PRELUDE
CONTRIBUTORS
EDITORIAL
CONTENTS
KALEIDOSCOPE
LEAD ESSAYS
TAPATI GUHA-THAKURTA
KWOK KIAN CHOW
COLLECTOR
NIVEDITA MAGAR
PROFILE
MEERA MENEZES
SPECIAL REPORTS
MEERA MENEZES
JOHAN PIJNAPPEL
INTERNATIONAL REPORT
SHANAY JHAVERI
INTERNATIONAL REVIEWS
ZEHRA JUMABHOY
CAMILLA R. NIELSEN
SASKIA MILLER
REVIEWS
ABHAY SARDESAI
KAVITA SINGH
ANIRUDH CHARI
MARTA JAKIMOWICZ
GITANJALI DANG
ELLA DATTA
LATIKA GUPTA
MEERA MENEZES
JANICE PARIAT
AVNI DOSHI
ZEHRA JUMABHOY
PHALGUNI DESAI
LISTINGS
PREVIOUS ISSUES
2009 / Volume XIV | Issue II | Quarter II | 2009

AS AN IMPORTANT ACTOR ENABLING AND SUPPORTING the production of art, the collector holds a key position in facilitating the growth of the art market. In the absence of significant public collections of modern and contemporary art, private collections and galleries in India perform the function of showcasing different genres of art.

 

 

2009 / Volume XIV | Issue I | Quarter I

HOW DO SOUTH ASIAN DIASPORA ARTISTS BELONG to multiple geo-cultural contexts - the countries they were born in and the countries where they work, the countries they have migrated from and the countries they have settled in? The constant and continuous give-and-take between identity propositions; the various social, political and cultural influences dynamising ideas of the self; and the critical acts of negotiation between the home and the world have energized South Asian Diaspora art in extraordinary ways. more >

 

2008-09 / Volume XIIII | Issue III + IV

WITH THE RECESSION AND THE TERRORIST ATTACKS, INDIA HAS LURCHED FROM disaster to disaster. We may be forgiven for thinking that we have been at the receiving end of outrageous misfortune for quite some time. The much-needed correction in the prices of art works has finally set in but at the cost of the morale of the art community. Hopefully, this will lead to some critical soul-searching amongst art marketeers and artists; and possibly, those who were in the game only to make a fast buck will move on to other pastures. more

 

 

2008 / Volume XIII | Issue II | Quarter II

How does an artist locate himself in relation to a landscape? What kind of a spell does a landscape cast on an artist? And what kind of a spin does an artist put on a landscape? Where does a landscape begin and where does it end?

From effecting a popular art genre that many feel has exhausted its possibilities to inspiring cutting-edge, site-specific art initiatives, the landscape has provoked a variety of extreme responses. more >

 

 

2008 / Volume XIII | Issue I | Quarter I

THE MARKET IS A STRANGE ANIMAL. HYDRA-HEADED, BULLISH AND bearish in turns, it grows at a shifting pace: it helps the active promotion of art initiatives, gives artists the will to aspire, cuts short the life of one genre and revives the fortunes of another. Over the last five years, as the prices of artworks have zoomed, new galleries have sprung up, the number of art marketeers has increased and the collector profile has altered. How has this affected artists, critics, gallerists, dealers and viewers? Is critical art being produced to match the change in fortunes? How does the market boom threaten to transform our understanding and appreciation of art in contrary ways? In this issue of ART India, we try and assess some of these extraordinary developments. more >

 

 

2007 / Volume XII | Issue IV | Quarter IV

YOU FIND A COMBINATION OF ART AND SCIENCE IN THE DISCIPLINE   and practice of architecture. The idea of a total built form takes into account not only the materiality of buildings but also the sociality of spaces and places. Architectural interventions are therefore cultural interventions that contribute to the creation of formal and informal environments that affect us in a variety of ways. In our issue this time, we have an array of voices addressing important trans-disciplinary themes. more >

 

 

2007 / Volume XII | Issue III | Quarter III

IF CENSORSHIP, AS A COMPLEX OF DISCIPLINARY ACTS AND practices, is a 'necessary evil' in a democracy, then, it is one that needs to be relentlessly resisted and interrogated. The idea of censorship is squarely in need of some rehabilitation - instead of banning books, denying information, putting curbs on artistic initiatives that contest sedimented propositions about morality and re-interpret expressive traditions, the state needs to use its energies to protect voices that go against the grain, challenge accepted truths, and offer multiple opinions. Artists and writers also need to come together to create a vibrant public sphere where debate and discussion allow viewers and readers the opportunity to decide the merits and demerits of art works that politicians and vigilantes hope to manipulate with impunity. Shall we prove equal to this task? This is a question we ask ourselves even as we wonder whether the state will take on one of the biggest challenges it faces - will it protect our right to offend bourgeois sensibilities and offer dissent with as much commitment as it protects their right to take offence?

 

 

2007 / Volume XII | Issue II | Quarter II

In 1927, Edward Steichen, a prominent photographer, purchased a sculpture from the Romanian modernist sculptor, Constantin Brancusi. He then attempted to have the work, Bird in Space, shipped to the United States. While the Customs Law exempted the imposition of customs duty on works of art, the customs officer, Kracke, was not convinced that this ‘bird’ was a work of art and instead chose to classify it as an industrial item consisting of raw materials (metal and stone) and placed a duty of $ 4000 on its import. One of the reasons was the fact that this bird had ‘neither head, feet nor feathers’. Brancusi appealed in a court, which held that it was indeed a work of art by reason of its symmetrical shape, artistic outlines, and beauty of finish.>