A Brave New Artworld

Two initiatives are reimagining India’s contemporary art ecosystem, inviting visitors with curiousity and wonder

- By RAHUL KUMAR

In India, one might expect contemporary art to command a thriving public life. It often doesn’t, as art spaces can feel exclusionary to people. Galleries that encourage dialogue, research, and archiving are scarce. The silence, however, is beginning to break with the arrival of initiatives such as Kolkata’s TRI Art & Culture and the UK-based Art South Asia Project (ASAP), which are rethinking what public engagement with art can look like. And audiences have responded with curiosity: lingering in galleries, asking questions, returning for talks and panels.