Born in 1943 in Shimla, Vivan Sundaram studied painting at the Maharaja Sayajirao University of Baroda and later at the Slade School of Fine Art, London, where exposure to global modernisms and the political ferment of the late 1960s significantly shaped his artistic outlook.

Sundaram began his career as a painter, engaging with abstraction, pop sensibilities, and collage-based experimentation, often informed by his interest in cinema, montage, and art history. From the 1990s onward, he decisively moved beyond easel painting into installation and spatial practice, becoming one of India’s earliest and most influential installation artists.

His work consistently interrogated history, memory, and power, drawing on archival material, found objects, and recycled industrial debris to construct immersive environments. Major bodies of work such as Memorial, House/Boat, Trash, and Gagawaka exemplify his engagement with themes of political violence, urban decay, ecological crisis, and the afterlives of modernity. Deeply influenced by Marxist thought and institutional critique, Sundaram also played a key role in shaping India’s contemporary art discourse through initiatives such as the Kasauli Art Centre and the Journal of Arts & Ideas. His practice frequently revisited personal and collective archives, including his family history, most notably in the Sher-Gil Archive and Re-take of Amrita series.

Internationally exhibited at institutions such as Tate Modern, Haus der Kunst, Mori Art Museum, and the International Center of Photography, Sundaram’s work has been widely recognised for its critical engagement with postcolonial identity and global modernity.

He passed away in New Delhi in 2023.