
Amar Kanwar. Frac Pays de la Loire, Carquefou, France
NTU Centre for Contemporary Art Singapore, Singapore
2015
The Lightning Testimonies, The Assam State Museum, Kiran Nadar Museum of Art and North East Network, India
The Sovereign Forest, as part of the Ediburgh Art Festival, Old Royal High School, Edinburgh, Scotland, United Kingdom
The Sovereign Forest, Max Muller Bhavan, Goethe Institute, Mumbai, India
2013
Amar Kanwar : The Lightning Testimonies, Art Institute of Chicago, Illinois
Amar Kanwar, Yorkshire Sculpture Park, Wakefield, UK
Amar Kanwar : The Sovereign Forest, Thyssen-Bornemisza Art Contemporary-Augarten, Vienna
2012
Amar Kanwar: Evidence, Fotomuseum Winterthur, Zurich, Switzerland
2011
Amar Kanwar: A Love Story + Henningsvaer, Babel Art Space, Trondheim, Norway.
2010
The Artists Cinema 2010, LUX and the Independent Cinema Office (ICO), London, UK | special preview evening at Tate Modern
Amar Kanwar, Marian Goodman Gallery, New York
2009
Amar Kanwar Film Huis Den Haag, The Hague, Netherlands. (Selection from ‘The Torn First Pages’) In collaboration with ‘Movies that Matter Amnesty International Film Festival’
2008
Amar Kanwar : The Torn First Pages (Part 1/2/3), Haus der Kunst, Munich, Germany; Huarte Contemporary Art Center, Navarra, Spain
Amar Kanwar, The Torn First Pages (Part 1), The Lightning Testimonies, Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam and Hertogenbosch, The Netherlands
(The Lightning Testimonies + The Torn First Pages- Part 1) Amar Kanwar., Marian Goodman, Paris, France
2007
Amar Kanwar, Whitechapel Art Gallery, London, UK
2006
Amar Kanwar, Trilogy, National Museum of Art , Architecture and Design, Oslo, Norway
2005
Amar Kanwar, Nye filmer, Fotogallerie, Oslo, Norway
2004
Amar Kanwar, A Trilogy of Films, The Renaissance Society, Chicago, USA
2003
Amar Kanwar, Tensta Konsthall, Stockholm, Sweden, 2003
SELECTED GROUP SHOWS
2017
Documenta 14, Athens, Greece and Kassel, Germany
The Garden Sees, Garden of Megaron, Athens Concert Hall, Athens, Greece
#resist, Goethe Institute Hong Kong, Hong Kong
2016
Mining Warm Data, Dhaka Art Summit, Samdani Art Foundation, Dhaka, Bangladesh
This Night-Bitten Dawn. Devi Art Foundation, New Delhi, India
Land, Sea and Air. The New Art Gallery Walsall, United Kingdom
Our Relationship with the Earth Through Contemporary Art. Castello di Rivoli Museo d'Arte Contemporanea, Turin, Italy jointly with Terra Madre
Embedded South(s): An Online Moving Image Program, Sàn Art, Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam
2015
Experiments with Truth: Gandhi and Images of Nonviolence. International Red Cross and Red Crescent Museum, Geneva, Switzerland
Fireflies in the Night, Stavros Niarchos Cultural Center, Athens, Greece
Our Land/ Alien Territory, As part of the special program of the 6th Moscow Biennale of Contemporary Art, Central Manege, Manezhnaya ploschad (Manege Square), Moscow, Russia
The Lightning Testimonies, As part of MDE15, International Art Encounter of Medellín, Museo de Antioquia, Medellín, Columbia
Contesting Terrain, Harn Museum of Art at the University of Florida, Gainesville, Florida
2014
Word. Sound. Power., Khoj Studios, International Artists’ Association, New Delhi, India
In the Aftermath of Trauma – Contemporary Video Installations, Mildred Lane Kemper Art Museum at Washington University, St. Louis, Missouri, (‘The Lightning Testimonies’)
Is it What You Think?, Kiran Nadar Museum of Art, India (‘The Lightning Testimonies’)
On the Road/En el camino, curated by Gloria Moure, exhibition installed throughout historic buildings of Santiago de Compostela, Spain
Une histoire, art, architecture et design, des années 80 à aujourd’hui, Centre Pompidou, Paris, France
Fondazione Sandretto Re Rebaudengo, Torino, Italy
Gwangju Biennal, Gwangju, South Korea
The Committed View, The Francisco Godia Foundation, Barcelona, Spain
Experiments with Truth: Gandhi and Images of Non-Violence, The Menil Collection, Houston, USA
Where do I end and you begin, Edinburg Arts Festival, Scotland
Fractured Narratives: A Strategy to Engage, Cornell Fine Arts Museum, Florida, USA
Word. Sound. Power. Khoj Studios, International Artists’ Association, New Delhi, India
Sweet Dew - Since 1980, Gwangju Museum of Art, Gwangju, South Korea
Fractured Narratives: A Strategy to Engage, Cornell Fine Arts Museum, Rollins College, Winter Park, Florida
Amar Kanwar: The Sovereign Forest, Edinburgh Art Festival, Edinburgh, Scotland
2013
No Country: Contemporary Art for South and Southeast Asia, The Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York
No Borders, Arnolfini, Bristol, UK
Sharjah Biennale 11: Re:emerge – Towards a New Cultural Cartography, United Arab Emirates
Poetics of Voice, Tate Modern, London
Word. Sound. Power, Tate Modern Project Space, London
Animate/Inanimate, Tarra Warra Museum of Art, Healesvile Victoria, Australia
Mom, Am I Barbarian?, 13th Istanbul Biennial, Turkey
5th Moscow Biennale of Contemporary Art
56th Carnegie International, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania (A Love Story and A Scene of the Crime)
Connecting-Unfolding, National Museum of Contemporary Art, Seoul
Lines of Control: Partition as a Productive Space, The Nasher Museum of Art, Durham, North Carolina
The Art of Truth: Gandhi and the Aesthetics of Non Violence, The Menil Collection, Houston
2012
Documenta (13), Kassel, Germany
Indian Highway, Ullens Center for Contemporary Art, Beijing
Newtopia, The State of Human Rights, Visual Arts Flanders, Belgium
Lines of Control: Partition as a Productive Space, Herbert F. Johnson Museum, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY
1st Kochi-Muziris Biennale, Kerala, India (through 2013)
Being Singular Plural: Moving Images from India, Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York
2011
Paris-Delhi-Bombay: India Through the Eyes of Indian and French Artists, Centre Pompidou, Paris
Sharjah Biennale, Sharjah. (‘The Torn First Pages Part I, II, III’)
On Line: Drawing Through the Twentieth Century, Museum of Modern Art, New York (‘A Season Outside’)
Against All Odds: A Contemporary response to the Historiography of Archiving, Collecting and Museums in India. Lalit Kala Academy, New Delhi (Selection from ‘The Torn First Pages + Henningsvaer + A Love Story’)
Indian Highway, MAC-Musée d’Art Contemporain, Lyon (France) (‘The Lightning Testimonies’); Museo nazionale delle arti del XXI secolo, Rome, Italy
October Salon, Belgrade, Serbia (The Lightning Testimonies)
29th Sao Paulo Biennale, Sao Paulo, Brasil (‘The Lightning Testimonies’)
India 2011, Babel Art Space, Trondheim, Norway
1st Equator Biennial, Yogyakarta, Indonesia
You Have Been There, Galerie Marian Goodman, Paris
2010
Contemplating the Void: Interventions in the Guggenheim Museum, Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York
Indian Highway, HEART Herning Museum of Contemporary Art, Herning, Denmark
Being Singular Plural: Moving Images from India, Deutsche Guggenheim Museum, Berlin, Germany
Signs of Life, Kunstmuseum Luzern, Luzern, Switzerland
SAMTIDIGT Indian Contemporary Art, Kulturmhuset Stockholm, Sweden/ Museum Tennis Palace, Helsinki, Finland (‘The Lightning Testimonies’)
The View from Elsewhere, Gallery of Modern Art and the Australian Cinematheque, South Brisbane, Australia (A Season Outside)
Aichi Triennial, Aichi, Japan (A Love Story + Henningsvaer)
Snapshots of Tourism, Helsinki International Artists Centre, (HIAP), Helsinki, Finland (‘Henningsvaer’)
A Question of Evidence, The Contemporary Art Centre, Vilnius, Lithuania
2009
Göteborgs Internatinella Konstbiennal, Göteborg, Sweden (‘The Lightning Testimonies’)
The symbolic efficiency of the frame, Tirana Biennale, Tirana, Albania (‘The Smile’)
Significant and Insignificant Events, Museum of Modern Art, Istanbul, Turkey, (‘A Season Outside’)
Indian Highway, Astrup Fernley Museum, Oslo, Norway (‘The Lightning Testimonies’)
Trouble at the Front/ Troubles aux Frontières, with Yael Bartana and William Pope.L, Marian Goodman Gallery, Paris, France (‘A Season Outside’)
Expended Box, Arco Art Fair, Madrid, Spain (‘Henningsvaer’)
Lines of control, The Third Line Gallery, Dubaï, UAE (‘A Season Outside’)/ VM Gallery Karachi, Pakistan (‘A Season Outside’ + ‘The Lightning Testimonies’)
The World in 1989, Haus der Kultur der Weldt, Berlin, Germany (‘A Season Outside’)
2008
Indian Highway, Serpentine Gallery, London, England (‘The Lightning Testimonies’)
48°, Public, Art, Ecology, New Delhi, India (‘The Sovereign Forest’)
A Question of Evidence, TBA 21 Vienna, Austria (‘The Torn First Pages,’ 3 parts)
Reflexions on Contemporary India, Casa Encendida, Madrid, Spain (‘The Lightning Testimonies’)
Terror - your fear is an external object, Műcsarnok / Kunsthalle Budapest (‘A Season Outside’)
The Greenroom: Reconsidering the Documentary and Contemporary Art (Part I), The Hessel Museum and The Center for Curatorial Studies (CCS) at Bard College
Can Art do more?, Art Focus Biennial, Jerusalem, Israël (‘A Season Outside’)
Everywhere is War (and rumours of war),The Bodhi Art Gallery, Mumbai, India (‘A Season Outside’)
Other than Yourself - An Investigation between Inner and Outer Space, TBA 21, Vienna, Austria (‘The Lightning Testimonies’)
2007
Documenta 12, Documenta, Kassel, Germany. (‘The Lightning Testimonies’)
Thermocline of Art-New Asian Waves, ZKM Karlsruhe, Germany (‘Henningsvaer’)
Stop & Go, Fondazione Sandretto Re Rebaudengo, Turin, Italy (‘Trilogy’)
There is no border..., Galerie im Taxispalais, Innsbruck, Germany (‘A Season Outside’)
GeoPoetics, Centro Guerrero, Granada, Spain (‘To Remember’)
After Shock, Contemporary Art Norwich, UK (‘A Season Outside’)
Shooting back, T-B A21 - Thyssen-Bornemisza Art Contemporary, Vienna (‘A Night of Prophecy’)
Kilkenny Arts Festival, Ireland (‘A Night of Prophecy’)
2006
Every Day… another artist/ work/ show, Salzburger Kunstverein (‘A Season Outside’)
Subcontingente, Fondazione Sandretto Re Rebaudengo, Turin, Italy (‘A Night of Prophecy’)
Lofoten International Art Festival, Svolvær, Norway (‘Henningsvaer’)
Zones of contact, Museum for contemporary Art, Biennale of Sydney 2006, Australia (‘Trilogy’)
Image War: Contesting Images of Political Conflict, Whitney Museum, New York, USA (Selection from ‘The Torn First Pages’)
The Artists Cinema, Frieze Art Fair, London (‘To Remember’)
2005
Populism, Frankfurter Kunstverein, Frankfurt, Germany; Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam ; The Museum of Contemporary Art, Oslo, Norway ; SMC, Contemporary Art Centre, Vilnius, Lithuania ; (Selection from ‘The Torn First Pages’)
Experiments with Truth, Fabric Workshop Museum, Philadelphia, USA (‘To Remember’)
Patriot, Contemporary Museum, Baltimore, USA (‘A Season Outside’)
2004
LIAF 04, Lofoten International Art Festival, Svolvær, Norway (‘A Season Outside’)
Historical Retrospective - 50 years of Oberhausen Film Festival, Germany (‘To Remember’)
Art Basel, Switzerland (‘A Season Outside’)
In Progress, Locarno International Film Festival, Switzerland (‘Trilogy’)
‘Diverge – Crossing Generations’, Mumbai (‘To Remember’)
Doc Fortnight, Museum of Modern Art, New York, USA (‘Trilogy’)
2003
Territories, Kunst – Werke Berlin, KW Institute of Contemporary Art, Berlin, Germany
Art Basel Miami Beach, USA (‘A Season Outside’)
Selves Made Strange: New perspectives from India at the House of World Cultures, Berlin (‘A Season Outside’)
Amar Kanwar, 10th Biennial of Moving Images, Museum of Modern Art, Geneva (‘Trilogy’)
Extra Muros, FRI-ART Centre Art Centre d'art Contemporain Kunsthalle, Fribourg, Switzerland (‘Trilogy’)
2002
Documenta 11, Kassel, Germany (‘A Season Outside’ and world premiere of ‘A Night of Prophecy’)
Werkleitz Biennale, Germany (‘A Season Outside’)
Other India's - Breaking the Code, Whitechapel Art Gallery, London, UK (‘A Season Outside’)
KalaGhoda Art Festival, Mumbai, India (‘King of Dreams’)
RETROSPECTIVES
2012
Amar Kanwar In Focus: 5th International Documentary and Short Film Festival of Kerala, Kerala State Chalachitra Academy
2011
Amar Kanwar Retrospective, 13th Madurai International Documentary & Short Film Festival
2010
Continent India: King of Dreams, Documentary Dream Show / Yamagata, Tokyo, Japan
2009
Amar Kanwar Retrospective: 13th Madurai International Documentary & Short Film Festival 2011
Guest Filmmaker 2009, Flaherty Film Seminar, Colgate University New York City New York
2008
Amar Kanwar Retrospective 2008, Parallel Perspectives Film Festival, Hyderabad
International Artist-in-focus: Open Lab, Goteborg Dance and Theater Festival 2008
2006
Amar Kanwar Retrospective 2006, Vibgyor Short Film Festival, Kerala
2005
Amar Kanwar Retrospective 2005, 9th International Short Film Festival, Bangladesh
VISITING ARTIST / FACULTY
Jury member: International Competition, Yamagata International Documentary Film Festival 2011, Visiting Artist : MIT, Boston, School of the Art Institute , Chicago, Leiden University, Netherlands; Maine College of Art; Portland, USA; Lofoten Art and Film School, Norway; Corcoran College of Art+Design Washington; New York University; Stanford University; Harvard University; University of Pennsylvania; Champagne University; Niagara University; Delhi University; Jamia Millia University, New Delhi; Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi
SELECTED FILMOGRAPHY
Letter 1-7, 2017
Such a Morning, 2017
The Sovereign Forest, 2012
The Scene of Crime, 2011
A Love Story, 2010
The Torn First Pages Part 1, 2, 3 2004-2008
The Lightning Testimonies, 2007
Henningsvaer,15 mins, 2006
Somewhere in May, 37 mins, 2005
The Face, 4 mins n, 2005
Ma Win Maw Oo, 4 mins, 2005
Thet Win Aung, 3 mins, 2005
The Bodhi Tree, 8 mins, 2005
To Remember, 8 mins, 2003
A Night of Prophecy, 77 mins, 2002
Freedom, 58 mins, 2001
King of Dreams, 30 mins, 2001
Baphlimali 173, 28 mins, 2001
The Many Faces of Madness, 19 mins, 2000
A Season Outside, 30 mins, 1997
Marubhumi, 52 mins, 1996
Earth as Witness, 40 mins, 1994
Talash, 60 mins, 1993
The Leather Trilogy, 90 mins,1992
Lal Hara Lehrake, 40 mins, 1992
