View of the boos atthe India Are Sammie 2011, Pragati Maidan, Januaty 20-23, New Deli “lyn Bhabha aod Anish Kapooe x the Speaker Forum, Tew reece) RMS LenS connec Cec ambitious art fair, attracted over a lakh visitors and displayed a wide array of classical and cutting-edge RYE EOC MNCL Con ts (one eee COTO Tia en TeF le, however, left some gallerists overwhelmed reports Meera Menezes. White Hts WORKS WERE THE CYNOSURE OF ALL BYES AF THE LAST SUMMIF, THIS TIME the star was there in person. Anish Kapoor's presence was certainly one of the highlights ofthe India Are Summit 2011 = whether in conversation with cultural ‘theorist Homi Bhabha at the Speaker? Forum, ot giving avay the SKODA Prize at tone of the Sunnmies chief collateral events, Held from the 20° co the 23° of January + at Debhis fairground, Pragati Maidan, the third edition ofthe Summit surpassed is organizer? wildest expectations, As director Neha Kinpal put it, "The public response was wonderful, We had ver one lt people vsic the fair over the weekend, ‘What was diffeene from last year was that we had several fnternational museums represented and a ‘numberof international collectors, significant Certainly che are fai, the only one ofits kind in che subcontinent as far as its sce is concerned, was more ambitious in scope as the number of participating tallies had increased and there was more exhibition space than last yeae. Foreign participant, this time round, bad more than doubled to 34) many of them played it safe, hedging ther bets by showcasing works by European Moderns like Picasio, Braque, Mito and Chagall. Judging by the aumber of visitors who chronged their stalls, ic was apparent that they had succeeded ia slaking the thirst of many viewers, Ducsseldort-based Beek and Eggeing and Willem Baars Projects from The Netherlands threw in a mix of Indian atts for good measure — the former concentrated on ‘upcoming artists like Viveek Sharma, Sonia Mehta CChawia and Desmond Le2ato, while the latter exhibited paintings by moce established names like Jogen Chowdhury and S. H. Rees, Liston Galley showed Anish Kspoor and Jalian Opie yet again, but alo introduced the works of renowned ceramist Tony Cragg 5 well as Jason Martin’ luscious pigment works Participating in the Surmmic forthe Fist cime, Lahore based Grey Noises booth definitly stood out both for its sensbiiey and the quality ofits works, Umer Bute showed che works of ten artists on a rotating basis over four days and was keen to change the perception of Pakistani at in India, His focus was on leser-known conceptual and minimalist works. Among the paintings fon display were wo exquisite series by Lala Rukh, both of which were snapped up by eager Indian and forig collectors. Another fist time participant, Experimenter from Kolkata, showcased works by ast from India st wel as overseas, including the Rags Media Colleccve, Bangladeshi anise Nacem Mohsiemen, Pakistani arise Bani Abidi and Mehreen Murtaza and Turner prize nominee The Oralith Group. ‘The Summie certainly gave visitors the chance 10 view 2 broad swathe of Indian art ranging from che ubiquizous Souras and Razas to recent video at. Artist couple Subodh Gupta and Bharti Kher’ works coincidentally dialogued with each other as their respective galleries Nature Morte and GALLERYSKE were on cither side of the same aisle, Ritesh Meshrams work at Chemould Precoct Roads booth consisted of “a moving laboratory’ where a slow dance of discs revealed fragile glass objec seemingly created from the twisted beakers hanging above them. Project 88' booth shone with Rags Media Collective's bulb work Revoleage and Shreyas Karl's fine deawings ART IniaREPORT $16 ART Jad The Au News Mage Vadehra Are Gallery dedicated + large part of its space to Shilpa Gopal insellaion Singing Cloud. The artist who initially had misgivings boue participating later changed he mind, Shrine Empire Gallery introduced some interesting new artis, namely, Fatiba ‘Alam and Samanta Batet Mehta. While Volte Gallery’ presentation focused on videos by Ranbie Kaleks, Liticade 28 had an ateracive Asplay with works by young artists lke Prajwal Choudhury and Dilip, CChobisa, Some galleries lke Lakeren and Exhibit 320 hosted shows curated by Arshiya Lokhandwala and Shaheen Mera respectively. This year too, the Husain isue crated a small st. Delhi Are Gallery, hich had pue up works by the veteran artis, had co hucriedly take them down following threats. However, after assurances by the goverment and the Delhi Police, the works were up again, albeie lander heavy protection Besides the galleries, there was also an Are Store for arcrelared merchandise, @ video lounge, and FICA’s innovative Project TeedSation by Abhishek Hear which allowed people to blog about the fie from the fue. The Summit also served asa plaform for several, book launches and had a special screening of films by Ebcahim Alka ‘The sculprare park, however, came ia for a great deal of citicism, The installations by Anjum Singh and PrajstaPotnis, may have worced in a gallery space, but were completely lost on the fairgrounds This year chere were a qumber of heayyweights at the Speakers’ Forum, which fearuced renowned Indian and international curators, art theoreticians, waiters and museum ditecors. The gamut of topics ranged from ‘Indian at on the international art circuit co ‘The role of the medi ~ are writing and crticiom| Inveractive sessions with artists were peshaps the most engrossing; conceptual artist Dan Graham, for instance, gave an overview of his practice in conversation with How Heancu ofthe San Francisco Art Instirate. Though the organizers this year had reduced the ‘price’ of each session, the entry fee was sil probibicive for are sadents, A host of collateral evens during the four-day Summit ensured that there was loc on offer even aftr closing hours, Some ofthe highlights were the stunning exhibition of VS. Gaitonde’s works by auction hhouse Saftonart, the Khoj Marathon with uber-carstor Hans Ulich Obrist’s interactions with some of India leading intellectuals, the elitering ceremony for The Skoda Prize which wat won by Mithu Sen, and antstic interventions by Vishal K. Dar and Asim Wagif at an abandoned house ia Jor Bagh in South Delhi While che fair met with ae enthusiastic response, there were several areas thar gave the galleries use for concern. Peter Nagy of Gallery [Nature Morte opined, “I do think the organizers ace being ovely ambitious about the fie and need to scale i bck abit soa ro provide a beater quality of experience for everyone concerned, both the audience and the exhibitor". Abhay Maskara of Gallery Maskara fle ‘hat chere needed co be “more editing in terms of who comes in, who shows and how the fair is managed,” refering to the need for clearly demarcated business and public hours. Thi point was addressed by Neba Kispal who suid, “To provide as much exposure as possible, we Ihave decided to extend the art fair by one more day from next year ‘Mansoor Al. Dance of Democracy I. Wood. 200° x 96" x96, 2010 Supposted by Gallery Maskara Displayed a he Seuptore Pa, India Art Surmait 2011 ‘onwards and we wil have separate business hours for collectors each day” For the Foreign participants the isue of customs duties and the lack © clatity on government procedures was a sore point. Nina Miall 0 Hlaunch of Venison gallery, London, was forthright about what i ‘would take for more foreign parcipation, “In order for iteenations galleries co be interested to come, chey need to feel confident thatch big Indian collectors collect ingernational art’. This view was als ‘echoed by Beck and Eggeling Kaya Or. Deepak Talwar of Talwar Gallery, however, summed up che geners senciment succinctly: “The summit has become the even, especial for people coming fom abroad. The organizers are on a steep leanin, carve and Lhope they continue on that eur.”Te jury intially consisted of Tasneem Mehta, Diseceor, Di. Bhaw Daji Lad Museum, Mumbai: Raehree Pay, well known collector, busine philanthropist and Dz Kavita Singh Associate Pro Aesthetics, Jawa so, School of Arts and 1 Neha University, Delhi, For the selection of che winner, two other jury members joined che panel, namely, Andrea Ros, Ditecor of Visual Arts at the British Council and Marianne Burki, Head of che Visual Ars at the Swiss Arts Council Respected art critic and former Edicar of ART India, Girish Shahane, was s special consultant to the project. Said Tasneem Mehta, “The respons ile Mit Sen was delighted fo este The SKODA Pie Miu Sen. Tw Your Peis, Sach Whee 1+ She art community was very good. The el pte shea, “war viewer appreciation”, ches Mined medion cutm-made, handmade Prize will encous acidic paper 8 42", 2008, steong body of On A Fast Track DUTT Tere Ree ee SOUR e Om eae no) Occ e onveste to and psyche, win her The SKODA Prize 2010, informs Meera Menezes. BLACK Canpy WON IT FOR MITHU SEN, AT A SPECTACULAR E he artist wae declared the winner of The SKODA Prize forthe 1 xt New Dan's Tay PALACE at 2009-2010, Nudging pas fellow Th e jy met in Mumbai and Delhi to competitors Alvar Balasubramaniam and Kiran Subbaiah, Sen was handed the tophy by none ocher finalise the top 20 artists from a total of han celebriy arse Anish Kapoor. 169 entries, Among them were Shine Shivan for his show Sperm Weaver The SKODA Prize is already being billed 2s Indias most prestigious art award, A brainchild of 70 Hemali Bhuta for The Hangover of Event Media Group, India, and SKOD: Auto India, the award, which includes a sum of 10 lakh Agarlum, Arul Bhalla for ...Ja Another ‘upees, sims arYecognising talent in Indian artists under the age of 45. Each artist was judged on Sweat, N. S, Harsha for Cultural Debris he basis of her/his solo exhibitions or work presentations in the year preceding he award, Said and Jagannath Panda for The Action of Mantin Da Costa, CEO, 70 Event Media Group, “The SKODA Prive relly exceeded ou greatest Nowh xpectations. We had felt it would take some years eo embed itself ico the consciousness of the ut community. However it has become part of the fabric of Indian Contemporary Artin its very Talking about her award-winning show, ies yea? Mithu Sen sid, *T gave my heart co make i. About the award ceremony, Black Candy, mounted at Chemould Prescort Road, Mumbai, consisted of large-scale drawings in she added, “The day was wonderful as | hich Sen explored male sexuality through various narcatives. Accompanying the rather explicit could share ie with my parent. ie was 8 paintings were sound installations, which lent another dimension tothe wacks. This exhibition edged special gif! The prize isa bonus for my past Balasubramaniams minimalist 2c powerlul solo (IN)Between at Talwar Gallery and Kiran practice as I can nove se the money in Dayeecam at Chat Subaiah’ solo Slepwa ee & Lal. my next venture REPORT