Art at the crossroads in Vienna

This is one of the few sculptures of such a scale to have been created by a contemporary Indian artist and placed on permanent public display internationally. The evocatively titled Here After Here After Here, by Jitish Kallat, unveiled in the second week of October at Stockerau, 20km north of Vienna, is part of a visionary project that places art at the heart of communities. A consortium of 10 municipalities, aptly named ‘10 vor Wien’ (‘10 near Vienna’), together with the Advisory Council of Public Art Lower Austria (how lovely that they should have such collaborations), initiated the installation of large public artworks in three roundabouts in the region. Their intention? To promote the independent development of the region. Kallat’s work is placed at a key intersection on an expressway, and the mammoth loop is rendered like an unending highway that symbolically connects Stockerau to places like Singapore, Marrakesh, Mumbai, Beijing, Bucharest, New York, Paris and Taipei, with actual distances and exit signs you would follow if you were to set off on a journey from here to one of them.