CONTEMPORARY ONE WORD SEVERAL WORLDS

mercredi 29 mai 2019

Venice Biennale 2019: At the coveted fair, there’s more to India than just Gandhi


Source Architectural Digest by Ankush Arora
India’s return to the Venice Biennale, after a gap of 8 years, has caused much cheer among the country’s close-knit art fraternity, even as the country’s Pavilion theme —‘150 Years of Gandhi’—is the latest example of the national icon being marketed superfluously. While it is anybody’s guess as to what extent Gandhi actually influences the country’s 1.3-billion population, the 58th edition of world’s oldest international art exhibition resonates with themes more contemporary to India. From the self-explanatory curatorial theme (‘May you live in interesting times’) to debates around gender and sexuality, constrained freedom or systems of democracy, extreme weather events and perils of technology, the Venice Biennale’s diverse presentations speak to anyone trying to make sense of a rapidly churning world. From the nearly 100 national pavilions and numerous parallel exhibitions that are part of the biennale, here are AD’s select five picks.
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mardi 28 mai 2019

Why they love the cage


Source The Pioneer by U Nair
Shakuntala’s sculptures have an Indian insignia. “ I used the armour as a metaphor to explore how I could protect my body,” states Shakuntala. “I borrowed from all kinds of cultures; Naga masks, Rajasthani ghagras, hair styles from Bollywood in the 1960s — my pieces have no cultural, geographical or religious boundaries. I used cane because I am comfortable with it; also, it is linear, delicate and looks grand. There are rings, bangles, flared skirts and it is very feminine.” As you look through the cane — the ideation seems full of multiple perspectives.The cane is tenuous and tensile, flexible yet delicate in a strong sort of way. No doubt there are many references — history culture and the beauty of dances, Kathakali and Manipuri costumes and regalia become a translation — that are royal yet replete with rhythmic intonations.
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lundi 27 mai 2019

Nalini Malani Wins 70.000 € Joan Miró Prize


Source Art News
In a statement, the prize’s jury said, “By alluding to a myriad of cultural references from both East and West, [Malani] has built an impressive body of work that engages viewers through complex, immersive installations that present her vision of the battered world we live in. Her interest in ancient mythology, both Greek and Indian, as well as in modern symbols and image-making, has allowed her to develop a very personal, cosmopolitan iconographic mingling that boldly denounces contemporary violence and injustice, and their effects on planetary life.”
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dimanche 26 mai 2019

The extraordinary art of ordinary things


Source Hindustan Times by Shunali Khullar Shroff
Artist Shilpa Gupta’s studio on the second floor of a quaint Parsi bungalow in Bandra is extraordinarily spacious. Extraordinary is also a word one could apply to Gupta’s work, which she creates by using quotidian objects in unexpected ways. Gupta has had a successful joint exhibition in Dubai this year. Even today, having participated in biennales and triennales across the world, from Havana to Yokohama, Seoul to Sydney, Kochi to Venice, it is with a sense of disbelief that she receives the high praise for her art. This isn’t pretend modesty. Gupta is resolutely pessimistic when it comes to her work. Her installations have graced galleries such as Tate Modern, Centre Pompidou, MoMA, Serpentine, Guggenheim and closer home, the Kiran Nadar Museum of Art and Devi Art Foundation. And yet, exhibition after successful exhibition has been preceded by a foreboding that it will all end in disaster.
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mercredi 22 mai 2019

How India Inspired the Barbier Family’s Infatuation with Art


Source Sotheby's
Discover an exciting collection of works by some of the most important and avant-garde artists from South Asia in our upcoming sale Coups de Coeur: The Guy and Helen Barbier Family Collection (10 June | London). When Guy Barbier’s career took his family to India in the 1980s, it was the start of a love affair with the country and in particular its modern and contemporary art. From Bhupen Khakhar’s controversial Two Men in Benares, to inspirational works by Ram Kumar, Maqbool Fid Husain and Rameshwar Broota, the sale tells the story of the Barbier family’s friendships and their cultural journey through the Subcontinent. Click here to watch more Sotheby’s videos.
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mardi 14 mai 2019

David Adjaye chosen to design 'game-changing' contemporary art museum in India


Source The Art Newspaper by Tim Cornwell
The UK-Ghanaian architect David Adjaye has been chosen to design what is set to be the most significant contemporary art space in India. The jury the Kiran Nadar Museum of Art's design made the announcement yesterday in Venice at a dinner for the Indian pavilion at the waterside Palazzo Pisani Moretta. The planned museum is “an important milestone for Indian contemporary art", says Shwetal A. Patel, an art writer and researcher at the University of Southampton, adding that "the appointment of Adjaye Associates has added a measure of excitement and anticipation".
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Venice Biennale 2019: India's pavilion, celebrating 150 years of Gandhi, is in world's Top 10


Source Forbes by Ridhi Doshi
Roobina Karode, curator of the India Pavilion at La Biennale di Venezia (the Venice Biennale), apologises for a sore throat on a phone call from Venice. Her voice is strained from the excitement. “The response is overwhelming. So many people want to know more about the works and are asking for curated walks," says Karode. The exhibit 'Our Time for a Future Caring', celebrates 150 years of Mahatma Gandhi, and has been listed among the top 10 country pavilions from a total of 90, by the Financial Times and leading art website artsy.net, alongside the US, Switzerland, Poland and debut country Ghana.
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dimanche 12 mai 2019

‘I aim to create a culture that values creativity’


Source The Guardian by Bhumika Popli
A Delhi-based art patron, Shalini Passi is known for her philanthropic projects and support programmes aimed at promoting Indian art. Through the Shalini Passi Art Foundation and MASH, and through her association with major cultural forums across the country, she continues to make significant contributions to the contemporary art scene. She spoke to Guardian 20 about her various projects.
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samedi 11 mai 2019

India’s big splash at the Venice Biennale 2019

Source The Hindu by Georgina Maddox
On condition of anonymity, a contemporary artist shares that while “it is wonderful that India is being represented at the Venice Biennale, why take such a safe and tested path by invoking Gandhi and making ‘all the right noises?’ It casts us as a secular nation when indeed the reality is quite different.” However, Karode responds emphatically, stating that she didn’t conceive the exhibition as a literal representation of the Mahatma in a documentary-like format. “I was more inclined to look at aspects of his practice. He keeps returning to public conscience in periods of crisis or despair; he is the subject of contemporary reflection. [There is] also the idea of craft, dignity of labour and emphasis on self-reliance,” she says. At this point one must ask, is it the job of art and artists to reflect only the current state of the country or should they project a vision that is critical of the times? We would favour the latter, and Venice is a good starting point.
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vendredi 10 mai 2019

Singapore based Indian artist Shubigi Rao to curate Kochi Biennale 2020


Source The News Minute
Mumbai-born Rao, whose work featured in the fourth edition of the KMB (2018), is also a writer and her myriad interests include archaeology, neuroscience, libraries, archival systems, histories, literature, violence, acts of cultural genocide, anti-censorship, migratory patterns, ecology and natural history.
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Keeping Gandhi relevant in Venice


Source Livemint by Avantika Bhuyan
The historic pavilions of Giardini and Arsenale are all set to serve as a backdrop to works by eight Indian artists, such as Nandalal Bose, M.F. Husain, Jitish Kallat and Atul Dodiya. Part of the exhibition Our Time For A Future Caring, these works mark India’s second stint at the 58th Venice Biennale (11 May- 24 November)—the world’s oldest and most prestigious art event—after a hiatus of eight years. The country’s debut at the biennale, with a national pavilion, came about only in 2011—nearly 116 years after the event first started—with Everyone Agrees: It’s About To Explode, curated by Ranjit Hoskote. In subsequent years, India was conspicuous by its absence, even as countries such as Angola, Georgia, Maldives and Tuvalu continued to participate. There was a murmur of a presence in 2015 when Delhi-based art patron Feroze Gujral commissioned a project, My East Is Your West, as a collateral event at the 56th Venice Biennale. Which is why India’s return to the biennale is significant, especially since “the event is an important platform for the best of their artists (of the participating nations), as well as an opportunity to conduct soft diplomacy through culture," noted a recent Guardian article.
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Inside the India Pavilion at Venice Biennale 2019


Source Elle India by Neville Bhandara
It’s been eight years since India last participated at Venice Biennale. But now, a show titled Our Time for a Future Caring—put together by Roobina Karode, director and chief curator of the India Pavilion’s principal partner, Kiran Nadar Museum Of Art, New Delhi—celebrates 150 years of Mahatma Gandhi, and features the works of artists who have had a deep engagement with his beliefs and life through their works.
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jeudi 9 mai 2019

Goa’s Serendipity Arts Festival announces new set of curators

Source The Hindu
The fourth edition of the annual Serendipity Arts Festival, with a vision of energising arts production, awareness and practice across South Asia, has announced the line-up of curators for its annual outreach. The curators include Aneesh Pradhan and Sneha Khanwalkar for music, Leela Samson and Mayuri Upadhyaya for dance, Atul Kumar and Arundhati Nag for theatre, Rahul Akerkar and Prahlad Sukhtankar for culinary arts, Rahaab Allana and Ravi Agarwal for photography; Jyotindra Jain and Sudarshan Shetty for visual arts and Pramod KG for crafts.
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mercredi 8 mai 2019

India’s sophomore debut at the Venice Biennale is a tribute to Mahatma Gandhi


Source Architectural Digest by Uma Nair
At the Press Preview on May 8, the 58th Venice Biennale will have an India Pavilion that will give art aficionados something to savour. “The group presentation, Our Time for a Future Caring will critically engage with the many facets of Mahatma Gandhi, considering his philosophical ideas and their place in today’s complex world, in which violence and intolerance are still prevalent,” says Roobina Karode, Chief Curator at the Kiran Nadar Museum of Art, New Delhi, the Pavilion’s Principal Partner. A significant new partnership has enabled the India Pavilion 2019, spearheaded by the Ministry of Culture and co-organised with the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) and the National Gallery of Modern Art.
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vendredi 3 mai 2019

The life of the Ganges


Source British Journal of Photography by Marigold Warner
Giulio Di Sturco’s decade-long project Ganga Ma documents the effects of pollution on India’s holiest river. Shot along the banks of India’s largest river, cast in the pink glow of a low sun, Giulio Di Sturco’s images are calming and hazy. In one of them, a worker from Delhi hoses down piles of white foam, so much of it that at first glance the image is rather surreal. But as with all of his photographs, hidden under this dream-like filter is a devastating story, about the effects of climate change and pollution on the country’s holiest river.
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