India pavilion at the Venice Biennale?

The government of India is taking definite steps towards setting up an India Art Pavilion at the prestigious Venice Biennale to be held next year. It has already finished the modalities of booking space at one of the world's most ambitious contemporary art events.

According to a government official, an amount of Rs. 1 crore has already been earmarked for the pavilion. As media reports suggest, the LKA is going to be at the helm of the pavilion at the 2011 biennale. Indian galleries and artists have been regularly featuring at the specially curated shows. However, the official participation will add a formal touch to the Indian showcase at the event that draws the best of international art.

Noted contemporary artist Jitish Kallat had rued last year that several of the world's tiniest nations had their very own government sanctioned national pavilions at the Venice Biennale, whereas India still remained without one. Many art lovers like Tasneem Zakaria echoed his sentiments. "Even countries such as Iran, Afghanistan, Syria, the UAE and Pakistan, where one would have thought contemporary art was not an important focus, had put up put up their pavilions. Unfortunately, the Government of India has neglected any active patronage or promotion of art in the international arena."

As she had commented, it was important for the country to take part in such events as it sent a significant message to the world art community about how we tend to view ourselves. However, art critic and scholar Ranjit Hoskote seemed to differ. According to him, we should not contemplate such a pavilion until we are able to demonstrate the self-critical maturity necessary to transcend local politics and also sustain it at an international level of excellence.

On his part, Jitish Kallat had stated, “There’s certainly some optimism in the growing representation of Indian artists within the curated section; the Indian National Pavilion will happen when our Government wakes up. Now it is up to the Indian art world to fix the alarm.” That finally seems to be happening…