This December, the Indian artwork world ought to have gathered in Kerala for the Kochi-Muziris Biennale. Nonetheless, organisational roadblocks delayed that present by one 12 months, leaving a fortuitous void for the Bengal Biennale, which is holding its first version this month (till 5 January).
The primary version of the Bengal Biennale
Courtesy of the Bengal Biennale
The scope of the exhibition is broad, being held throughout 13 venues in Shantiniketan and 14 venues in Kolkata, and together with works by greater than 100 Fashionable and up to date artists. It was additionally put collectively at quick discover: “We began out in April this 12 months with the thought of an artwork pageant in Santiniketan,” mentioned Malavika Banerjee, the director of the Gameplan Basis which has organised the biennale. “By June, it turned overwhelming and we felt that we additionally wanted Kolkata to accommodate the size of the occasion. Each cities present compelling credentials in their very own means, and provides us a bigger canvas to work on as we go ahead.”
In accordance with the curatorial observe, the theme of “Anka-Banka: Via Cross-Currents”, pertains to the act of drawing and its inherent deviations likened to the winding, serpentine circulate of a river. Anka (drawing) signifies deliberate marks, whereas banka (winding) conveys the unpredictability and natural fluidity of an artist’s expression.
Among the many main exhibits is an 85 work retrospective on Rabindranath Tagore, which incorporates a painted ceramic pot that has not been exhibited in a serious exhibition since 1932, and a uncommon crayon drawing of two heads. “Rabindranath being India’s preeminent Modernist and a pathfinder for a lot of who adopted, it was solely pure to incorporate him as a part of the primary Bengal Biennale, which included vignettes of its historic signposts apart from numerous modernist and up to date artists from throughout India,” says the present’s curator, the eminent artwork historian R Shivakumar.
The prevalence of enormous solo exhibits stands in distinction to most up to date biennials. Siddharth Shivakumar, the biennial’s curatorial director and R Sivakumar’s son asserts, “I selected to focus (on solo exhibits) as a result of they permit for a slower, extra intimate dialogue with an artist’s work whereas in a bunch setting in bigger biennales, the person voice dangers changing into an accent in a bigger refrain. My intent is to reveal guests to the range of inventive practices—not by scattered fragments, however by fuller, extra full narratives that might provoke tangible engagements, whereas the Bengal Biennale itself is the bigger canvas, the collective body inside which these singular tasks unfold.”
Tarini Malik, the curator of the British Pavilion at the newest Venice Biennale who was amongst the guests throughout the opening week concurs: “I discovered the theme (of ‘cross-currents’) to be a poignant strategy to each perceive and admire the interconnected nature of the Indian artwork ecology as a complete – and an effective way to soak up the expansiveness of cultural observe in Bengal by the inclusion of artwork historic giants like Jamini Roy and Rabindranath Tagore alongside up to date artists.. For me, the exhibition’s best energy lies within the entangled narratives, and the tensions and harmonies that unfold between its two hosts, Shantiniketan and Kolkata, the place previous and current collide in compelling methods.”
Abeer Gupta, a curator at Arthashila, one of many venues in Shantiniketan, acknowledged that the biennial has helped attract new, numerous and youthful audiences from the area and past. The area was internet hosting a centenary archival exhibition on the life and flicks of Arundhati Devi, a famend Bengali actor and director of the twentieth century.
Main up to date artists collaborating within the biennial embody Sudhir Patwardhan, Dayanita Singh, Sheela Gowda, Mithu Sen, Nikhil Chopra, and the current Jameel Prize winner Ohida Khandakar.
The famous artist Shakuntala Kulkarni, whose mom was a classical singer, was deeply moved by Dayanita Singh’s present Museum of Tanpura on the Indian Museum in Kolkata, chronicling her time spent with a few of India’s legendary classical musicians. “She had entry to personal performances by nice classical musicians (of their houses and studios), which is extraordinarily uncommon since they don’t usually enable their privateness to be invaded when they’re training. Trying on the present, I obtained the sensation that they had been shut associates who shared a number of mutual respect,” she says.
Mithu Sen, considered one of India’s most outstanding conteporary artists, collaborated with native artist Sanyasi Lohar and the Santal village group in Pearson Pally in Shantiniketan for her participatory public artwork undertaking I’m Ol Chiki. She explains why the work is so near her coronary heart: “As a Bengali-speaking artist, I draw from my expertise of linguistic dominance of English world the place my mom tongue Bengali fades into reminiscence, subordinated by anglophone energy constructions. However right here I resonate with the Santal spirit and reimagine a Shantiniketan the place the native cultural coloniser Bengali steps apart for Santali to talk. By honouring the area’s traditions, the undertaking fosters satisfaction, preserves heritage, and highlights marginalized voices, connecting the non-public with the political.”
There was nevertheless a sentiment amongst some youthful, native artists that they weren’t represented adequately. Sivakumar counters that that the priority could also be unwarranted, since there are 20 artists from Bengal within the present. Furthermore, he factors out, many collaborating artists are additionally below below the age of 35, like Himangshu Sarma, the GABAA collective, Dhiraj Rabha and Mahesh KS. “One must also think about the ten curatorial fellowships awarded the place most recipients are native, and 25 or youthful. The refrain of youth would develop louder and stronger, when much less burdened by the urgency of now,” he hopes.
In the course of the opening weekend, attendees mentioned why the biennial was a well timed strategy to carry the main target again on artwork from the area, and what could be the roadmap for it going ahead. “The identify carries with it the impression of an undivided Bengal (now divided between India and Bangladesh),” says Prateek Raja, the founding father of the industrial gallery Experimenter and an advisor to the biennal. “However the present politics, we do have a shared historical past, language, meals, tradition and a riverine ecology. Over time, the biennale could possibly be a platform which gives artists extra methods to attach and alternate concepts throughout borders.”
