Europalia.India

Europalia has already presented the rich culture of other countries in previous festivals: europalia.russia in 2005, europalia.china in 2009 and europalia.brasil in 2011. For the next one, Europalia International had its heart set on India. The largest democracy in the world is a unique mosaic of people, languages, religions and ancient traditions; resulting from 5000 years of history. India is a great cultural power that will be put scrutinized in all its complexity! 

Seven poles of reflexion

Europalia.india will be organized along seven themes of reflexion: the body, Indomania, India tomorrow, living traditions, water, Bollywood & beyond and the diaspora. Each theme will be elaborated on through exhibitions, music, dance, theater, litterature, conferences and cinema.

Two main exhibitions

The Brussels Center for Fine Arts will have two exhibitions devoted to Indian culture. 

The body in Indian art : The omnipresence of the body in Indian art will be the guiding theme of the exhibition with sensual representations from the Kama Sutra, voluptuous and ornate temple sculptures, and the intriguing miniatures of ascetics. Death, birth, astrology, eroticism... ten chapters will reveal the human body in all of its forms in Indian art.

Discover Indian culture, tradition and religious through its relation to the body.

The Europalia India Indomania from Rembrandt to the Beatles will display the mindset of Western artists towards India and its evolution over time. The splendor of moghols and maharadjas, spirituality, light and colors, but also poverty and the caste system will be shown through the works of painters, sculptors, photographers, authors, filmmakers and musicians. 

In addition to these two main exhibitions, twenty small exhibitions will also be going on in Brussels and other cities: Water Art Walk (Liège), Sari (Dinant), Indian Journey (Brussels), The Fourth Wall (Flagey)…

Europalia.India : dance, music, cinema...

As per tradition, Europalia will also honor the other artistic disciplines. You will move to the rhythms of the santour, tabla, veena and to strong voices. Sacred dances, theatrical rituals, folkloric dances, puppet shows and contemporary dances are also a part of the program. Indian cinema will be present - everything from Bollywood to Mollywood to alternative cinema... Finally, there will be litterature - prose, poetry, epic poems and even comic strips!

Take a look at the day to day program for Europalia.India in Brussels.