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Abstract painting in warm terracotta and muted blue tones

Swiss Indian Arts Collaborative · Zurich

India’s Contemporaries

Indian arts today, in conversation with Switzerland.

Watch the Zurich Art Weekend talk

About SIAC

The Swiss Indian Arts Collaborative (SIAC) is a Zurich-based platform for contemporary arts from India. From painting and sculpture to installation and film, the arts of India draw on one of the world’s longest continuous traditions. Today’s artists carry that heritage forward, reimagining it for the present.

SIAC creates formats where artists, curators and cultural practitioners from India and Switzerland meet, and where Swiss and international audiences can experience Indian contemporary arts in their full range. Working with partner museums, galleries and foundations in both countries, it provides the setting and context for lasting exchange.

Program 01

Zurich Art Weekend 2026

SIAC’s debut program brought together a panel discussion on contemporary art in India, exploring how local traditions meet global influences, and a screening of Ragamala films at Museum Rietberg.

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schwarzescafé
Luma Westbau, Zürich

Panel Discussion

Whose Contemporary? India: From Heritage to Global Arts

Moderator

Speakers

Panel Discussion — Whose Contemporary? India: From Heritage to Global Arts. Watch on Vimeo

Panel discussion at schwarzescafé, Luma Westbau. From left: Damian Christinger, Amin Jaffer, Shireen Gandhy, Annette Bhagwati, Ashvin E. Rajagopalan
From left: Damian Christinger, Amin Jaffer, Shireen Gandhy, Annette Bhagwati, Ashvin E. Rajagopalan
The schwarzescafé audience at the panel discussion
schwarzescafé audience
Speakers and hosts
Speakers and hosts

In collaboration with

Program 02

Zurich, 2027

Details to follow.

Founders

SIAC was founded by four close friends based in Zurich, united by long-standing personal and professional ties to India. Their shared engagement with the arts inspired the creation of a platform to build meaningful bridges between India and Switzerland.

Portrait of Priyanka Sharma Wahl

Priyanka Sharma Wahl

Priyanka is a cultural liaison, advisor, and investor working at the intersection of art, institutions, and global markets. She builds bridges between Europe and India, supporting cross-cultural exchange, business development, and new collaborations.

She brings a global perspective informed by time across Silicon Valley, Europe, and India. Her background spans film production with filmmaker Mira Nair to leadership roles in mobile gaming and healthtech. She’s on the Board of the Stanford Club of Switzerland.

Priyanka holds a Master’s from Stanford University and an MBA from INSEAD.

Portrait of Alpana Burgauer

Alpana Burgauer

Alpana combines a career in global financial markets with engagement in the cultural sector. She began in fixed income sales at Goldman Sachs in San Francisco, then transferred to the firm’s London office, working across sales and business management.

Now based in Zurich, she creates contemporary arts programming focused on India. She holds a Master’s degree in Art Market Studies from the University of Zurich.

Portrait of Sonika Soni

Sonika Soni

Sonika is an art historian and researcher specializing in South Asian painting traditions. Based at the Museum Rietberg in Zurich, she is Director of Research at the GBF Foundation, where she primarily integrates scientific and technical analysis with art historical inquiry to better understand the context and making of Indian paintings.

She enjoys rethinking traditional methods and finding new ways to study and share art. Whether it’s examining pigments up close or developing new research platforms, she shares these interests with the GBF Foundation’s mission … “making the study of South Asian paintings more hands-on, connected, collaborative, and engaging”. At the heart of it all, she’s driven by a simple idea: South Asian paintings still have plenty of secrets left to tell.

Portrait of Neeta Premchand

Neeta Premchand

Neeta is a paper historian and the founder of Bombay Paperie, with a long-standing engagement with traditional papermaking and Indian miniature painting. Based between India and Switzerland for over five decades, she has been a longstanding supporter of the Museum Rietberg, as well as the CSMVS Museum in Mumbai.

Her work spans the study of historical manuscripts, materials, and techniques, including the revival of a 17th-century paper mill in Daulatabad that once supplied paper to the Mughal court.

Looking Ahead

Contact Us

SIAC is building a lasting platform for dialogue between India and Switzerland and we are now shaping what comes next. We would love to hear from you.