Indian artists who will feature at the Venice Biennale 2011

The Indian manifestation at the upcoming Venice Biennale will focus on key artistic positions, emphasizing the cross-cultural approach of recent artistic production today that is inspired by a diversity of curious locations, different economies and scales of image-making as well as varied cultural histories.

Among the participating artists, Praneet Soi’s paintings and sculptures grasp political undertone to war and other global issues. In his installations, videos and photographic works, Gigi Scaria often poses pointed questions about the issues related to displacement and class prejudice. Zarina Hashmi is a veteran printmaker, whose minimalist works deftly explores spatial boundaries. The Desire Machine Collective from Guwahati in Assam looks to experiment with digital videos, sound installations, film, installation and public space projects with strong regional commitments, albeit taking it out to the world, airing silenced voices in an nuanced manner.

Organized by the Lalit Kala Akademi (LKA), the pavilion will cut through the tropes of transcultural art practices, migration and complex cross-pollination. It will act as a laboratory to test and evaluate certain key propositions concerning India’s contemporary art scene, and project it as a conceptual entity more as extensive in a wider global space of the imagination instead of just territorially based.

Apart from India, other first-time national participations this year at Venice include Bangladesh (Exhibition: ‘Parables/Parabole’ that interprets contemporary cultural difference); Iraq (Exhibition: ‘Acqua Ferita /Wounded Water’ that interprets the theme of water): Saudi Arabia (Exhibition: ‘The Black Arch’ by Raja and Shadia Alem); South Africa (Exhibition: ‘Desire: Ideal Narratives in Contemporary South African Art’).

The 54th International Art Exhibition that runs parallel to the official pavilion displays begins on June 4 and will continue until November 27, 2011. Directed by Bice Curiger, the scintillating showcase of art will be on display at the Giardini & Arsenale venues and elsewhere around the vibrant Venice. Titled ‘ILLUMInazioni–ILLUMInations’, it forms a single itinerary, featuring more than 80 artists from across the world, including 32 women artists. Works by Dayanita Singh, born in New Delhi in 1961 will form part of this dazzling display.