The latest addition of the Indian Art Fair, held in its familiar location of NSIC Grounds in New Delhi is a welcome event, given the rather precarious nature of physical events in the country during the pandemic years. We are keen to see the much ‘looked-forward-to’ fair for all art lovers and enthusiasts back in step.
The fair is hosting key galleries from the art strongholds in India, Delhi and Mumbai, with a sprinkling from other locations. International galleries appear to have a notional representation.
As avid art watchers, especially of new emerging trends, this gives us some pause to reflect about the more or less ‘unchanging’ nature of the art landscape in India. In no way are taking away from what we know is an arduous and uphill battle to showcase quality art in a country, which perceptibly has one of the smallest art markets, given its growing economy and rise of HNIs.
But an honest look is warranted, if we are to hope for any chance and shift in art scene.
A quick scan of the galleries represented in the art fair shows a clear dominance of Delhi and Mumbai. This is understandable since these cities have long been the prominent urban and cultural centres in the country, with Mumbai leading the art scene. A recent article from the Art Newspaper captured the growing art galleries and events in Mumbai, demonstrating the city’s strong art ties and avant garde attitude when it comes to tastes and trends.
Well established galleries’ network essentially represents a strong structured art market, where artists are promoted, buyers are cultivated and art as an industry can flourish. It is by no means a testament to the artistic or cultural potential of a space, or indeed its economic prowess. It does, however, indicate the stake of art as an economic activity in a place.
So it behooves us to ask: what is happening for the arts in other cities in India?
Bengaluru (Bangalore) is the IT hub of the country, and possibly attracts bulk of India’s technology-related talent as well as funding for start-ups, and is a centre wealth creation for the new economy. In spite of its many infrastructure woes, the city continues to be a dominant IT centre and a place for new businesses due to the concentration of human talent and technology investment.
In addition, the new airport at Bangalore, slated to cater to approximately 25mn passengers per annum in its first phase and 45mn in the second, reflects the potential expected economic activity in the coming years. We would like to point that Bangalore's T2 (new terminal building) has a vibrant art programme, curated and executed by one of ArtKyk’s Co-founder (Yamini Telkar)!
The growth in city’s real estate and hospitality sectors is a further testament to its ongoing growth curve. But interestingly, it falls short when we look for a well networked and representative gallery scene. The few galleries in the city are not represented at national fetes such as the Indian art fair, or create waves with respect to exhibitions, artists or any city centric events.
The story is similar in what was once monikered India’s Cyber Hub, Hyderabad, another city attracting investment and talent, and growing wealth.
What is really worth noting is that the new art events in places such as Goa and Kochi- while both these places have entirely different cultural story and economic situations - have been able to carve out a place in the Indian art calendar. Kochi of course hosts the now the well-known Kochi Biennale. And even though the event suffered from some well publicized setbacks this year, it has pioneered the city as a backdrop for an art event in the country.
Goa has been successfully hosting Serendipity Art Festival for some years now. In addition, it attracts a lot of real estate, hospitality investment due to many second homes, primarily from Delhi and Mumbai. The impact of this is evident in the burgeoning development activity, hotels, convention venues, a brand-new airport, holiday homes, retail and interiors shops, new eating experiences etc. Pretty much mimicking the lifestyles of these cities in a more laidback coastal setting. We would have expected the trend to be repeated with respect to the art galleries as well. But apart from few artists’ studios, and some independent galleries, the city, as with other centres, lacks a rooted art scene, and what we would have expected to see, outposts of major Delhi and Mumbai galleries.
If we cast our eyes wider and look at what is happening in the larger region (outside India), the picture is much more heartening.
Dubai, that shining city in the desert, has successfully reimagined itself as an arts centre, with a well curated, invested ‘Art Dubai’ event, which not only attracts galleries, buyers, and art professionals from the immediate Middle Eastern region, but also Delhi, Mumbai, Europe and the US.
The Emirates continues to pour capital towards arts and related activities, and no doubt Dubai will hold its dominance as an arts centre in the coming years. This while Saudi Arabia is now pushing to create a tourism, arts & culture hub. The new biennale in Riyadh this year would no doubt benefit from the focussed attention for the growth of these activities.
To our east, Singapore has refocussed its arts program with Art SG and the Singapore Art week. These events as of now did not garner much interest from Indian galleries, however, we surmise that this is likely to change in the coming years, with well-established Indian diaspora willing to spend on art.
This brings us back to our thoughts as we started this discussion. Considering India is geographically enroute between the Middle East and the South East Asian giants, with a growing wealthy population, which is slated to expand over the coming decades, why are centres such as Bangalore and Goa not able to consolidate these advantages with respect to a strong presence in the arts?
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