The Riders and their storms: Bengal and its Knights

 hi mike,

i am sending in a write. not exactly what you asked for (will mail you the survey of contemporary art in Bengal by tonight or this next morning). 

sending you a write that combines contemporary culture of Bengal with socio-political concerns. (the kind of writing i had proposed when we we chatted in your office).

this one is on KKR IPL and neo liberalism in Bengal.

a writeup sent to The Statesman in 2010 which they never published. 

‘What do you do when you are stuck on an island with a candle and no matches?

You toss that candle and catch it. Catches win matches.’

An old joke making a comeback over text messaging

In a lot of ways the Kolkata knight riders symbolize the aspirations of a so called new Bengal. It is not so much what a neo liberal Bengal can be…it is more of what an aspirational Bengal wants to be. Lead by Saurav Ganguly) the person who is responsible for giving hope to an entire generation of post Mithun Chakravarty Bengali youth), the success and failure of KKR might matter little to the lady standing all (k) night outside a  government hospital waiting for the her turn to meet the doctor in the morning, but it matters a lot to those aspiring to make a mark on the new cosmopolitan nation-scape. Maybe by god’s grace, or maybe through direct partnership with her, they managed to recruit Wasim Akram as the bowling coach…but can you win matches if you can’t score or save runs?

It will be unfair to blame it on Sharukh Khan, still it seems that the team plays more for the camera than for the scoreboard. Over the years, on an average KKR (k)night we are treated to perfect dives, perfects run  out attempts,  aesthetic lofted drives: and very poor results. As with most of the state, they play with/for pride which is either too far in the past or yet untouched in the future. The lost-found-lost matches against an array of opponents exemplified the KKR attitude of doing everything right for the camera and being the best looking team.

Before Nandigram unfolded, Buddadeb Bhattacharya was widely praised lavishly, rated as the number two chief minister in the country and we had the best looking economic turn around agenda. Even the team looked excellent. Corruption free politicians, neo liberal economists and a no nonsense leadership seemed poised to deliver the goods. Then it all happened. This highly rated good looking team failed to deliver a practical, effective economic turn around. All their demons came back to haunt them, and in two years they lost absolute credibility.

In the first league match against the Mumbai Indian, having failed to score an out right winning total, Mr Ganguly unleashed all his charisma on the field being the busy captain in a manner that only he can be. It was a tad sad to see that this gentleman (who is the first Indian to win the Dada lifetime achievement award) has come to a point when he would rather have god help him rather than he help him self. (This is a bit of an oxymoron considering in the realms of memory and imagination and hope he is still the god of the off side). However he was up against the god of winning easy games, and when it comes to an easy pitch and a friendly bowling attack, Sachin Tendulkar can do no wrong. Then in the last match against Kings of Punjab, a miracle happened. The Knight Riders scored two hundred runs. One watched in hope and wistfulness as Ganguly da moved his field around, changed the bowling attack and caused a couple of wickets to fall. He even ran a bit and stopped some runs. Still the match was lost in another good looking toothless effort.

One cannot really soothsay. Maybe Mr. Bhattacharya will win the elections and give us a developmental road map that understands demographics and real politics of Bengal better. Maybe Dada will get a chance to go topless again.  That’s not the point, what we all miss out is that both Mr. Ganguly, and Mr. Bhattacharya are but a reflection of West Bengal’s troubled attempts at being ‘cool’ and ‘happening’.

Outside Mumbai, Kolkata can boast of the most cut throat street cricket culture, yet we are at a loss at a game like 20-20 which has strong roots in the streets. With one of the highest density of graduates and post graduates the state was one of the best placed in harnessing the economic growth riding on information technology and service industries, yet we seem to have missed the bus. Is it time for us to interpret progress in our terms,rather than cheer our Don Quixotes and then fault them for fighting windmills.

ey bhabe kaaj hoye na: notes of radicalism

by Rahul Bhattacharya on Thursday, 7 June 2012 at 14:30 ·

3 short notes on politics:

Note 1 -     open your mouth

• Why do i dislike events that ask substantial participation fees from artists? 
• a person who occupies a hyper masculine position and has made a reputation for himself by shouting out radicalism from the top of his blog....suddenly becomes the face a proposed art fair which is luring artists with promises of buyers and collectors.  
• somehow the website does not look convincing at all...except for the miniscule stall space, no other grand promise made in the promotional cocktail dinners seem to be legally accountable.
• everyday i get flooded with phone calls from artists asking me whether they should partcipate or not...why is there so much confusion
• radicalism for sham or for sale angers me the most...but the real concern is that friends should not get cheated. 
• why are artists in india so vurnerable to manupulation...and why are historians so spineless

Note 2 -   didi and dilemas

• there is a historyof attacks against women chief ministers by mainstream press...
• Till Buddadev was even marginaly defendable he was the darling of the media and mainstream
• mamata occupies the left which was vacated by the CPI(M) as the party moved towards a neo liberal centerist position.
• it is this neo liberalism that the indian mainstrem was celebrating...and it is this natinal recognition that made Buddadev the icon for the bangali bhadralok
• Mamata didi does not care about the bhadralok  and our notion of ethics.Even if it a bad thing...is it really the worst thing to happen to west bengal
• looking at international reactions to Greek and French elections, we see that the global mainstrem has an aversion to the left
• large geo political forces are deeply destabilised by Mamata's more left than left positioning
• almost all mainsterm media houses have a corporate finance strucure
• Mamata's behaviour is really not defendable...but the time is maybe not right to isolate her....larger battles are at stake
• We the bhadralok need to decide how elitist we want to be.
• it is dangerous to see that attacking mamta is becoming the hallmark of radicalism in urban bengal

Note 3-     Deep blue sea

• commonsense tells me that the debate is between rats and cockroaches. both can have equal claim to be the real masters of the world. (cockroaches have even enslaved human beings to make houses and garbage).  but when i zoom out of my commonsense, i realise that real battle is between the devil and the deep blue sea.

Curatorial Text - Broardening the Canvas| celebrating blemishes

Contemporary Visual Culture of Alternate Sexuality.

There is an entire generation that has grown up and are practicing adulthood through  the decade of the late nineties and and the 2000s’. at least in the urban cosmopolitan pockets of india (the pockets in which ‘contemporary indian art’ largely thrives)  ‘coming out of the closet’ has largely begun to signify freedom, rather than the fear of social stigma.  The Delhi High court Judgement  de legitimising Section 377 IPC, has undoubtedly opened up new horizons.  However (along with the gay and lesbian movements) one cannot ignore the impact of feminism in opening up our understanding of gender and body, and challenging the patriarchal hetro sexual framework.

Now there is a young generation of artists working with a  new freedom for expressing body, sexuality and gender, and this is what ‘boarding the canvas| celebrating blemishes’ focuses upon.  The attack on Balbir Krishan’s last solo at Rabindra Bhavan Delhi (one of the last remaining significant ‘public’ spaces for art in India), showed that in this world of false morality, not too many people like the rainbow yet. The acceptance of alternate sexuality is not simply a change of taste, but marks an important stress line in our battle against heteronormative patriarchy. It is under such circumstances we feel the historical need and opportunity to do an annual art exhibition of the contemporary visual culture of alternate sexuality. Organised as a part of Kolkata Rainbow Pride Festival, this show seeks to be a platform for expression and dialogue, and also a zone that makes contestation possible.


About the exhibition:

The exhibition is designed in three sections as walk from : entrance 1 -2


Section 1- posters/pamphlets/stickers of NGOs working with sexuality rights, and covers of iconic magazines of the community.
These section is designed to give the viewer a glimpse into the mainstream visual language of the communities of alternate sexuality

Section 2- Art video corner...6 videos in loop: Suchismita Ukil. Manmeet Devgun, Deepak Tandon, Paribartan Mohanty:

Section 3- Paintings, Art Photographs, Digital Prints, Installations, Drawings

Balbir Krishan, Anuradha Upadhaya, Deepak Tandon, Jayna Mistry, Mandakini Devi, Manmeet Devgun, Moumita Shaw,  Prakash Kishore, Rudra Kishore Mandal, Syed Taufik Riaz, Tapati Choudhury, Jose Abadh and Vidisha Saini.

The exhibition extends itself into a limited edition catalogue, Sunil Gupta’s interview helps us understand how alternative sexuality is slowly coming out of the closet in contemporary visual culture...both the histories of struggles and celebrations. Prof. Shivaji Paniker’s essay brings out the fissures within art history and curation in terms of practice, and forms a critical text in resisting a heteronormative takeover of Bhupen Khakkar.

The show will be installed as an exhibition hanging workshop with volunteers from KRPF and Performance independent (Pi), and there shall be performance interventions by Pi through out the duration of the show.


Rahul Bhattacharya
Co-founder - Regional Arts Performance and Events
Jt. Secretary - Performers independent