From the gallery to the public

A look at Lalit Kala Akademi's future as it celebrates 60 years of pioneering Indian art

"When we were younger, the Akademi had a much greater rapport with the artists. Over the years it has been so caught up in its own functioning that one feels it has become slightly alienated from the artists themselves," says eminent artist Arpita Singh. On its 60th anniversary, the Lalit Kala Akademi is conferring its fellowship on Singh, who will be joining the distinguished list of Akademi's Fellows such as Jamini Roy, M F Husain and Kapila Vatsyayan. The award ceremony will be held on October 10 at the Sahitya Akademi Auditorium in New Delhi. To commemorate the occasion, the Akademi is also releasing a portfolio with reproductions of Singh's works as well as text introducing her art. While Singh has expressed happiness at being chosen for the honour, she has also voiced a concern felt by many within the art community in the country.

Kalyan Kumar Chakravarty, the chairman of the Akademi, is determined to herald a rebirth of sorts for the organisation that once used to spearhead the art movement in the country. The Akademi organised the first Triennale-India in New Delhi in the year 1968, conceived by acclaimed writer Mulk Raj Anand. It has since mounted 11 Triennale exhibitions with over 40 participating countries and has presented many awards to national and international artists. Internal bureaucratic strife led to the illustrious event being put on hold after 2005, but it will be on show again in January-April in 2016, according to Chakravarty.

This year's festive week may have just concluded, but Chakravarty has new ideas for Durga puja in the future because he believes it is the biggest unique public art festival in the world. He is working to "recreate the pandals at Kolkata as an art event outside the religious framework". Also on the roster are taking workshops and exhibitions to cities such as Chennai, Lucknow, Bhubaneswar, Goa and Gujarat, among others. Now that the Akademi is in its 60th year, Chakravarty says, it has to assess its relevance to the contemporary art movement in the country. "Most of the famous artists don't need the Akademi anymore, and the market too can take care of itself." As an administrator as well as an art historian, he thinks the answer lies in "de-museumising art to find new ways to engage with the public".

To achieve this objective and breathe new life into the complacent Akademi structure, the organisation plans to take the art from inside galleries to deep within the country and hold workshops with artists from both the rural and urban hinterland and tribal communities. "We have to find a new interface of traditional, modern and tribal art. Any art which is urban is termed as 'fine art', and rural art is automatically termed as 'craft' - we at the Akademi want to subvert this idea completely," asserts Chakravarty.  

In Delhi, the Akademi administrates the Garhi Artists Studios, where artists from various disciplines like painting, sculpture, graphics and ceramics work throughout the year. It has been common knowledge in the art community that in the last many years, the studio has catered to a select few artists. This year will see the Akademi attempting a more inclusive programme. "We want to include tribal and folk art residencies, and are trying to get hold of more land towards that end," says Chakravarty.

Other plans include doubling the fellowships awards from its current ~1 lakh as well as increasing the number of awards from 10 to 15. Chakravarty is also trying to increase the stipend of the Akademi scholarships. The Akademi houses a large collection of around 5,500 works of art, which have been acquired over a period of its 60-year existence. The Akademi's library has added an extensive range of new books on art and culture pertaining to both Indian and Western art to its collection of over 8,000 books and 50 audio-video materials, and has plans to digitise as well as translate the works in the future.

Other Narratives/Other Structures: Selected Works of Arpita Singh, curated by Ella Datta, will be on view at Lalit Kala Akademi galleries, Rabindra Bhavan, 35, Ferozeshah Road, New Delhi, till October 24, 11 am to 7 pm