India's Biggest Art Fair Kicks Off

The India Art Fair, the biggest event on South Asia's art calendar, opens in New Delhi drawing a record number of exhibitors despite a serious downturn in the Indian art market that has persisted since a price crash in 2008.

Published

4 months ago

Categories

Arts & Society

Topics

Arts & Culture, Asia

People

Mitali Shah, Neha Kirpal, Amin Jaffer

Places

India, New Delhi

Transcript

SCRIPT: Art deconstructed -- welcome to the 2013 India Art Fair. Now in it’s fifth year, the event has fast become the biggest contemporary art show in South Asia. It attracts some of the world’s most influential galleries and offers valuable global exposure to local artists. SOUNDBITE 1: Mitali Shah (woman), Indian artist exhibiting at the art fair (English, 19 sec): “I think it’s a beautiful opportunity to be here because it’s not just the exposure to the Indian art scene, it’s more international and the feedback you get is really good because you can broaden your horizons more.” Despite a recent downturn in India’s art market, a record number of exhibitors are displaying the work of over a thousand artists. A quarter are foreign galleries hoping to woo India’s increasingly affluent population and break into a new and emerging market. SOUNDBITE 2: Neha Kirpal (woman), director, India Art Fair (English, 22 sec): “There are still a lot of purchases being made not just in the art world but across the luxury sector and people are attracted to that because they look at it as an emerging market with considerable potential. It’s a freer market so in a sense they compare it to, let’s say if they wanted to show in China, they have certain issues to do with censorship and others, whereas in India it’s a very democratic, open society.” Prices for Indian art at auction have plummeted by 75 percent since the fair’s first outing. But while organisers hope the event will help restore confidence, experts insist the market has remained buoyant for the serious collector. SOUNDBITE 3: Amin Jaffer, international director for Asian art, Christie’s (English, 21 sec): “When we speak about a downturn in the art market in 2008, it’s very interesting because we at Christie’s saw last year ten percent growth in our business, so it doesn’t necessarily mean that the whole of the art market has gone down. We’ve seen extremely attractive and high values achieved for example for our modern Indian painters -- Hussein, Raza, Souza, Tyeb Mehta are stronger than ever.” For collectors and art lovers, the fair is an opportunity to learn about India’s hugely varied art scene. More than one hundred thousand people are expected to attend the event over three days. Though for galleries, visitor footfalls don’t necessarily equate to buyers. SHOTLIST: NEW DELHI, INDIA. JANUARY 31, 2013 (SOURCE: AFPTV) -VAR of a glass artwork being smashed with a hammer -VAR of artworks by Indian artists -SOUNDBITE 1 -VAR of Indian collectors at the London-based Scream gallery exhibit -SOUNDBITE 2 -A row of paintings on display -Visitors inside a gallery -SOUNDBITE 3 -Visitors walking through the fair -Close-up on an moving installation artwork -A young girl making a face at a gnome sculpture -Close-up on sculpture