There was a world of difference between the type of work displayed at the fifth India Art Fair in Delhi in February 2013 and that shown at the Kochi-Muziris Biennale (India’s first such event), which closed this March. Understandably enough, the art fair favored works that were familiar to the art market in India, with an enthusiastic crowd of collectors on hand at the opening. The art shown at the Bienniale, which was held in the southern state of Kerala, was more experimental and conceptual, and largely favored video and film forhe Biennale also attracted an enthusiastic crowd, most of whom were young and seemingly had no connection to the art world other than their curiosity about the art being produced in India and other nations, prominently including China and Brazil. The Biennale was staged by two enterprising and determined artists, Bose Krishnamachari and Riyas Komu.

The fast-developing interest in contemporary art in India is also reflected in a growing number of commercial galleries and new, privately owned exhibition spaces. At the time of TW and EW’s visit to India in February 2013, The Devi Art Foundation showed a number of young artists who had made in situ installations at the Devi space in Gurgaon (near Delhi). New Delhi’s Kiran Nadar Museum of Art, established in 2011, had on view an excellent retrospective of works by Nasreen Mohamedi, and a show of seven contemporary artists curated by Roobina Karode. Outside the 18,000-square-foot space, which is located in a shopping center, stood Subodh Gupta’s 33 feet tall sculpture, Line of Control.