Delhi Now Online!(August 2011)
Till even five years ago, it was quite common to hear Delhi, Capital City, being dismissed by arts aficionados as a place with nothing exciting to offer. In a city widely perceived as being obsessed with power hierarchies and money, the question was, is there any value for the arts? Or are the arts a mere showpiece, exercises in exhibitionism, props for a display of money and power?
This is no longer the case. Clearly, Delhi today has evolved into quite the arts hub. In the visual and multimedia arts there are galleries supporting cutting edge work, leading artists living and working in Delhi, major exhibitions and retrospectives in the national museums, and the Art Summit which draws participants from all over the world. In theatre, some of the biggest national festivals allow Delhi-ites to see the best of Indian theatre, and a core of artistes continue to make meaningful theatre as they have for decades, even as a new breed of artists explore performance in new contexts. In music, there is an explosion of genres and venues that create a dynamic scene for both beginners and established artistes. Thriving arts schools - National School of Drama, and the School of Art and Aesthetics, JNU, for example - ensure a steady supply of students and critics interested in the arts, which always helps with the nurturing of a healthy arts scene.
Delhi comes online - joining Bangalore, Kolkata and Mumbai - with articles introducing the reader to theatre, music, the visual and the multimedia arts in Delhi. An overview or survey, if you like, identifying the main presences, influences and trends. Javed Malick, theatre scholar and critic and Neeraj Malik, academic and writer, jointly cover theatre, from college amateurs to established directors. Neha Sharma, who has been reviewing and commenting on the music scene for several years, largely for Rolling Stone India magazine, provides a succinct account of the wide variety of music on offer in Delhi. Ina Puri, author of several books on the visual arts, shows us how Delhi is indeed a hub for the visual arts in today’s India; while Amitesh Grover, performance maker, new media artist, and visiting faculty member at NSD, explores the burgeoning alternative and multimedia arts scene, particularly in terms of performance art.
Enjoy the introduction to the Delhi arts scene - and watch this space for more in the weeks to come!
Warm regards,
Anjum Katyal
Editor
