The South Asia Art Initiative (SAAI) at the University of California, Berkeley promotes research-based conversations and collaborations around the arts of South Asia + its diasporas from the ancient period to the present. SAAI’s mission as an incubator of creative thought and practice is animated by the research interests of the Cal community of faculty and students as well as collaborations with national and international partner institutions. Along with hosting lectures, conferences, and artist/curator/scholar residencies, the SAAI offers the annual UC Berkeley South Asia Art & Architecture Dissertation Prize and the UC Berkeley South Asia Artist Prize.


Upcoming Events

Mon, Mar 4, 2024
Salar Mameni| Terracene: A Crude Aesthetics
4 p.m. |  820 Social Sciences Building | REGISTER

Tue, Mar 5, 2024
Nadeem Omar Tarar | Crafting the Art Education in Pakistan: An Archival History of NCA
5-6:30 pm  | 10 Stephens Hall

Thu, Mar 7, 2024
Mudit Trivedi | Archaeologies of Iman: Fragility, Ornament and the embrace of Islam in Medieval North India
5-6:30 pm  | 10 Stephens Hall

Thu, Mar 14, 2024
The 8th Sarah Kailath Memorial Lecture
Debra Diamond | Geo-aesthetics in Udaipur: Cartography, temporality and emotions in monumental paintings, 1700-1900.
5-6:30 pm |  10 Stephens Hall

ZOOM Thu, Mar 21, 2024
Amrita Jhaveri + Manjari Sihare-Sutin | Vital Love: Collectors Speak Series
9-10:30 am |  REGISTER ON ZOOM HERE

Thu, Apr 4, 2024
The Maya Mitra Das Lecture on Tagore
Bashabi Fraser | The Primacy of Creativity in Rabindranath Tagore
5-6:30 pm  | 10 Stephens Hall

Wednesday, April 17
Lectures by the recipients of the UC Berkeley South Asia Art Initiative Awards for 2024
5-6:30 pm  | 10 Stephens Hall

Thu, Apr 18, 2024
Devika Singh | A transnational history of art in India
5-6:30 pm  | 10 ​Stephens Hall