THANKS TO PATH-BREAKING IMPROVEMENTS IN communication technologies and the continuous traffic of people, ideas and goods between different countries, the world appears to be shrinking. Does this mean that communities across different nations are coming together? Or that national or regional borders have become irrelevant? Not really. In many cases, older fault-lines between cultures have deepened and newer cracks have developed. But there is no denying the fact that newer networks of intimacy are being laid out and many older affiliations are being re-discovered.

What are the new ways of belonging then? In an era of strategic partnerships, it is important to appreciate the diverse contexts one belongs to. The idea of Asia allows for an exploration of the inspirations and histories that many nations within the continent share. In our issue this time, we have eminent art historian Tapati Guha-Thakurta dwelling on the influences and enthusiasms shared by artists from India and Japan in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. What was the ideology of Asianism that grew out of the interactions between Indian and Japanese art practitioners, teachers and institutions? How did diverse stylistic developments inflect each other; what were the terms of aesthetic, emotional and political exchange given the contexts of colonialism and nationalism? This exceptional essay answers these and other questions. It is complemented by museologist Kwok Kian Chow's perceptive article about the give-and-take of aesthetic concepts between Indian, Burmese and Chinese artists and theorists in the early and mid 20th century.

As always, we carry reports and reviews of some of the most important initiatives and shows in the country and abroad.

We hope you enjoy this issue of ART India.Your support and appreciation have been crucial. In the issues to come, we promise to look at exciting and relevant themes, and bring indepth features with greater variety.

Warm regards,
Abhay Sardesai