In Sunder Nursery, art follows you everywhere

Art installations were conceptualised by Claire Fontaine, an artist collective comprising Italian–British artist duo Fulvia Carnevale and James Thorhave

Over the course of the following week, an installation of neon signs will greet early morning walkers and visitors to Sunder Nursery. The seven signs spell out “foreigners everywhere” in different languages including English, Bengali, Urdu and Gujarati.

Installations on walls inside Sunder Nursery in New Delhi, on Tuesday. (Sanchit Khanna/HT PHOTO)

Conceptualised by Claire Fontaine, an artist collective comprising Italian–British artist duo Fulvia Carnevale and James Thor, the installation made its way to India after being showcased at the 2024 Venice Biennale, inspiring even the title of the prestigious art event.

Explaining the idea behind the installation, Andrea Anastasio, director of the Italian Embassy Cultural Centre, and the curator responsible for bringing down the renowned work, said that the work highlights immigration and emigration as existential experiences, as at a deeper level, we are all strangers to each other. It is meant to evoke the anxieties of a people living in a global geo-political context of ever-tightening national boundaries.

“Claire Fontaine’s use of multiple languages interrogates the violence in translation, where the foreigner must submit to another language, risking cultural colonisation,” he said.

Similar installations by the duo have also been placed outside the Kiran Nadar Museum of Art (KNMA) in Saket and in the Italian Embassy Culture Centre, in Chanakyapuri. It was also put up in the NSIC Grounds in Okhla during the four-day India Art Fair that concluded on February 9, situated besides installations by artists Yogesh Barve and M. Pravat, among others. At the fair, the installation had signs in 10 languages including Urdu, Hindi, Gujarati, Tamil and Italian, among others.

Anastasio said, “Foreigners Everywhere / Stranieri Ovunque (2004-2025) comprises a series of neon sign sculptures spanning multiple languages, capturing the nuanced ambivalence embedded in its title. Exhibited across diverse contexts and public spaces around the world, the work has become so popular that it was borrowed by the curator of the 60th Venice Biennale to title the Biennale itself.”

While the languages employed by the installation during the biennale spanned Italian and French, among others, the installation on view in different parts of the city use local languages.

“The sign stresses that we can feel like foreigners wherever we go but also that we will find foreigners in every place so the translations of the two words act as subtitles to public or private spaces, awaking dormant antagonisms and fears. The reactions of the public in past presentations of some of these signs in public spaces have been various and sometimes very vigorous,” he added.

The idea was to present a brand-new set of installations that draw from the languages, influences and culture of India, Anastasio said.

Ratish Nanda, CEO at the Aga Khan Trust for Culture (AKTC), which manages Sunder Nursery, said the installation is accompanied with a board to explain the meaning of the work.

“Art installations are meant to be both thought-provoking and to generate curiosity and interest amongst visitors. They transform the space for the duration they’re there, which is a delight for us too,” said Nanda, adding that it was already attracting attention from visitors.