After 116 years, India Pavilion's debut at Venice art fair

New Delhi, Apr 15 (PTI) India will host its maiden
pavilion at the Venice Biennale since the world's oldest and
most influential art fair was established 116 years ago.
The pavilion at the 54th International Art Exhibition
beginning June 4 and featuring seven works by four artists is
being organised by Lalit Kala Akademi, India's National
Academy of Arts, with support from the Ministry of Culture.
"This is a historic event because India has never had
a pavilion since the fair began. We have the full support of
the Culture Ministry and hopefully it will be a recurring
activity in future editions of the Biennale," Lalit Kala
Chairperson Ashok Vajpayee told reporters here.
The four-month-long fair ending on November 27 will
host 82 artists whose works will be on the theme
"Illuminations".
"It is a positive step and the government is mighty
pleased about this. I cannot say why such a step was not taken
for the past so many years. Our role is to offer encourage and
support art and artists in India," said Jawahar Sircar,
Secretary (Ministry of Culture).
"The entire cost of participation works out to be Rs 2
crore with about Rs 60 lakh going into rental costs and the
remaining adding up to transportation and other costs. Most of
the artworks will be created at the fair," said Vajpayee.
Art critic Ranjit Hoskote, who curated the works for
the fair, said, "India's participation is significant because
it gives us an opportunity to assert a view of contemporary
Indian art on a global platform and provide a view contrary to
that presented of India by Western artists."
Selection of the artists, said Hoskote, was aimed at
representing a set of conceptually rigorous and aesthetically
rich art practices that are staged parallel to the art market.
"Many Indian artists get global recognition through
gallery system, auction houses, curated shows, museums etc. I
felt we could use the pavilion as a lab to pose new questions
like what it means to be Indian in a global world," he said.
Selected artists include Aligarh-born artist Zarina
Hashmi, Kolkata-born painter sculptor Praneet Soi who works in
Amsterdam and Kolkata as well as Gigi Scaria, from Kerala who
has made Delhi his home. Guwahati group 'The Desire Machine'
has also been chosen for Venice.
The India pavilion would be housed in the 'arsenal'
area next to China's pavilion, another debutante at the fair.
"The fair presents an opportunity for us to foster
young brilliant Indian artists on the international scene as
well as to foster Indo-Italian relations on the cultural
scene," said an Italian representative.
"This is not a commercial venture and we hope to
present Indian art at the Biennale which has a history of
showing some of the most innovative works of art across the
world. I don't think any other fair anywhere in the world can
match the number of visitors that Venice fair gets," said
Vajpayee.