is a curator, art advisor, writer and cultural mediator based in Paris. Since completing her master’s thesis at IESA Art & Culture (2023) in Paris, she has been passionate about exploring cross-cultural dialogues and sustainable approaches within contemporary art.

On the journey of Starting TAK Contemporary: TAK Contemporary started in 2023. Pranitha Joseph and I met during our Master’s in Contemporary Art at IESA. I later met Shubhankar Bharti when he and Pranitha were working at 193 Gallery and the three of us became friends.

We had noticed a lack in the representation of emerging South Asian artists in the Parisian art world. Historically, many Indian artisans had lived and worked in Paris, so there was already a precedent for cultural exchange. The idea came about between Shubhankar and Pranitha while I was in India. I got a call from them and we spoke about creating something that addressed this gap. That’s how TAK Contemporary was formed.

From the beginning, the idea was to bring South Asian artists to Paris and Europe while also introducing European artists in India. The aim is not to be India-centric, but to create spaces for contemporary voices across the broader South Asian region, acknowledging their interconnected histories. Since our first show in India, we’ve always mixed Indian and international artists. TAK Contemporary has been running for about two years as an initiative.

We are not looking at art that is decorative. Form is never neutral. It needs context and should ideally engage with social or political questions. At the same time, we pay attention to aesthetics and technique, as that’s what draws people. Our curatorial choices are also often guided by intuition and shared interests as curators. We are also interested in anthropology, sociology, and psychology.

Within TAK Contemporary, the three of us also come from different backgrounds, which means we interpret artworks differently. However, we often find ourselves drawn to themes such as inequality and history. The themes we have been exploring so far include displacement, the caste system, ecological concerns, and broader political frameworks within which artworks are created. In our exhibition “Mango Man: Allegories of Political Propositions,” in collaboration with 193 Gallery in Paris, Salik Ansari’s work addressed the bulldozer demolitions affecting minority communities in India, while K. G. Babu explored the impact of development on Adivasi communities.

When it comes to the question of a starting point, sometimes an artist is already in the picture and we build a concept around their work, while at other times an exhibition begins with a specific title or concept. The title of our show that opened on the 9th of April 2026, “Ceci n’est pas un paysage,” is inspired by Renée Magritte’s Ceci n’est pas une pipe. It explores the idea of land as not just a passive backdrop but as something that carries stories of the people connected to it.

There have also been instances of artists who put their trust in us and let us hold on to their work in Paris, in case an opportunity to exhibit comes up. These relationships make the work quite personal for us.

Collaborating with galleries, participating in art fairs, doing institutional exhibitions, and projects in third spaces beyond traditional white-cube galleries are some different curatorial formats. Talks and performances at exhibitions are also para-curatorial activities. To collaborate we approach established galleries whose programmes may lack South Asian voices and propose artists who could fit within their curatorial direction. For “Mango Man: Allegories of Political Propositions,” we collaborated with 193 Gallery, presenting seven artists; following the exhibition they began working with Pavan Kavitar and may collaborate again with Sumakshi Singh, whom we also represented at Asia Now. This kind of collaboration helps create long-term impact if galleries begin representing the artists we introduce.

Our first institutional show, “Architecture of Remembering” was organised with Alliance Française Trivandrum and Alliance Française Chandigarh. The duo show presented French artist Philippe Calia and Indian artist Supriyo Manna. It examined how histories and lived experiences are inscribed within physical sites, objects, and structures, and how these spaces allow communities to engage with, preserve, and inhabit memory across individual and collective life.

The third spaces we’ve worked with include Deeya Paris, a boutique founded by Marielou Phillips and Matthieu Foss, where we exhibited five artists in their gallery space. In designer Mohanjeet’s boutique, we curated the exhibition in dialogue with her collection. Our first such show took place at Dissident Club, a cultural bar founded by Pakistani journalist Taha Siddiqui, where we installed works by Salik Ansari and organised a discussion and Housie game during the opening.

At “Ce qui se trame” which took place at Moblier Nationale we moderated a talk with artists Pauline Guerrier, Antonin Mongin, Debashish Paul, who had completed their residency at Villa Swagatam in India. During “Mango Man: Allegories of Political Propositions,” we hosted a discussion on the Indian art market featuring Salomé Zelic from Galerie Continua, Fabrice Bousteau, the editor-in-chief of Beaux Arts Magazine, and journalist Rafael Pic.

One major challenge is building a network of collectors and press, which takes time as we have only been active for two years. Budget constraints are another challenge, as exhibitions with established artists often require financial support to be realised properly. At the moment, all three of us balance TAK Contemporary alongside other professional commitments, and being able to work on it full time would allow it to grow much faster. Another challenge is ensuring that our curatorial voice remains authentic and not repetitive. We need feedback from audiences to understand how our exhibitions are being interpreted.

VAISHNAVI SOSE is an Indian artist who explores the act of remembering as a way of accessing emotional and sensory experience. She is interested in the relationship between perception and memory.