How curator Meera Curam reimagined Indigo at Hampi Art Labs
At Hampi Art Labs, an interdisciplinary curatorial vision, brings together material exploration, collaboration and contemporary art
At Hampi Art Labs, close to the historic ruins of Hampi, the residency director and curator Meera Curam notes that contemporary art intersects with craft knowledge, research and material experimentation. Adapting an interdisciplinary approach, she reflects how the space envisions exhibitions as a dialogue between artists, traditions and audiences, often extending beyond the conventional curatorial framework. In this email interview, she reflects on her background, the ideas behind the recent exhibition, “Blue Futures: Reimagining Indigo”, and how collaborative processes guide the work produced at the Labs.
I like to extend exhibitions beyond traditional gallery confines, integrating material practices from art, design and artisanal traditions with contemporary research and innovative ideas, reflecting global trends that reimagine shows outside the white cube. For me, bringing artists into dialogue rarely witnessed in their studio processes is important; exhibitions become celebrations of mastery through curated works, enriched by interactive displays, master-led workshops, and both formal and informal conversations that unveil deeper layers of curatorial and artistic practice. I aim to spark curiosity and lingering questions in general audiences, drawing them into deeper engagement with artworks, artists and curators. Each exhibition is designed to attract diverse visitors, ensuring they leave inspired to return and continue the dialogue.
The exhibition “Blue Futures: Reimagining Indigo” explored several aspects of indigo, from material to historic and ecological. If you could share your approach, including a selection of artists and artworks.
The exhibition delved into Indigo’s material, historical and ecological dimensions through a curatorial approach centred on the provocative question: “Why blue?” Why Indigo? Building on seminal global exhibitions that have traced indigo’s complex histories and artisanal depths, this show responded to fashion and textiles’ shift toward sustainable colouring by blending rigorous research with living traditions. Artists and artworks were selected based on masters bridging heritage, innovation and community collaboration. Japanese studios like Buaisou-I and Slow Fabric exemplified precision in traditional fermentation vats.
Contemporary artists such as Aboubakar Fofana pushed Indigo into experimental realms. The Indigo Art Museum’s R&D on application of Indigo on unconventional materials such as ceramics, porcelain, sandstone, and found objects highlighted Indigo’s expanded materiality and demonstrated achievable possibilities in application. Future-focused, the exhibition celebrated conscious making and mastery, with each artwork reimagining indigo as a revered, adaptable medium for our contemporary world.
If you could also talk about expanding indigo beyond textiles into sculpture, installation and experimental works, repositioning the material within contemporary art discourse.
The curation and conceptual framing for the exhibition were to expand indigo beyond textiles into sculpture, installation and experimental works, repositioning the practice of natural dye within contemporary art discourse and challenging predictable audience expectations of textiles and familiar shades of blue. Collaboration with the Indigo Museum presented innovative applications across diverse and unusual
surfaces, including ceramics, porcelain, found materials and sandstone, revealing indigo’s versatility and depth. As contemporary art and design practices draw on traditional knowledge for sustainable practices, indigo emerges as a rare natural blue with vast potential. Showcasing 100 shades developed by Buaisou-i master artists from Tokushima, Japan, exemplifies extraordinary patience, perseverance and precision, immersing creators in a meticulous precision that feels like divinity and meditation.
The exhibition also included a living indigo fermentation vat in the gallery. What role did sensory experience play in shaping the curatorial narrative and in audience engagement?
When people hear ‘indigo’, they typically picture one iconic shade, unaware that it ranks among nature’s few naturally occurring blues. Extracting and developing indigo demands multi-stage processes, vividly demonstrated by the exhibition’s living fermentation vat, which engaged audiences in its alchemy: colour emerges from plant leaves through sustained fermentation, maintainable for years via mindful additions of fructose and limestone. Sensory cues, the vat’s distinctive smell, taste, and copper-shimmering indigo flower formations were an important sign of the vat’s vitality, surprising visitors who learned that a single lapse could irreversibly affect its hue.
Hampi Art Labs offers residencies, production facilities and exhibitions in one campus. How does this integrated model shape the kind of work produced (also the fact that the heritage site is just kilometers away)?
The art residency at Hampi Art Labs encourages artists to develop work that is process-driven and experimental, and to step out of their comfort zone. Proximity to the Hampi heritage site invites engagement with local materials, artisanal communities, and shifting perspectives on ruins, where repeated visits reveal personal inspirations amid the landscape’s transformations. Gallery exhibitions and themed workshops spark interactions among artists, curators, and visitors, infusing studio practices with fresh insights. JSW Foundation’s philosophy promotes equitable, knowledge-sharing collaborations with crafts communities around Hampi and Anegundi, including basket makers and Lambani women who do embroidery.
At Hampi Art Labs, close to the historic ruins of Hampi, the residency director and curator Meera Curam notes that contemporary art intersects with craft knowledge, research and material experimentation. Adapting an interdisciplinary approach, she reflects how the space envisions exhibitions as a dialogue between artists, traditions and audiences, often extending beyond the conventional curatorial framework. In this email interview, she reflects on her background, the ideas behind the recent exhibition, “Blue Futures: Reimagining Indigo”, and how collaborative processes guide the work produced at the Labs.
I like to extend exhibitions beyond traditional gallery confines, integrating material practices from art, design and artisanal traditions with contemporary research and innovative ideas, reflecting global trends that reimagine shows outside the white cube. For me, bringing artists into dialogue rarely witnessed in their studio processes is important; exhibitions become celebrations of mastery through curated works, enriched by interactive displays, master-led workshops, and both formal and informal conversations that unveil deeper layers of curatorial and artistic practice. I aim to spark curiosity and lingering questions in general audiences, drawing them into deeper engagement with artworks, artists and curators. Each exhibition is designed to attract diverse visitors, ensuring they leave inspired to return and continue the dialogue.
The exhibition “Blue Futures: Reimagining Indigo” explored several aspects of indigo, from material to historic and ecological. If you could share your approach, including a selection of artists and artworks.
The exhibition delved into Indigo’s material, historical and ecological dimensions through a curatorial approach centred on the provocative question: “Why blue?” Why Indigo? Building on seminal global exhibitions that have traced indigo’s complex histories and artisanal depths, this show responded to fashion and textiles’ shift toward sustainable colouring by blending rigorous research with living traditions. Artists and artworks were selected based on masters bridging heritage, innovation and community collaboration. Japanese studios like Buaisou-I and Slow Fabric exemplified precision in traditional fermentation vats.
Contemporary artists such as Aboubakar Fofana pushed Indigo into experimental realms. The Indigo Art Museum’s R&D on application of Indigo on unconventional materials such as ceramics, porcelain, sandstone, and found objects highlighted Indigo’s expanded materiality and demonstrated achievable possibilities in application. Future-focused, the exhibition celebrated conscious making and mastery, with each artwork reimagining indigo as a revered, adaptable medium for our contemporary world.
If you could also talk about expanding indigo beyond textiles into sculpture, installation and experimental works, repositioning the material within contemporary art discourse.
The curation and conceptual framing for the exhibition were to expand indigo beyond textiles into sculpture, installation and experimental works, repositioning the practice of natural dye within contemporary art discourse and challenging predictable audience expectations of textiles and familiar shades of blue. Collaboration with the Indigo Museum presented innovative applications across diverse and unusual
surfaces, including ceramics, porcelain, found materials and sandstone, revealing indigo’s versatility and depth. As contemporary art and design practices draw on traditional knowledge for sustainable practices, indigo emerges as a rare natural blue with vast potential. Showcasing 100 shades developed by Buaisou-i master artists from Tokushima, Japan, exemplifies extraordinary patience, perseverance and precision, immersing creators in a meticulous precision that feels like divinity and meditation.
The exhibition also included a living indigo fermentation vat in the gallery. What role did sensory experience play in shaping the curatorial narrative and in audience engagement?
When people hear ‘indigo’, they typically picture one iconic shade, unaware that it ranks among nature’s few naturally occurring blues. Extracting and developing indigo demands multi-stage processes, vividly demonstrated by the exhibition’s living fermentation vat, which engaged audiences in its alchemy: colour emerges from plant leaves through sustained fermentation, maintainable for years via mindful additions of fructose and limestone. Sensory cues, the vat’s distinctive smell, taste, and copper-shimmering indigo flower formations were an important sign of the vat’s vitality, surprising visitors who learned that a single lapse could irreversibly affect its hue.
Hampi Art Labs offers residencies, production facilities and exhibitions in one campus. How does this integrated model shape the kind of work produced (also the fact that the heritage site is just kilometers away)?
The art residency at Hampi Art Labs encourages artists to develop work that is process-driven and experimental, and to step out of their comfort zone. Proximity to the Hampi heritage site invites engagement with local materials, artisanal communities, and shifting perspectives on ruins, where repeated visits reveal personal inspirations amid the landscape’s transformations. Gallery exhibitions and themed workshops spark interactions among artists, curators, and visitors, infusing studio practices with fresh insights. JSW Foundation’s philosophy promotes equitable, knowledge-sharing collaborations with crafts communities around Hampi and Anegundi, including basket makers and Lambani women who do embroidery.
