Jitish Kallat Mumbai, India., b.1974
Jitish Kallat’s (b. 1974, Mumbai, India) practice engages the intersections of science, historical memory, existential inquiry, and planetary consciousness. Working across painting, sculpture, photography, installation, and public projects, Kallat develops layered visual languages that draw upon time, measurement, archival material, and natural processes as tools for sense-making. His works often shift perspectives across scales of space and time, juxtaposing the everyday with the cosmic, the present with deep history, and the terrestrial with the celestial.
Kallat has exhibited extensively at major international institutions including the Art Institute of Chicago; Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney; Philadelphia Museum of Art; Ian Potter Museum of Art, Melbourne; Frist Art Museum, Nashville; and Dr. Bhau Daji Lad Museum, Mumbai. His work has been presented at institutions such as Tate Modern, London; Martin-Gropius-Bau, Berlin; Mori Art Museum, Tokyo; Serpentine Galleries, London; Pirelli HangarBicocca, Milan; and Kunstmuseum, Bern, and he has participated in the Venice, Gwangju, Havana, Curitiba, and Kiev Biennales. He was Curator and Artistic Director of the Kochi-Muziris Biennale 2014.
Kallat’s work will be on view in the major solo exhibition Conjectures on a Paper Sky, presented by the Saat Saath Arts Foundation at the Centre for Contemporary Art, Bikaner House, New Delhi. Curated by Alexandra Munroe, the exhibition will be on view from 4–10 February 2026.
He lives and works in Mumbai.
Selected Artworks
Exhibitions
Solo Exhibitions
2024
Antumbra, India Art Fair, New Delhi, India
2023
Whorled (Here After Here After Here), Somerset House, UK, Curated by Cliff Lauson
2022
Order of Magnitude, Ishara Art Foundation, UAE
Echo Verse, Galerie Templon, Paris
2021
Epicycles, Norrtalje Konsthall, Sweden
Tmesis, Sperone Westwater, New York
2020
Return to Sender, Frist Art Museum, Nashville, USA
Terranum Nuncius, Famous Studios, Mumbai, India
Terranum Nuncius, Bikaner House, New Delhi, India
2019
Phase Transition, Galerie Templon, Paris, France
2018
Decimal Point, Sperone Westwater Gallery, New York, USA
2017
Covariance, Galerie Daniel Templon, Brussels, Belgium
Here After Here (1992-2017), Curated by Catherine David, National Gallery of Modern Art, New Delhi, India
2016
Covering Letter, Curated by Amanda Sroka, Philadelphia Museum of Art, Philadelphia, USA
Covering Letter, Curated by Kamini Sawhney, Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Vastu Sanghralaya, Mumbai, India
Sightings, Chemould Prescott Road, Mumbai, India
2015
Public Notice 2, Curated by Suhanya Raffel, Presented by Sherman Contemporary Art Foundation, Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia
The Infinite Episode, Galerie Daniel Templon, Paris, France
2013
The Hour of the Day of the Month of the Season, Galerie Daniel Templon, Paris, France
Epilogue, Curated by Susan Leask and Jodi Thockmorton, San Jose Museum of Art, USA
2012
Circa, Curated by Natalie King, Bala Starr and Andrew Jamieson, Ian Potter Museum of Art, Melbourne, Australia
Chlorophyll Park, Nature Morte, New Delhi, India
2011
Fieldnotes: Tomorrow was Here Yesterday, Dr. Bhau Daji Lad Museum, Mumbai, India
Stations of a Pause, Chemould Prescott Road, Mumbai, India
2010
Public Notice 3, Curated by Madhuvanti Ghosh, Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, USA
Likewise, ARNDT, Berlin, Germany
The Astronomy of the Subway, Haunch of Venison, London, UK
2008
Aquasaurus, Sherman Contemporary Art Foundation, Sydney
Skinside Outside, Arario Gallery, Seoul, South Korea
Public Notice 2, Bodhi Art, Singapore
Universal Recipient, Haunch of Venison, Zurich, Switzerland
2007
Sweatopia, Chemould Prescott Road and Bodhi Art, Singapore
Unclaimed Baggage, Albion, London, UK
365 Lives, Arario Gallery, Beijing, China
Rickshawpolis 3, Gallery Barry Keldoulis, Sydney, Australia
2006
Rickshawpolis 2, Spazio Piazza Sempione, Milan, Italy
2005
Rickshawpolis 1, Nature Morte, New Delhi, India
Panic Acid, Bodhi Art, Singapore
Humiliation Tax, Gallery Chemould, Mumbai, India
2004
The Lie of the Land, Walsh Gallery, Chicago, USA
2002
First Information Report, Bose Pacia Modern, New York, USA
2001
Milk Route, India Habitat Centre, New Delhi, India
General Essential, Sakshi Gallery, Bangalore, India
2000
Ibid., Gallery Chemould, Mumbai, India
1999
Private limited I, Bose Pacia Modern, New York, USA
Private limited II, Apparao Gallery, Chennai, India
1998
Apostrophe, India Habitat Centre, New Delhi, India
1997
P.T.O., Gallery Chemould and Prithvi Gallery, Mumbai, India
Group Exhibitions
2024
Au bout de mes rêves, La Tripostal, Lille, France
Home and the World, Museum Van Loon, Amsterdam, Netherlands
2023
Everybody Talks About the Weather, Fondazione Prada, Milan, Italy
2022
India Art Fair, Nature Morte, New Delhi, India
2021
Frieze Art Fair, London, UK, Presented by Nature Morte
Markers of Time and Space, Nature Morte, New Delhi, India
Confabulation, Nature Morte, New Delhi, India
On-Site, Bikaner House, New Delhi
2020
Chromatopia, Art Gallery of Southern Australia, Australia
South East North West, Curated by Rory Padeken, San Jose Museum of Art, San Jose, USA
Distorted Portrait, Space k Seoul, South Korea
Visions from India, Columbia Museum of art, Columbia SC, USA
2019
Our Time for a Future Caring, Curated by Roobina Karode, India Pavilion at the Venice Biennale, Venice, Italy
Circadian Rhythms: Contemporary art and biological time, Curated by Chris Clark and Fiona Kearney, The Glucksman, Cork, UK
Weather Report, Curated by Richard Klein, Aldrich Museum of Art, USA
Modus Operandi II: In-Situ: Artist Studio, Chemould Prescott Road, Mumbai, India
2018
Asia Pacific Breweries Foundation Singapore Art Prize 2018 Exhibition, Singapore Art Museum, Singapore
Riots: Slow Cancellation of the Future,Curated by Natasha Ginwala, ifa Galleries, Berlin and Stuttgart
Asymmetrical Objects, Curated by Tasneem Mehta and Himanshu Kadam, Dr. Bhau Daji Lad Museum, Mumbai, India
Possibilities for a Non-Alienated Life,Curated by Anita Dube, Kochi Muziris Biennale 2018, Kochi, India
The Sculpture Park, Madhavendra Palace, Curated by Peter Nagy, Nahargarh Fort, Jaipur, India
New Presentation of Contemporary Collections, Musée National d'Art Moderne, Centre Pompidou, Paris, France
Vision Exchange: Perspective from India to Canada, Art Gallery of Alberta, and National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa, Curators: Catherine Crowston & Jonathan Shaughnessy
50 Years After 50 Years of Bauhaus 1968, Curated by Iris Dressler and Hans D. Christ, Württembergischer Kunstverein Stuttgart, Germany
2017
India Re-worlded: Seventy Years of Investigating a Nation, Curated by Arshiya Lokhandwala, Gallery Odyssey, Lower Parel, Mumbai
Age of Terror, Curated by Sanna Moore, Imperial War Museum, London, UK
A World in the City: Zoological and Botanic Gardens, Curated by Kaiwan Mehta, IFA Stuttgart, Germany
Visions from India, Pizutti Collection, Columbus, OH, United Nations
2016
Given Time: The Gift and its Offerings,Curated by Arshiya Lokhandwala, Gallery Odyssey, Mumbai
Setouchi Triennale, Curated by Fram Kitagawa, Takamatsu, Japan
Art from Elsewhere: International Contemporary Art from UK, Curated by David Elliott, Galleries, Arnolfini, Bristol, UK
Telling Tales: Excursions in Narrative Form, Curated by Rachel Kent, Museum of Contemporary Art, Sydney
Sacred and Profane, Curated by Robert Cook, Art Gallery of Western Australia, Perth, Australia
Deconstruction-Reconstruction, Art & Public, Geneva, Switzerland
The Eye and the Mind: New Interventions in Indian Art, National Gallery of Modern Art, New Delhi, India
2015
After Midnight: Indian Modernism to Contemporary India 1947/1997, Curated by Dr. Arshiya Lokhandwala, Queens Museum of Art, New York
After Utopia, Curated by Tan Siuli and Louis Ho, Singapore Art Museum, Singapore
Obsession, Maison Particulière, Brussels, Belgium
Postdate: Photography and Inherited History in India, Curated by Jodi Thockmorton, San Jose Museum of Art, San Jose, USA
2014
Busan Biennale 2014: Inhabiting the World, Artistic Director- Olivier Kaeppelin, Busan, South Korea
An Appetite for Painting, Contemporary Painting 2000–2014, Curated by Gavin Jantjes, The Museum of Contemporary Art, Architecture and Design, Oslo, Norway
St. Moritz Art Masters, Robilant + Voena, St. Moritz, Switzerland
DAS 2014, Dhaka Art Summit, Dhaka, Bangladesh, Curated Diana Campbell Betancourt
When Violence becomes Decedent, Curated by Shaheen Merali, Freies Museum, Berlin
2013
Curitiba Biennial, Curated by Stephanie Dahn Batista, Angelo Light, Deborah Santiago, Kamilla and Renan Araujo Nunes, Curitiba, Brazil
Ideas of the Sublime, Curated by Gayatri Sinha, Vadehra Art Gallery, New Delhi
Aesthetic Bind |Citizen Artist: Forms of Address, Curated by Geeta Kapur, Chemould Prescott Road, Mumbai, India
Palindrome, Jitish Kallat & Gilbert and George, ARNDT, Singapore
Highlights of Modern and Contemporary Art, Vadhera Art Gallery, New Delhi, India
Young Collectors, Maison Particuliere, Brussels, Belgium
When Violence Becomes Decedent, Curated by Shaheen Merali, Acc Gallerie Weimar, Germany
Mapmakers II: The Evolution of Contemporary Indian Art, Aicon Gallery, NY, USA
2012
Arsenale 2012, The First Kiev International Biennale of Art,Curated by David Elliott, Kiev, Ukraine
India: Art Now, ARKEN Museum of Modern Art, Ishøj, Denmark
Critical Mass: Contemporary Art from India, Curated by Tami Katz-Frieman and Rotem Ruff, Tel Aviv Museum of Art, Tel Aviv, Israel
Indian Highway , Co-curated by Julia Peyton-Jones, Hans Ulrish Obrist and Gunnar B. Kvaran, in collaboration with Philip Tinari, Ullens Center for Contemporary Art, Beijing
Narratives of the Self, Gallery Escape, New Delhi, India
Migration, ARNDT, Berlin, Germany
2011
Boundaries Obscured, Haunch of Venison, NY, USA
Paris- Delhi- Bombay, Center Pompidou, Paris, France
Pause: A collection, Sakshi Gallery, Mumbai, India
Roots in the Air, Branches Below: Modern and Contemporary Art from India, San Jose Museum of Art, CA, USA
Car Fetish: I Drive, Therefore I Am, Curated by Roland Wetzel, Museum Tinguely, Basel
Maximum India, Curated by Alicia Adams and Gilda Almeida, Kennedy Center for Performing Arts, Washington D.C., USA
Watercolour, Curated by Alison Smith, Tate Britain, London, UK
Indian Highway IV, Curated by Julia Peyton-Jones, Hans Ulrich Obrist, Gunnar B. Kvaran in collaboration with Thierry Raspail, Musée d’Art Contemporain, Lyon, France
Ulrich Obrist, Gunnar B. Kvaran in collaboration with Thierry Raspail
2010
Monumental, Walsh Gallery, Chicago, USA
“La Route de la Soie” (The Silk Road), Tri Postal, Lille, France
Collection Show 2010, Arario Gallery, Seoul, South Korea
Now Through a Glass Darkly, Arario Gallery, NY, USA
Changing the World, ARNDT, Berlin, Germany
Clouds: Power of Asian Contemporary Art, Soka Art, Beijing, China
Gallery Collection, Sakshi Gallery, Mumbai, India
Bring Me a Lion: An Exhibition of Contemporary Indian Art, Curated by Dana Turkovic and Jeffrey Hughes, Cecille R. Hunt Gallery, St. Louis, USA
Metropolis, The New Art Gallery Walsall, UK
Finding India, Art for the New Century, Museum of Contemporary Art, Taipei, Taiwan
Skulptur I Pilane, Curated by Peter Lennby, Pilane Burial Grounds, Tjorn, Sweden
Indian Highway, Curated by Julia Peyton-Jones, Hans Ulrich Obrist, Gunnar B. Kvaran in collaboration with Stinna Toft, HEART Herning Kunstmuseum, Denmark
Urban Manners 2: Contemporary Artists of India, Curated by Adelina von Furstenberg, SESC Pompeia, Sao Paulo
The Empire Strikes Back: India Art Today, Saatchi Gallery, London, UK
2009
India Contemporary, Curated by William Baars, Gemeentemuseum Den Haag, Hague, Netherlands
Mythologies, Haunch of Venison, London, UK
Chalo! India: A New Era of Indian Art, Curated by Akiko Miki, National Museum, Seoul and Essl Museum, Vienna, Australia
Art Foundation Mallorca Collection, Centro Cultural Andratx, CCA Andratx, Spain
Passage to India Part II, Initial Access Frank Cohen Collection, Wolverhampton, UK
Indian Highway, Curated by Julia Peyton-Jones, Hans-Ulrich Obrist, Gunnar B. Kvaran, Astrup Fearnley Museum of Modern Art, Oslo, Norway
Indian Narrative in the 21st Century: Between Memory and History, Casa Asia Headquarters, Madrid and Barcelona, Spain
INDIA XIANZI: Contemporary Indian Art, Museum of Contemporary Art, Shanghai, China
All That is Sold Melts Into Air: Indian Contemporary Art in Global Times, Lakeeren Gallery, Mumbai, India
16 Years of Running a Gallery, Walsh Gallery, Chicago, USA
Arario’s Finest: Celebrating 20 years of Arario Gallery, Arario Gallery, Cheonan, South Korea
2008
Farewell to Post Colonialism, Curated by Gao Shiming, Sarat Maharaj, Chang Tsong-zung, The 3rd Guangzhou Triennial, Guangdong Museum of Art, Guangzhou, Guangdong, China
Indian Highway, Curated by Julia Peyton-Jones, Hans-Ulrich Obrist, Thierry Raspail, Serpentine Gallery, London, UK
Die Tropen: Views from the Middle of the Globe, Curated by Alfons Hug, Dr. Peter boy, Prof. Dr. Viola King, Martin-Gropius-Bau, Berlin, Germany
India Moderna, Curated by Juan Guardiola, Institut Valencia d’Art Modern, Valencia, Spain
Chalo! India: A New Era of Indian Art,Curated by Miki Akiko, Mori Art Museum, Tokyo, Japan
Body Chatter, Walsh Gallery, Chicago, USA
Expanding Horizons, Curated by Sudhir Patvardhan, Bodhi Art Gallery, Mumbai, India
Everywhere is War (And Rumors of War), Bodhi Art Gallery, Mumbai, India
Frontlines: Notations from the contemporary Indian Urban Body, Curated by Shaheen Meerali, Berlin, Germany
New Narratives: Contemporary Art of India, Jane Voorhees Zimmerli Art Museum, New Brunswick, USA
New Narratives: Contemporary Art From India, Salina Art Center, Salina KS, USA
2007
Soft Power: Asian Attitude, Curated by Biljana Ciric, Huangfu Binghui, Shen Qibin, Shanghai Zendai Museum of Art, Shanghai, China
Urban Manners, Curated by Adelina von Furstenberg, Pirelli Hangar Bicocca, Milan
Hungry God, Art Gallery of Ontario, Toronto
Aftershock, Curated by Yasmin Canvin, The Sainsbury Center for Visual Arts, Norwich
Horn Please, Curated by Bernard Fibicher and Suman Gopinath, Kunstmuseum, Bern
Thermocline of Art - New Asian Waves, Curated by Wonil Rhee, Peter Weibel and Gregor Jansen, ZKM Museum, Karlsruhe, Germany
December Group, Gallery Barry Keldoulis, Sydney, NSW, Australia
Asia- Europe Mediations, IF Museum Inner Spaces, Poznan, Poland
2006
The 6th Gwangju Biennale, Curated by Kim Hong-hee, Wu Hang and Kim Sang-yun, Korea
The 5th Asia Pacific Triennial of Contemporary Art, Brisbane, Australia
Passages, Curated by Deepak Ananth and Jany Lauga, Palais des Beaux Arts, Brussels
Lille 3000, Curated by Caroline Naphegyi, Lille, France
Hungry God: Indian Contemporary Art, Curated by Yun Chaegab and June Gwak, Arario Gallery, Beijing and the Busan Museum, Korea
L’Art à la Plage, Galerie Enrico Navarra, Ramatuelle, France
2005
First Pocheon Asian Art Triennale, Curated by Yoon Jin Sup, Pocheon, Korea
Indian Summer, Curated by Henri Claude and Deepak Anath, Ecole Nationale Supérieure des Beaux-Arts, Paris, France
The Artist Lives and Works in Baroda/Bombay/Calcutta/Mysore/ Rotterdam/Trivandrum, House of World Cultures, Berlin, Germany
Paths of Progression, Singapore Tyler Print Institute, Singapore
Mom and Pop, Walsh Gallery, Chicago, USA
2004
Zoom! Art in Contemporary India, Curated by Nancy Adajania and Luis Serpa, Culturgest, Lisbon
Contemporary Art From India, Thomas Erben Gallery, NY, USA
Summer Show, Bose Pacia Gallery, NY, USA
2003
SubTerrain: Artists Dig the Contemporary , Curated by Geeta Kapur, House of World Cultures, Berlin
Pictorial Transformations, National Art Gallery, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
Crossing generations: diVERGE, Curated by Geeta Kapur and Chaitanya Sambrani, National Gallery of Modern Art, Mumbai, India
Indians+Cowboys, Curated by Aaron Seeto and Ruth Watson, 4A Center for Contemporary Art, Sydney
The Tree from the Seed, Curated by Gavin Jantjes and Henie Onstad Kunstsenter, Høvikodden, Norway
Hard Copy, Curated by Peter Nagy a two-person show with Reena Saini Kallat, Gallery 88, Calcutta, India
2002
Under Construction, Curated by Ranjit Hoskote, The Japan Foundation, Asia Center, Tokyo
India, Contemporary Art from Northeastern Private Collection, Curated by Jeffrey Wechssler, Jane Voorhees Zimmerli Art Museum, New Jersey, USA
2001
Century City: Art and Culture in the Modern Metropolis, Curated by Geeta Kapur and Ashish Rajadhyaksha, Tate Modern, London, UK
Indian Painting, Curated by Haema Sivanesan, Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney
Palette 2001, Palette Art Gallery, New Delhi, India
2000
Seventh Havana Biennale, Curated by Hilda Maria Rodriguez, Havana, Cuba
1999
The First Fukuoka Asian Art Triennale,Curated by Kuroda Raiji, Fukuoka Asian Art Museum, Japan
1998
Art of the World 1998, Passage de Retz, Paris, France
1997
Innenseite, Curated by Hamdi El Attar, Projektgruppe Stoffwechsel, University of Kassel, Germany
50 Years of Art in Mumbai, Curated by Saryu Doshi, National Gallery of Modern Art, Mumbai, India