The Genesis of Indian Contemporary: Art Collectives and Manifestos
Written by Ishore AdminFebruary 23, 2023 We are extremely happy to announce that Prof. Shivaji Panikkar (former dean of Maharaja Sayajirao University, Baroda; and professor at Ambedkar University, Delhi) would lead our 22nd webinar. As an Art Historian, he will talk about Indian art collectives in the 1980s (see the abstract below).
Dr. Kavitha Balakrishnan (Govt. College of Fine Arts, Thrissur) would be the discussant, and Sudheesh Kottembram (RLV College of Music and Fine Arts) would chair and moderate the session. We are equally happy to collaborate with Govt. College of Fine Arts for this event.
Please register by sending an email to ishorekerala@gmail.com.
Abstract:
For several reasons early to mid-1980s can be located as defining years for contemporary Indian art. The social responses through art threw open the limits of “social art” in the exhibition Place for People (1981), a very significant moment when Indian art turns political and takes a turn towards global alignments. Starting with the manifesto of Group 1890 by J. Swaminathan, two other art manifestos namely Place for People exhibition catalog essay written by Geeta Kapur and Questions and Dialogue (1987), the manifesto/exhibition catalog essay of the Indian Radical Painters and Sculptors Association written by Anita Dube will be considered as path-breaking towards the formations of extreme political ideals and aspiration in the art field. The presentation will argue that without a robust notion of subjectivity and an avowal of the agency of the radical artist persona, there is no relevance of individual freedom and liberation, no locus of struggle and opposition, and no agency for progressive political transformation, which are manifested in newer ideological positions of Feminists, Queer and of the subalterns.
