Question
Could you say a few more words about the interest in transformation that the work displays? You used the word magic, which is not a word we often use in relation to contemporary art perhaps; it seems that casts were not representing the things they are, but were used as elements in larger assemblages which are kind of representative, like the skull?

Subodh
We do have bigger scales in history. I’ve given a piece the title ‘Very Hungry God’, and one day in the Hindu tradition, God was very hungry, and for feeding him across the forest, miles and miles of forest were used to feed the God, and we also have a story about when the bigger snakes are turning the sea and they use a big snake as a rope and one side is God and one side evil. It’s a huge skill… I still believe my skill is very small in comparison, but that kind of thing influence me, and I don’t really know how to explain it, I’m sorry.

Question
I think in the last couple of slides, there were some installations placed in churches in France and I think in Venice. Were you asked to do something site-specific in those churches or was it their decision to place them there?

Subodh
Well, I wanted to make this piece, so when they asked me to consider the church location, I thought nothing can be ideal for this piece, so I should go inside the church rather than anywhere else, and also in front of the church, where I could feed overnight 10,000 people Indian soup. My idea was to feed them food inside, but it didn’t happen, because it was getting very big and everything, so I did it outside. They told me a story about St Bernard – this church is very political in a sense, lots of migrants and people without papers stay there, but some of the politicians come too to help give them food and bread…

Question
You’ve shown your work very widely in many different countries, in India and in Europe; if you’re showing the same piece in Bombay for instance, and then you’re showing it in the UK or in France, it obviously has a different resonance in those different locations, and I just wondered what you thought about that and if that’s something that interests you?

Subodh
First of all, for me, living in India is very important, and speaking in India is also very important, but I think art has only one visual language and people all over the world understand it. That’s why it doesn’t make a difference where I exhibit. But at the same time, it’s very important if I exhibit my work at home and share it with my people, and they actually understand my art very quickly, because I don’t have to explain it to them, they can instantly relate to it.

Transcribed by Jackie Howson and edited by Marion Endt.