Tantric art is an independent category in Indian pictorial productions. It is often presented as both an ancient and highly conceptual, even abstract art form.

This symposium will look at the orientalist dissemination of these texts and particularly their influence on Indian artists in the 1950s-60s, who interpreted them as abstract Indian forms then, as part of the Counter-Culture movement, as 'transgressive’ forms that enabled a critique of Indian culture from within. The popularity of “Eastern spiritualties” among the hippies is well-known. What is less known is this trend among young Indians, particularly in artistic circles and painting, but also poetry, dance and cinema. 

OrganiserS

The musée du quai  Branly, the  Centre d'Étude de l'Inde et de l'Asie du Sud (EHESS-CNRS) and the Université de Lausanne (FTSR).

Scientific CommitteE

Tiziana Leucci, Head of Research at the CNRS, CEIAS, and Raphael Rousseleau, professor, Université de Lausanne, CEIAS, former Fellows at the musée du quai Branly - Jacques Chirac 

Scieintific COmmittee for the Musical section

Joep Bor (Professor, Université de Leiden, founder and director of the Department of World Music at the Rotterdam Conservatory), Philippe Brughière (Curator, Musée Cité de la musique La Philharmonie de Paris)