BIG IDEAS: Sidewinder’s artists gather at the Vishwa Bharti University(above); painter Bikas Bhattacharya (on wheelchair) views Stehli’s unconventional nude study

In boxing parlance, the term sidewinder is used to describe a naughty punch, a sudden blow from the side that is neither fair nor foul. But in art, a sidewinder—that unexpectedly compelling, attention-arresting work—is usually hard to come by. Until quite recently, that is, when Kolkata’s Centre for International Modern Art (cima), in collaboration with the British Council and Goldsmiths College, London, concluded a two-week contemporary art residency programme with a mix of artists from India and UK. The title of the project? You got it: Sidewinder.

Goldsmiths’ Professor of Fine Art Gerard Hemsworth put himself in the ring when he curated the show almost 18 months ago. “I wanted to include the best artists from both countries,” says Hemsworth. “But there had to be a surprise element to their work, something that would make me want to return to it again and again.” After trawling through slides and photographs cataloguing almost 60 artists, Hemsworth got a bonus. The artists handpicked for the project—Jogen Chowdhury, Atul Dodiya, Suhasini Kejriwal, Ravinder Reddy, Kabir Mohanty, Subodh Gupta and Bharti Kher, Mark Wallinger, David Mabb, Jemima Stehli, Michael Raedecker and Bob and Roberta Smith—have such “strong agendas of their own” that they are unlikely to ever show together.

FACE TO FACE: Art on display at Shantiniketan’s Kala Bhawan

That wasn’t really a consideration in a project with as complex a concept as Sidewinder. The idea, according to project editor Suhail Malik, also from Goldsmith, was to club together contemporary artists with very different cultural and artistic experiences, and then try to bring out their commonalties through exposure to specific stimuli and inputs. And to eventually enable both sides (as well as audiences) to make sense of the constraints within which the participating artists worked.

Sidewinder skirts the rut it could have easily fallen into: Of a simplistic juxtaposition based on cultural differences, which is an idea done to death. “That would have become a football match,” remarks Hemsworth. “Like saying the Brits are the Reds and the Indians are the Blues, and let’s see what happens when they come together.”

Yet, some cultural interface is necessary—more for the artists to get acquainted with each other’s methodologies than to trade know-how. “Indian artists are much better informed about happenings abroad than the other way around,” says Delhi-based Subodh Gupta. On a recent trip to Venice, Gupta was intrigued by a Mark Wallinger show, but never got a chance to meet him. Now Gupta considers himself lucky to be able to put a face on so many artists he’d only read about.

But seniors like Ravinder Reddy see a more imperative reason for Sidewinder. “It’s a good way of letting others appreciate the constraints we work under here in India,” says Reddy. “We are often accused of not experimenting enough. After coming here, many of the London artists now understand why, for instance, we can’t just pile students into a truck, take them to a dumpyard and help them pick out scraps they can turn into installations.”

Still, even in a complicated grouping, there have to be some common points of reference. Hemsworth worked to consciously span generations on either side. So among the Indians, there’s Jogen Chowdhury, followed by the next generation of Reddy, Dodiya and Kejriwal, while Gupta and Kher are relative newcomers. It’s a similar break-up on the British side. In some—and only some—cases, there’s even a common thread running through the works. As Stehli sees it, there’s a link between her nude studies and Chowdhury’s, while Reddy’s staring-eyed subjects offset hers, who are always “looking”, either inside or out of the frame. Mabb and Dodiya’s meeting ground is the social commentary in their works.

Sidewinder’s execution was admittedly easier than it’s conceptualisation. In the first part of what could possibly become a more comprehensive pan-continental project in the near future, organisers arranged to have the eclectic group visit various places in India. On the touristy leg, the UK artists did the Golden Triangle of Delhi, Agra and Jaipur, took a heritage walk in the older part of Kolkata and actually shopped for knick-knacks in the city’s flea markets. On a more muse-awakening level, both groups took three days off for a field trip to Orissa’s Saura and Dongria Kondh tribal areas, met with artists and art students in Santiniketan and also crammed in talks and seminars at a local university. Sadly, not much of that is reflected in the show, which opened in Kolkata on January 15 and will then move to Delhi (March 6 to 20) and Mumbai (April 8 to 17) in the coming months. Although the artists set up makeshift studios at cima, many of them preferred to exhibit earlier, completed works they had brought along. “What you have here, is cutting edge art,” says Gupta.

Not everyone agrees. Despite an overwhelming opening, initial response to Sidewinder—the show, not the idea—has been iffy. Some much-travelled Kolkata artists believe that Sidewinder’s performing installations, video shows, mixed media and paintings are imaginative, but that they do not bring anything new to the understanding of art. “These are a dime a dozen in other countries,” says a well-known painter. “I expected to see things I haven’t before.” Is that enough reason for a sequel?