Can art events be political spaces too?

It was refreshing to note that at two major art events in recent times, artists were vocal about the #MeToo controversy and made all the right noises against sexism, says Nalini S Malaviya

As the year draws to a close, here’s a brief recap of two major art events in the Indian context, within the country and elsewhere.

The hugely popular Kochi-Muziris Biennale 2018 concluded in March. It was described as India’s largest contemporary art event and was curated by artist and art historian Anita Dube — the first female curator of KMB. Titled ‘Possibilities for a Non-Alienated Life’, the event showed works by several important artists such as the New York-based ‘Guerrilla Girls’ and Indian artists Nilima Sheikh, Anju Dodiya, Chitra Ganesh and Shilpa Gupta, among others. Incidentally, the #metoo controversy hit the art world too, with a few artists being named publicly, and concerns were voiced during the talk by the ‘Guerilla Girls’, who are an anonymous group of feminist female artists devoted to fighting sexism and racism within the art world.

‘May you live in interesting times!’ This was the title of the 58th Venice Biennale, which concluded recently. Curated by Ralph Rugoff, the thematic premise aptly captured and described the times that we are in; however, it offered ample ambiguity to accommodate a wide range of artworks. On a positive note, for the first time, half of the artists were women and all living!

Three Indian artists, Gauri Gill, Shilpa Gupta and Soham Gupta, were invited to be a part of the main exhibition at the Art Biennale in Venice. Shilpa Gupta’s work ‘For, in your tongue, I cannot fit’, is a haunting multi-channel sound installation, which ‘gives voice to 100 poets from around the world who have been imprisoned for their poetry and their beliefs’.

The biennale saw a predominance of technology-based works, a smart utilisation of light, sound and the senses, which was unsurprising, given the digital age that we live in. Kinetic and sensorial installations left a lasting impact.

In contrast, artist Christoph Büchel placed the wrecked boat, which sank off Libya’s coast in 2015 and killed hundreds of migrants, just outside a café and it formed a controversial and monumental marker of a catastrophe. This was a work that garnered much attention for various reasons and also raised questions regarding voyeurism and sensationalising of tragedies.

The India pavilion, curated by the Kiran Nadar Museum of Art, in partnership with the Ministry of Culture, Confederation of Indian Industry and the National Gallery of Modern Art, returned for the second time with ‘Our Time for a Future Caring’, featuring artists Nandalal Bose, MF Husain, Atul Dodiya, Jitish Kallat and others. All works were thematically linked to the Gandhian ideology. Jitish Kallat’s ‘Covering Letter’, an immersive installation, which projected a letter sent by Gandhi to Hitler on a screen of traversable mist, was a major draw. In future, one hopes to see the India Pavilion again, and with art representing newer social and cultural identities.

In closing, at Art Basel, Miami, Maurizio Cattelan’s $120,000 sculpture of a real banana, duct-taped to the wall, offered much food for thought! (And err...the banana was also eaten up a few days ago by a performance artiste. Oh! well).

The author is a Bangalore-based art consultant, curator and writer. She blogs at Art Scene India and can be reached on [e-mail]

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