Last weekend, India registered as one of the 99 countries represented at the world’s most-watched art show, the Venice Biennale. Themed ‘Geographies of Distance: Remembering Home’, the works curated by former Christie’s director Amin Jaffer include Sumakshi Singh’s ethereal broken house of embroidered textiles and Asim Waqif’s imposing bamboo installation reflecting changing cityscapes. Like India’s earlier appearances at the biennale, this pavilion was made possible in a public-private partnership. Given the success of such partnerships at the Kochi-Muziris Biennale, whose sixth edition closed this March, India must consider reviving its triennale, which ran under the Lalit Kala Akademi’s auspices from 1968 to 2005. If it avoids the earlier pitfalls of political interference and half-hearted funding, it can spur India’s orange economy in remarkable ways.
