In this issue

Since 1996, ART India has been one of the most dedicated platforms taking stock
of the transforming art scene in the country; it has nurtured debate and channeled
informed discussion through its thematic issues. Without fear or favour, it has
assessed projects and productions, ideas and exhibitions, offering a compelling
map of the multi-featured topography of the South Asian artscape. With a dynamic
culture studies perspective that believes in inter-disciplinary inter-contextuality,
ART India has, over the last quarter of a century, comprehensively addressed
diverse art genres (Video art, Graphic novels, Performance art, Street art, among
others), assessed international art cultures (art in China and Pakistan, for instance),
addressed provocative themes like censorship and terror, food and festivals, gender
and identity, and committedly probed the intense relationship between image and
text. Observing India’s evolving visual culture in local and international settings, and
contemplating its omissions and commissions, has been one of its watchful drives.
The last six issues, for instance, offer a rich documentation of art in the shadow of the Covid pandemic.

WHEN MANJIT BAWA BROKE INTO A JIG

Anupa Mehta, the Founding Editor of ART India paints a vivid picture of the early years.

3 mins

"WHEN THE "IT'S IN THE MAIL" EXCUSE FOR MISSED DEADLINES HAD NOT GONE EXTINCT!"

Girish Shahane reminisces about how he marshalled the magazine to explore contemporary art.

3 mins

FROM LONDON TO MUMBAI

Tasneem Mehta dwells on the thrill of engaging with the art scene in the late 1990s via ART India.

2 mins

"A GREAT BOON TO THE INDIAN ART WORLD"

Gieve Patel remembers how an adventurous approach helped win more readers for the magazine.

1 min

Spectres of the Real

Geeta Kapur presents varied readings of Ranbir Kaleka's Man Threading a Needle, a work which combines the painted image with video and sound.

10+ mins

The Thing Itself

Arjun Appadurai examines the aesthetic life of objects and reveals how their status and behaviour changes with altering circulation patterns and socio-political contexts.

10+ mins

Art in Exile?

Johan Pijnappel traces the journey of video art in India and raises some poignant questions.

10+ mins

The Mutable Aesthetic of New Mediatic Realism

Nancy Adajania engages with the new turn in contemporary Indian art and provides the socio-political and aesthetic contexts to critique its manoeuvres and developments.

10+ mins

Curatorism: In Praise of Folly

Even as their interventions influence standards of assessment, their choices may not always do justice to complex art practices, argues Girish Shahane, as he sheds light on the new status of curators in the context of contemporary art.

10+ mins

A Dozen Ways of Viewing India

Ranjit Hoskote provides an account of the way art in India has, over the decades, reflected and questioned the state of the nation.

6 mins

Flesh and Bone

Abhay Sardesai considers the contract between word and image in the works of eight artists.

8 mins

Roles People Play

Performance art in India has come of age in Delhi, claims Meera Menezes, as she engages with the work of inspired practitioners from the city.

10 mins

Now, Voyager

Travelling around has become more than a lifestyle choice for artists and their artworks. Zehra Jumabhoy journeys with them.

10+ mins

Good Earth

Sandhya Bordewekar discusses the growth of ceramic art practices in the country.

7 mins

Read all stories from Art India

Art India Magazine Description:

ART India is India's premier art magazine: over the last 25 years, it has been responsible for the promotion of a critical discourse around diverse art forms, activities and disciplines.

As an important forum for discussing, interrogating and appreciating art practices, ART India has been responsible for giving a platform to artists and critics to engage in a mutually replenishing intellectual dialogue with each other. This has led to the fostering of a vibrant atmosphere of sustained debate around crucial issues linked to the theory and practice of painting, sculpture, installation art, new media art, photography and architecture.

We have taken care to be multi-disciplinary in our approach as well as to dwell on diverse visual cultural issues of importance and urgency.

ART India has been launched successfully in Dubai, New York, London, Lahore, and Karachi, among other international venues.

ART India has a huge international following and has been chosen by Beaux Arts magazine, Paris, as one of the leading art magazines in the world.