Around now, preparations are on for what has morphed into the art season in India with a number of public events and platforms. Even while the industry complains about apathy - and perhaps it is true of the relationship between viewers and galleries - the intrepid have (thankfully) ignored perceptions and gone ahead to create vibrant venues and activities peopled with art lovers and the attendant hoopla that accompanies anything on such a scale.
The third edition of the three-month-long Kochi-Muziris Biennale (December 12, 2016 to March 29, 2017) is now firmly ensconced on the region's art map, and has attracted its share of international attention. It seemed only yesterday we were wondering whether the founder-organisers would be able to pull it off - which they managed to popular acclaim and aplomb - and the biennale is now the reason for many to travel to India: as much a measure of its outreach and achievement as any. A biennale can rate its success on the basis of the artists it attracts, on which count Kochi scores pretty high. That it has managed to keep the market out of its ambit should put to rest the misgivings of those who claim art outside the purview of values and prices has no relevance - Kochi has proved resoundingly that appreciation and curatorial vision are more important than the price we put on any artist's head.
The India Art Fair in New Delhi (February 2-5, 2017) could well be recession's child, having debuted in 2008, the year of the Lehman Brothers crash that has dogged the art economy for almost a decade since. But amidst many changes to its format and gripes that the markets have remained capricious, its realisation has been undeniable. Nothing proves this more than MCH, the mothership of art fairs - you don't get bigger than Art Basel - buying a stake in the art fair, raising its global status, and becoming the first of the regional fairs in MCH's basket of coming attractions.
This year, a new multi-disciplinary art event, Serendipity Arts Festival in Goa (December 16-23, 2016), will debut, and is creating a buzz with its offering of theatre, music, dance and art. It might be premature to predict its outcome, but on effort, and the inexhaustible appetite of people to delve into the arena as long as it is not restricted to white cubes and cramped spaces, should be a pointer to its joining the annual calendar in the subcontinent.
There are other celebrations of art -Mumbai's Kala Ghoda Arts Festival (February 4-12, 2017) is a case in point - and among the spate of biennales that were announced following Kochi-Muziris, the Pune Biennale too is headed for its third edition (January 5-29, 2017). Even though its takeaway is more 'festival' than biennale, it has grown into an event that city residents look forward to. In any case, more biennales are bound to follow in different cities/states, and each will have a model different from the traditional percept.
Pakistan's Lahore Biennale is expected to pick up pace soon (November 2017) though little is known yet beyond the announcement of artist Rashid Rana as its curator. But given the quality of art emerging from the country, expectations are high, provided the current environment does not scuttle it. Across the other border, in Bangladesh, the Dhaka Art Summit (the next edition in 2018 could coincide with the opening of the country's first contemporary art museum in Sylhet) has been a major revelation in how the involvement of a couple of passionate art-lovers and promoters - Nadia and Rajeeb Samdani - can change the profile of an entire city and its art landscape.
Kishore Singh is a Delhi-based writer and art critic. These views are personal and do not reflect those of the organisation with which he is associated
