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ARTS:
FRENCH BIENNALES
Indian
Choices Were Curious
Darmet
had Malavika Sarukkai and Madhavi Mudgal (along with Kelucharan Mahapatra
and students to show the transmission of tradition) do not only traditional
items but also pieces which showcased their own individualistic journeys.
By ignoring the claims to a contemporary vision by the likes of Chandralekha,
Astad Deboo, Daksha Sheth and resurrecting the Uday Shankar legacy through
the aged Narendra Sharma, was Darmet making a subtle statement on the
Indian dance scene? It's a moot question. Besides, also in visual arts,
European curators today are turning to works that have more "indigenous
authenticity". So no more Vivan Sundarams, but Ravinder Reddys all
the way. A naked and awkward embrace of the western aesthetic by an Indian,
to the European eye, is neither interesting nor convincing. The Chinese,
Japanese and Koreans seem to be able to do it far better anyway. Anish
Kapoor is okay, but they don't indulge him too well here either.
Right at
the entrance of the contemporary art biennale, there is a very interesting
installation. It is a semblance of a thatched hut under whose palm leaf
roof is collected an assortment of dated junk: automobile tyres, television
sets, etc, along with chocolate-box samples of Western art. Titled Art
Collector, 2000, by Nedko Solakov it bears the legend: "Somewhere
in Africa there is a great (black) man who collects white man's art. He
buys a Picasso for 23 coconuts and a Lichtenstein for seven antelope bones."
A clever comment indeed. Although one wonders if the great black man would
ingeniously turn these into totems or shamanistic tools to cast an evil
spell over his pale prey? Would he make a bonfire of it all and wish the
white man had not outlawed cannibalism in his dark continent? In lieu
of the wide eyed "discoverers" of the First World, white museum
curators today would make for a delicious meal. And who knows, the bones
might make it as Art to a museum in London or Berlin.
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