LUGANO.- From September 24 to January 21, 2018, the LAC will be presenting Focus India, a project of extended scope in which the arts centre turns its attention to India and the profound influence that country has on exerted on Western art and culture. A wide ranging and never before seen programme embracing such diverse forms as the visual arts, music, dance, cinema and the many facets of Indian culture, including medicine, meditation and cuisine.

Alongside the LAC’s regular programme of theatre, dance and music, the new autumn season will be enriched by variations on this great theme which will be developed and explored by focussing both on single art forms as well as mutual contaminations between different arts. Focus India will tell the story of a culture, Indian culture which has so fascinated and influenced the Western world in the most divergent areas through numerous events. Throughout the entire autumn a large exhibition featuring glances at the past and some of the leading protagonists of India’s art scene will be held at LAC and alternate with other activities and events including workshops, labs for children, conferences on medicine, yoga sessions, musical concerts, a series of films, cuisine and a great deal more on Indian traditions. In cooperation with its artistic Partners –MASI Lugano and LuganoInScena and LuganoMusica – the LAC will play host to an intense four-month programme which has been conceived to satisfy the curiosity and interests of an eclectic public embarking on fascinating journey in search of the myth and culture of India.

Highlights
Art | Dance | Music | Cinema Focus India: Art
Among the different thematic pillars sustaining the project Focus India, art will be in the forefront with the exhibition Sulle vie dell’Illuminazione. The Myth of India in Western Culture 1808-2017 running from September 24, 2017 until January 21, 2018. The exhibition will occupy two floors of the museum and will provide a broad and varied perspective of how, from the early nineteenth century, India with its traditions, religions, landscapes, cultures and arts – has increasingly enthralled the Western world. Not so much India itself as the profound influence it exerted on international art and culture. This is the theme that the exhibition develops on through a plethora of materials and works, from the writings of Schopenhauer and Hermann Hesse, to the photography of Henri CartierBresson, the avant-garde works of Le Corbusier and Alexander Calder to the contemporary art of Francesco Clemente, Luigi Ontani, Robert Rauschenberg, Damien Hirst, Maurizio Cattelan and Thomas Ruff, from the contemporary photography of Sabastião Salgado, Ferdinando Scianna, Steve McCurry and Martin Parr and filmmakers like Roberto Rossellini and Louis Malle, down to the Beatles for music.

Focus India: Dance
Dance has always been one of the highest expressions of Indian culture. On November 11 the LAC will be venue to a performance by an artist of exceptional standing, Shantala Shivalingappa, among the foremost contemporary interpreters of Kuchipudi, one of the seven styles of classical Indian dance. This will be followed on December 16 by Rising, a performance choreographed by Russell Maliphant, Sidi Larbi Cherakoui and Akram Kahn and interpreted by Aakash Odedra, an award winning English dancer and choreographer of Indian origin. He is one of the most internationally renowned and sought-after performers whose style is a perfect blend between traditional Indian classical dance and the most interesting forms of contemporary dance.

Focus India: Music
A key moment in the series devoted to the great Indian musical tradition will be the concert on November 18 by Nishat Khan, world famous sitar master. Thanks to his brilliant technical virtuosity, the profundity and complexity of his musical language, Nishat Khan has played with Philip Glass and John McLaughlin and has been invited to jam with other guitar gods like Eric Clapton and Carlos Santana. A variety of different approaches characterize the musical events will open Focus India with a dual concert on September 23 and 24: an offering of music and performance aimed at discovering how India has influenced Western music, beginning with classical music all the way to contemporary pop. During the three programmes planned for September and December (15th) the public will hear, in different positions located on three levels of the Hall and other public spaces, tablas, synthesizers, violins and saxophones, loop machines, sitars as well as some dance performances. There will also be a foray into the world of electronic music and Bollywood in an event on the night of November 4 in which the Hall will be transformed into a London “Bollywood Club”.

Focus India: Cinema
Elective Affinities. Cinema and the Other Arts is the title of a cinematic programme curated by critic, producer and director Marco Müller which will explore the numerous and changeable aspects of the Indian subcontinent seen through the seventh art. 20 programmes running from November 3 to 22 with various screenings every day, guests and round tables will help explore a continent of shifting meanings still unknown in Europe: the relationship between modernist cinema, the visionary cinema of contemporary India and the expressive languages of the tradition. A cycle of films on the visual arts, architecture, music, theatre and dance with works covering the period 1948-2017.