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| <nettime> India: Over 350 Artists Sound the Alert on the Right to Dissent - |
http://sacw.net/article11861.html sacw.net - 27 October 2015 SAHMAT Safdar Hashmi Memorial Trust 29 Ferozeshah Road, New Delhi 110 001 Tel.: 23381276 / 23070787 e-mail: sahmat8[at]yahoo.com 27 October 2015 Artists Alert: 2015 The artist community of India stands in firm solidarity with the actions of our writers who have relinquished awards and positions, and spoken up in protest against the alarming rise of intolerance in the country. We condemn and mourn the murders of M.M. Kalburgi, Narendra Dabholkar and Govind Pansare, rationalists and free thinkers whose voices have been silenced by rightwing dogmatists but whose âpresenceâ must ignite our resistance to the conditions of hate being generated around us. We will never forget the battle we fought for our pre-eminent artist M.F. Husain who was hounded out of the country and died in exile. We remember the rightwing invasion and dismantling of freedoms in one of the countryâs best known art schools in Baroda. We witness the present governmentâs appointment of grossly unqualified persons to the FTII Society and its disregard of the ongoing strike by the students of this leading Institute. We see a writer like Perumal Murugan being intimidated into declaring his death as a writer, a matter of dire shame in any society. While the Prime Minister of the country has been conspicuously reticent in his response to the recent events, the reactions of BJP ministers in his government reveal their ignorance and prejudice. Mahesh Sharma, Minister of State for Culture, has made abhorrent comments about mob lynching and murder. His remarks suggesting that writers should stop writing to prove their point are alarming â empowered as he is to take policy decisions in the domain of culture. Arun Jaitley, Minister of Finance, Information & Broadcasting, has mocked the actions of our respected writers as a manufactured âpaper rebellionâ. He asks for scrutiny of the political and ideological affiliations of those who are protesting. To these and other such provocations there is a clear answer: while the actual affiliations of the protesting writers and artists, scholars and journalists may be many and varied, their individual and collective voices are gaining cumulative strength. It is this that the ruling party will have to reckon with: the protestorsâ declared disaffiliation from a government that encourages marauding outfits to enforce a series of regressive commands in this culturally diverse country. The scale of social violence and fatal assaults on ordinary citizens (as in Dadri, Uttar Pradesh; Udhampur, Jammu and Kashmir; Faridabad, Harayana) is escalating. The contemptuous comments about the religious minorities and Dalits made by those within the government confirm that there is little difference between the RSS-BJP mainstream and supposed âfringeâ elements. The perfunctory warnings and regrets issued by ruling party ideologues â to defend the agendas of âdevelopmentâ and âgovernanceâ advanced by Mr Narendra Modi â are merely expedient. The Sangh Parivar and its Hindutva forces operating through their goon brigades form the support base of this government; they are all complicit in the attempts to impose conformity of thought, belief and practice. The ideology of the ruling party has revealed its contempt for creative and intellectual work; bigotry and censorship will only grow. As in the past, we must challenge the divisive forces through varied forms of appeal and protest, articulation and refusal. Our demand can be nothing less than that the entire range of constitutional rights and freedoms of the citizens of this country â freedom of expression and speech, right to dissent and exert difference in life choices including culture and religion â be ensured. A government that does not tolerate difference, that does not safeguard the lives and interests of its marginalized and vulnerable citizens, loses its legitimacy in a democratic polity. We are facing this situation now, already. Aastha Chauhan, artist, Delhi Aban Raza, artist, Delhi Abdul Mabood, Delhi Abhilasha Kumari, media professor, Delhi Abhimanue V.G., artist, Delhi Abhishek Hazra, artist, Bangalore Ahmar Raza, scientist, Delhi Aishwaryan K, artist, Bengaluru. Ajay Desai, artist, Delhi Aji V.N., artist, Rotterdam, Netherlands Akansha Rastogi, WALA collective, Delhi Akshaya Tankha, art historian, University of Toronto, Canada Alnoor Mitha, artist, curator, Manchester, UK Amar Kanwar, artist and filmmaker, Delhi Amrita Gupta Singh, art historian, Mumbai Anamika Haksar, theatre director, Mumbai Ananya Vajpeyi, CSDS, Delhi Anindita Bhattacharya, artist, Delhi Anish Ahluwalia, artist and filmmaker Anish Kapoor, artist, London Anita Dube, artist, Delhi Anjolie Ela Menon, artist, Delhi Anju Dodiya, artist, Mumbai Anjum Singh, artist, Delhi Anshuman Dasgupta, art historian, Santiniketan Anupam Saikia, Dept. of Fine Arts, University of Hyderabad Anupam Singh, artist, Mumbai Anuradha Kapur, theatre director, Delhi Aradhana Seth, production designer, artist, Goa Archana Hande, artist, Mumbai Arghya Priya Majumdar, artist, Santiniketan Arpana Caur, artist, Delhi Arpita Singh, artist, Delhi Arshad Hakim, artist, Shiv Nadar University, Greater Noida Arshiya Lokhandwala, curator, gallerist, Mumbai Arun Kumar H.G., artist, Delhi Arunima Choudhury, Kolkata Ashim Purkasthaya, artist, Delhi Ashis Kumar Das, artist, Mumbai Ashrafi S. Bhagat, art historian, Chennai Atreyee Gupta, art historian, Berlin Atul Bhalla, artist, Shiv Nadar University, Greater Noida Atul Dodiya, artist, Mumbai Aurora Graldi, PhD Candidate in South Asian Art History, Vienna University Avani Batra, Delhi Avinash Veeraraghavan, artist, Bangalore Ayisha Abraham, artist, Bangalore Babitha Lingraj, artist, Bangalore Babu Eshwar Prasad, artist and filmmaker, Bangalore Balan Nambiar, artist, Bangalore Balbir Krishan, artist, Delhi Belinder Dhanoa, art critic, Delhi Bhagath Singh E.K,artist,Kerala Bharathesh G.D., artist, Bangalore Bharati Kapadia, artist, Mumbai Bharti Kher, artist Delhi Bhavani G.S., artist, Bangalore Bhavani Shiva, artist, Bangalore Biju Jose, artist, Bangalore Bina Sarkar Elias, editor & publisher, International Galerie C.F. John, artist, Bangalore Catherine Asher, art historian, USA Chaitanya Sambrani, art historian, Canberra Champa Sharath, artist, Bangalore Chandrima Bhattacharyya, artist, Bangalore Chinar Shah, artist, Bangalore Chintan Upadhyay, artist, Delhi/Mumbai Chitra Ganesh, artist, New York, USA Christopher Pinney, art historian, London, UK Cop Shiva, photographer, Bangalore Deepa Mahajan, artist, Mumbai/Singapore Deepak Ananth, art historian, Paris Deepanjana Klein, art historian, New York, USA Deepika Sorabjee, curator, Mumbai Deeptha Achar, art critic, Baroda Dev Benegal, New York, USA Devika Daulet-Singh, gallerist, Delhi Dhruvi Acharya, artist, Mumbai Diana Gomes, artist, Baroda Dilip Mitra, artist, Santiniketan Dimple Shah, artist, Bangalore Dipti Khera, art historian, New York University, USA Faiza Hasan, artist, Hyderabad. G.S. Gopinath, artist, Bangalore Gargi Raina, artist Baroda Gauri Gill, photographer, Delhi Gayatri Sinha, art critic, Delhi Geeta Doctor, writer, Chennai Geeta Kapur, art critic, Delhi Geetha Mehra, gallerist, Mumbai Gieve Patel, artist, Mumbai Gigi Scaria, artist, Delhi Gopika Chowfla, graphic designer, Delhi Gopika Nath, artist-craftsperson and writer, Gurgaon Goutam Das, artist, Santiniketan Gulammohammed Sheikh, artist, Baroda Hans Kaushik, artist, Chennai Hema Upadhyay, artist, Mumbai Homita Harish Katira, artist, Columbia, SC, USA Homita, artist, Mumbai Indrapramit Roy, artist, Baroda Indu Chandrasekhar, publisher, Delhi Ivan Smith, artist, Belper, Derbyshire, UK Jahangir Asgar Jani, artist, Mumbai Jaideep Mehrotra, artist, Mumbai Jaideep Sen, artist, Bangalore Jaishri Abichandani, artist, New York, USA James Khamliansawma, artist, Aizawl, Mizoram Janice Glowski, art historian, Columbus, Ohio, USA Jasbeer Singh, artist, Belfast, Northern Ireland Jatin Das, artist, Delhi Jeetin Rangher, artist, Bangalore Jitish Kallat, artist, Mumbai Johny M.L., art critic, Delhi Justin Ponmany, artist, Mumbai Jyotindra Jain, art historian, Delhi K.G. Subramanyan, artist, Baroda K.P. Reji, artist, Baroda K.V. Raghavendra Rao, artist, Bangalore, Vancouver, Canada Karishma DâSouza, Panaji, Goa Karishma Shah, artist, Surat Kathryn Myers, Professor of Art, University of Connecticut, USA Kaushik Bhaumik, artist, Delhi Kausik Mukhopadhyay, artist, Mumbai Kim Kyoungae, artist, Baroda Kirtana Thangavelu, art historian, S.N. School, Hyderabad Kirti Jain, theatre director, Delhi Krishen Khanna, artist, Delhi Krishnaraj Chonat, artist, Bangalore Kuldeep Singh, artist Kumari Ranjeeta, artist , Shiv Nadar University, Greater Noida Kunal Kalra, artist, Hyderabad L.N. Tallur, artist, Kundapura L.N.V. Srinivas, artist, S.N. School, Hyderabad Lalitha Gopalan, video scholar, USA Lalitha Shankar, artist, Bangalore Latika Gupta, art historian, Delhi Leela Mayor, artist, Baroda Lokesh Khodke, artist, Delhi M.K. Raina, theatre director, Delhi Madhuban Mitra, artist, Kolkata Madhusree Dutta, filmmaker, Mumbai Madhusudhanan, artist, Kerala Mahesh G., artist, Mysore Mahjabin Imam Majumdar, artist, Santiniketan Mahula Ghosh, artist, Delhi Mala Marwah, artist, Delhi Malavika Rajnarayan, artist, Baroda Manas Bhattacharya, artist, Kolkata Manmohan, writer, Delhi Mansi Bhatt, artist, Mumbai Manuela Ciotti, visual anthropologist, Denmark Marie Dias Arora, artist, Delhi Mary-Louise Totton, art historian, USA Meera Devidayal, artist, Mumbai Meera Menezes, art critic, Delhi Megha Joshi, artist, Delhi Meher Pestonji, writer,Mumbai Mithu Sen, artist, Delhi Molly Emma Aitken, art historian, USA Mona Berman, Director, Mona Berman Fine Arts, New Haven, USA Moutushi Chakraborty, artist, Kolkata Myna Mukherjee, cultural curator, Delhi N. Ramachandran, artist, Chennai N.N. Rimzon, artist, Thiruvananthapuram N.S. Harsha, artist, Mysore Nalini Malani, artist, Mumbai Naman Ahuja, art historian, JNU, Delhi Nanaiah Chettira, artist, Bangalore Nanak Ganguly, art critic, Kolkata Nancy Adajania, art critic, Mumbai Nandesh Shanthi Prakash, artist, Bangalore Nataraj Sharma, artist, Baroda Natasha Ginwala, curator, Berlin/Ahmedabad Naveen Kumar, artist, Bangalore Navjot Altaf, artist, Mumbai Navroze Contractor, photographer, Bangalore Neelakshi Suryanarayan, University of Delhi, Delhi Neelam Man Singh Chowdhry, theatre director, Chandigarh Neha Choksi, Mumbai and Los Angeles, USA Nibha Sikander, artist, Baroda Nihaal Fazal, artist, Bangalore Nikhileswar Baruah, artist, Baroda Nilanjana S. Roy, writer, Delhi Nilima Shiekh, artist, Baroda Nirmala Beluka, artist, EFL, Hyderabad Niyatee Shinde, art and photography writer, curator, photo-historian, Mumbai Noopur Desai, art writer and researcher, Pune Oindrilla Maity Surai, curator, Kolkata Oli Ghosh, artist, Mumbai. Padma Kaimal, art historian, Colgate University, USA Parag Tandel, artist, Mumbai Paramjit Singh, artist, Delhi Parthiv Shah, photographer and designer, Delhi Parul Dave Mukherji, art historian, JNU, Delhi Parvati Nayar, artist, Chennai Paula Sengupta, artist, Kolkata Pavan K.J., artist, Mysore Payal Arya, artist, Shiv Nadar University, Greater Noida Philippe Calia, artist, Mumbai Pierre Strauch, Paier College of Art, USA Prabhavati Meppayil, artist, Bangalore Prajakta Palav Aher, artist, Mumbai. Prajakta Potnis, artist, Mumbai Pratul Dash, artist, Ghaziabad Pratul Dash, artist, Indirapuram, Ghaziabad Premalatha Seshadri, artist, Chennai Prithpal S Ladi, artist, Shillong Priti Paul, gallerist, Delhi Priya Ravish Mehra, artist, Delhi Priya Sundaravalli, artist, Auroville Purushottam Agrawal, writer, Delhi Pushpamala N., artist, Bangalore Rabindra Patra, artist, Delhi Radha Gomaty, Kochi, Kerala Ragini Bhow, artist, Bangalore Rahul Bhushan, graphic artist, Hyderabad Rahul Dev, art critic, Delhi Rahul J. Gajjar, artist, Baroda Rajan Barrett Rakhi Peswani, artist, Bangalore Ram Rahman, photographer, Delhi Raman Sivakumar, art historian, Santiniketan Ramesh Chandra, artist, Bangalore Ranbir Kaleka, artist, Delhi Ranjit Hoskote, art critic, Mumbai Ranjit Kandalgaonkar, artist, Mumbai Ranjith Raman, artist, Delhi Rashmee Pal Chouteau, artist, Kolkata Rashmi Kaleka, artist, Delhi Rashmimala Devi, artist, Baroda Rasna Bhushan, art critic, Hyderabad Ravikumar Kashi, artist, Bangalore Reena Saini Kallat, artist, Mumbai Rekha Rodwittiya, artist, Baroda Renu Modi, Gallery Espace, Delhi Risha Lee, Rubin Museum of Art, New York USA Riyas Komu, artist, Mumbai Rohini Devasher, artist, Delhi Rosalyn Dmello, art critic, Delhi Rupa Rani, artist, Delhi Rupali Patil, artist, Mumbai Rustom Bharucha, writer, Delhi Saba Hasan, artist, Delhi Sabina Jaitly, artist Sabitha T.P., art historian, UK Sachin Karne, artist, Baroda Sadanand Menon, photographer, critic, Chennai Sagar S. Naik Mule, artist, Hyderabad Sahej Rahal, artist, Mumbai Sajitha Madathil, actress, Kochi, Kerala Salik Ahmad, Delhi Saloni Mathur, art historian, UCLA, Los Angeles, USA Samit Das, artist, art historian, Delhi Sanchayan Ghosh, artist, Santiniketan Sandeep Biswas, photographer, Delhi Sandeep Singhal, art collector, Mumbai Sanjeev Khandekar, artist, Mumbai Santhoshkumar Sakhinala, art historian, Hyderabad Saravanan Parasuraman, artist, Chennai Sarita Chouhan, Mumbai Sasha Altaf, art critic, Mumbai/Miami USA Savithri Rajeevan, poet, painter, Baroda Shaibani Azam, animator, Delhi Shakuntala Kulkarni, artist, Mumbai Shamala Nandesha, artist, Bangalore Shanthamani Muddiah, artist, Bangalore Shanthi Swaroopini, artist,Hyderabad Sharan Apparao, gallerist Chennai N. Ramachandran, artist, Chennai Sharmila Samant, artist, Shiv Nadar University, Greater Noida Sheba Chhachhi, artist, Delhi Sheela Gowda, artist, Bangalore Shefalee Jain, artist, Ambedkar University Delhi Sheila Makhijani, artist, Delhi Sherna Dastur, designer, Delhi Shilpa Gupta, artist, Mumbai Shireen Gandhy, gallerist, Mumbai Shivaji.K. Panikkar, art historian, Delhi. Shreshta Rit Premnath, artist, New York, USA Shubha, writer, Delhi Shubhalakshmi Shukla, art writer, Mumbai Shuddhabrata Sengupta, artist, Raqs Media Collective, Delhi Shukla Sawant, artist, JNU, Delhi Sita Reddy, curator/writer, Hyderabad Smitha Cariappa, artist, Bangalore Sonal Khullar, art historian, Seattle, USA Sonam Chaturvedi, art student, Shiv Nadar University, Greater Noida Sonia Jabbar, photographer, filmmaker and graphic designer, Delhi Sonia Khurana, artist, Delhi Sosa Joseph Soumik Nandy Majumdar, art historian, Santiniketan Srajana Kaikini, curator, research scholar, Bangalore Sreshta Rit Premnath, Assistant Professor, Parsons Fine Arts, New York Subba Ghosh, artist, Delhi Subodh Gupta, artist, Delhi Subodh Singh Triparti, art history, sculpture, JNAFAU, Hyderabad Sudarshan Shetty, artist, Mumbai Sudhir Patwardhan, artist, Mumbai Sudipta Sen, artist, Kolkata Sugata Ray, art historian, University of California, Berkeley, USA Suguresh Sultanpur, artist, Baroda Suhas Nimbalkar, artist, Pune Suman Gopinath, curator, Bangalore Sumathi Ramaswamy, historian, visual culture, Duke Univ., USA Sumedh Rajendran, artist, Delhi Sumesh Sharma, curator, Clark House Initiative, Mumbai Suneel Sinha,theatre, film & TV worker, Mumbai Sunil Kothari, Delhi Surekha, artist, Bangalore Surendran Nair, artist, Baroda Suresh B.V., artist, Baroda Suresh Jayaram, art historian, Bangalore Susan S. Bean, independent curator, USA Swati Khurana, artist ,New York Tallur L.N., artist, Kundapura Tanmoy Samanta, artist, Delhi Tanuja Rane, artist, Mumbai Tara Sabharwal, artist, Delhi Tunty Chauhan,Threshold Art Gallery , Delhi Tushar Joag, artist, Shiv Nadar University, Greater Noida Udeya Vir Singh, artist, Bangalore Uma Shankar Pathak, artist, Delhi Umar Aman, Delhi Urvi Khanna, Delhi Ushmita Sahu, artist, curator, Santiniketan Ushmita Sahu, artist, curator, Santiniketan Manjari Chakravarti, artist, Santiniketan Vaishali Narkar, artist, Mumbai VaishaliNarkar, artist, Mumbai Valay Gada, artist/designer, Delhi Varsha Nair, artist, Baroda Varunika Saraf, artist, Hyderabad Vasudha Thozhur, artist, Delhi Vasvi Oza: artist, Gujarat Veena Bhargava, artist, Kolkata Veer Munshi, artist, Delhi Velu Viswanadhan, artist, Paris/ Chennai Vibha Galhotra, artist, Delhi Vidya Rao, Music, Delhi Vidya Shivadas, curator, Delhi Vijay Sekhon, artist, Mumbai Vinod Bhardwaj, art critic, Delhi Vishaka Chanchani, art educator, Bangalore Viswanadhan, artist, Paris Viswanath B.R., artist/cinematographer, Bangalore Vivan Sundaram, artist, Delhi Yamini Nayar, artist Yardena Kurulkar, artist, Mumbai Yashodhara Dalmia, art critic, Delhi Yashwant Deshmukh, artist, Mumbai Yunus Khimani, artist, Jaipur # distributed via <nettime>: no commercial use without permission # <nettime> is a moderated mailing list for net criticism, # collaborative text filtering and cultural politics of the nets # more info: http://mx.kein.org/mailman/listinfo/nettime-l # archive: http://www.nettime.org contact: [email protected]