South Asian Contemporary Art

SAC Art Amsterdam continues to extend awareness of the scope of contemporary and modern art from the South Asian subcontinent and its diaspora, encouraging international and European recognition for both established and emerging artists. Through our programming, we create an open and inviting cultural space that sparks curiosity and discovery, engaging both specialist audiences and the wider community in Amsterdam, the Netherlands, and across Europe.

Our next exhibition, opening on 20 February 2026, is Choreographies of Compliance: Between Allowance and Acceptance, bringing together the works of Razia Barsatie (Suriname) and Rucha Kulkarni (India). The exhibition reflects on how femininity is shaped by cultural heritage, migration, and the constant interaction of the body with expectation. The opening evening will begin with an interactive performance from 18:00–18:30, followed by the opportunity to engage with the artists over drinks.

Following the success of the first 2 editions of Art Night Thursday, an initiative spearheaded by SAC Art Amsterdam to help bring cultural venues in the great Oostelijke Havengebied under a common, virtual umbrella each month, the next ANT is scheduled for 26 February 2026, featuring a screening of Wan Pipel / One People (1976), a Surinamese classic. The film offers insight into Suriname’s cultural landscape and provides important context for the work of one of the exhibiting artists.

On Sunday, 8 March 2026, we will host Held, Not Counted, a contemporary art workshop led by Rucha Kulkarni. Set against the exhibition Choreographies of Compliance: Between Allowance and Acceptance, the workshop invites participants to consider time as a form of care rather than currency. Working with fabric, memory, and shared making, participants will transform personal materials into sublimation prints that are later assembled into a collective installation inspired by prayer flags — allowing private acts of labour and care to gently enter a shared public space.

On ANT Thursday, 12 March 2026, we will host an artist’s panel with Razia Barsatie, Rucha Kulkarni and Sarojini Lewis. The panel will be joined and moderated by Dr Priya Swamy. We will start the evening with a performance by Rucha Barsatie, titled: Ritual of Responsibility. This performance will mark the transitional moments preceding the exhibition. Through an understated ritual, Razia will bring together acts of cleansing and whispered forms of farewell. This will be followed by a poetry reading by Sarojini Lewis and finally the artists’ panel and discussion, with the 4 guests.

About the panelists:
Razia Barsatie (SUR/NL) explores sensory experience, cultural memory, and the opening up of conversations around taboo subjects. Working with scent, video animation, drawing, and ecological materials, she builds emotional landscapes informed by her Surinamese heritage.

Rucha (IND/NL) is a visual artist and social art practitioner. Her oeuvre spans painting, textile, and installation. Her interdisciplinary practice explores themes of identity, migration, memory, and community through collaborative and process-based methodologies.

Sarojini Lewis (IND/SUR/NL) has a background in Fine Art (MFA Fine Art Edinburgh University) with a specialization in archival photography, video art and book arts. She is currently working as a curator, researcher and artist. Her PhD in visual studies in JNU examined the indentured labour archive through a feminine contemporary lens,

Dr Priya Swamy is Curator Globalisation and South Asia at Stichting Nationaal Museum van Wereldculturen (Wereld Museum, Amsterdam). Priya holds a BA in World Religions from McGill University (Canada) and an MPhil and PhD in Area Studies from Leiden University. Her research critically engages with the ways in which people in and from South Asian diasporas innovate and rearticulate their religious and political beliefs across historical moments and social contexts.

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