Threshold Art Gallery and the State Hermitage Museum in St. Petersburg, Russia, are presenting a landmark exhibition of contemporary Indian art titled "Sediments of Becoming: Fossilised Present, Summoned Pasts." Opening on 4 June 2026 and running until 4 October 2026, it is the first dedicated presentation of contemporary Indian art in the Hermitage's 260-year history. The exhibition features works by eleven Indian artists—including Afrah Shafiq, Anindita Bhattacharya, Debashish Mukherjee, Gargi Raina, Lakshmi Madhavan, Manjunath Kamath, Maya Krishna Rao, Pushpamala N., Ravinder Reddy, Sumakshi Singh, and V. Ramesh—several of whom created new commissions after a 2025 residency at the Hermitage. Curated by Marina Schulz and Tunty Chauhan, the show places contemporary works alongside historical objects from the museum's vast collections, fostering a dialogue across time and geography.
This exhibition matters because it marks a historic institutional milestone: the Hermitage, founded by Catherine the Great in 1764 and housing over three million objects, has never before dedicated a show to contemporary Indian art. By integrating new Indian artworks with its ancient and modern collections, the museum challenges traditional ethnographic and historical frameworks, positioning artists as active interpreters of their own culture. The collaboration also underscores a growing cultural exchange between India and Russia, and reflects a broader trend among major museums to rethink how national and global histories are presented through contemporary artistic practice.