Kaee Contemporary’s latest exhibition in Kolkata forges an intergenerational conversation

Kaee - an idiomatic word for algae - denotes an enlivening presence within an ecology.

Founded by Ambica Beri in 2022, Kaee Contemporary lodges itself within a perceived need for a dedicated contemporary art space that curates emerging and experimental practices and places them in an intergenerational dialogue with established practitioners.

Art gallery owner Beri had single-handedly established Art Ichol, India’s only permanent creative retreat for artists, writer and sculptors in Ichal, a small village 140 km from Khajuraho, and was honoured with the Nari Shakti Puraskar in 2017 by the Union Ministry of Women and Child Development.

With a range of art residencies between Kolkata and Maihar illuminating its core, the programming at Kaee catalyzes an interplay of urban and rural perspectives.

The gallery is set in the leafy Alipore neighbourhood, complete with a café and relaxed outdoor spaces.

‘When The Other Stares Back’ brings together the works of four women artists from Kolkata – Jayashree Chakravarty, Radhika Agarwala, Sonia Mehra Chawla and Suhasini Kejriwal.

Their composite and layered works essay an inter-generational conversation about synthesized contaminants that impel us, governing our lifestyles.

Speculative or documentary, the works are rooted within urban environments that the artists came to inhabit, exposing these seemingly civilized spaces as nested sites of multi-species cohabitation and conflict, according to the organisers.

The exhibition will be open between 11am and 8pm at 2-H Alipore Avenue, Kolkata 700027, till April 30, 2022.