New media art showcased in first Indian festival of its kind

INDIA FESTIVALS NEW MEDIA ART

Artists, critics, historians and art lovers gathered at the First National Art Week of New Media in late September this year at the Government Museum and Art Gallery in Chandigarh, India, through the collaboration between the National Lalit Kala Akademi and Chandigarh Lalit Kala Akademi. The six-day panorama is a showcase of contemporary artists exploring new mediums and possibilities when it comes to visual art. According to the Akademi’s chairperson Diwan Manna, “Art lovers will be amazed at the myriad possibilities in art.”

The first four days featured lectures and slide shows by some of India’s best known contemporary artists. For the first day Bharti Kher whose work encompasses sculpture, paintings and installations, delivered her talk. Her featured works tackled the topic of “traditional vis-à-vis modern” while at the same time explored the issues of feminism, class, identity and race.

Bharti Kher, 'Solarium Series I', 2007-2010, fiber glass and metal. Image taken from artnet.com.

Day two presented Sudarshan Shetty and his innovative and uncanny installations that re-establish his reputation as an acclaimed conceptual artist.

Sudarshan Shetty, 'Untitled' (from the Stab-series), 2009, wood and scissors. Image taken from artnet.com.

The third day was for Raqs Media Collective, a group of three media practitioners – Jeebesh Bagchi, Monica Narula and Shuddhabrata Sengupta. In addition to their degrees in Mass Communication, the trio has extensive experience when it comes to curating exhibitions and planning events, as well as working with various writers, architects and directors that have greatly contributed to the contemporary art of India.

Jiten Thukral and Sumir Tagra’s collaborative work in several diverse media such as painting, sculpture, video and fashion have also been well-received.

On the fifth day, Dr. Alka Pande, curator, professor and author on Indology and art history delivered her lecture. The sixth and final day featured a panel discussion with professors Dr. Alka Pande and Dr. Awadhesh Misra, journalist Rahul Bhattacharya, writer and art critic Dr. Rajesh Kumar Vyas, and artists Sheba Chhachhi and Vibha Galhotra.

Jiten Thukral and Sumir Tagra, 'Now in Your Neighbourhood', 2008, plastic bottles. Image taken from artinfo.com.

The event was an interactive and absorbing series inviting guests, students, critics and art lovers to explore more than the usual two or three-dimensional way of experiencing art. Talks from the artists themselves provided an insight into artistic creation and people from different areas of the industry provided another kind of perspective in viewing the works and Indian art in general.

The National Lalit Kala Akademi and its Chandigarh chapter, the Chandigarh Lalit Kala Akademi are institutions established for the promotion and preservation of the fine arts of India.

CMMS/EN/KN/HH

Related Topics: Indian artists, new media, Indian venues, festivals

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Bid and Hammer new auction house’s 2nd sale of art Bangalore

INDIA Bid and Hammer, the new auction house based in Bangalore is to hold its second auction of ‘Modern and Contemporary Indian Art’ June 15 2008. The 101 lot sale offers works with prices ranging from $600 to $125,000. Chairman of the auction house, Maher Dadha, believes Bangalore could become the next big art destination, even rivaling Mumbai. Bangalore is the third largest centre for high net-worth individuals in India.

For more Express India June 02 2008
http://www.expressindia.com/latest-news/Hot-property/317444/

India Embraces the Contemporary: Financial Times

INDIA The Indian art market is going through a major transformation, where the market’s focus has shifted from modern Indian art to contemporary Indian art.

According to a report this month by ArtTactic, an art market research service which provides analysis and advice for art collectors, art professionals, art institutions and art funds, its contemporary art market Confidence Indicator now stands 20 per cent higher than the indicator for the modern art market. However, recent auction results show that there is still strong demand for the right period works by a selected number of modern Indian artists such as FN Souza, MF Husain, VS Gaitonde, Ram Kumar and SH Raza.

Western museums and private collectors have started to take a strong interest in what is happening in India at the moment. This will continue in 2008, with exhibitions planned at the Serpentine Gallery, the Saatchi gallery, the Mori Art Museum, as well as the current exhibition “Passage to India” at Initial Access, the space recently opened by UK collector Frank Cohen.

According to the ArtTactic Indian Art Market Confidence Survey, the overall Indian art market confidence indicator fell 13 per cent from the last reading in October 2007.

The indicator has been hit by a 54 per cent drop in both the current and future confidence in the economy. With India’s inflation surging to a more than three-year high, with global financial markets in decline and with crude oil prices rising, the economic prospect looks less promising than six months ago. And as the economic component of the confidence indicator carries a 33 per cent weighting in the overall Indian Art Market Confidence Indicator, the significant loss in confidence weighs heavily on the overall results.

However, despite the fall in overall ArtTactic Indian art market confidence, both the confidence levels in the modern and contemporary market increased significantly: up 17 per cent and 6 per cent respectively.

After the slowdown that started at the beginning of 2007, where the modern Indian art market experienced a 38 per cent drop in annual auction volume compared with the record year of 2006, the modern Indian art market is now regaining some of the lost confidence.

The ArtTactic Indian Modern Art Market Confidence Indicator is up 27 per cent from the last reading in October 2007, and while the survey respondents are less positive about the near future of the Indian contemporary market, the “expectation indicator” for the modern art market stands 23 per cent higher than the “present indicator”, showing the modern art market could be about to regain some of the ground that it recently lost.

www.arttactic.com

The ArtTactic Indian Market Confidence Indicator was launched in May 2007. It is derived from polling 81 respondents, including curators, collectors, dealers, galleries and auction houses operating in the Indian art market.