The Studio of Studios: The Biennale as a Site of Cultural Production

Speaker: Ranjit Hoskote

September 15, 2011 | 6.30 pm
Little Theatre, National Centre for the Performing Arts, Mumbai

In this talk, the curator, cultural theorist and poet Ranjit Hoskote will address the global phenomenon of the biennial (a term that covers various kinds of periodic arts festivals) as a site where diverse modes of cultural production are tested, presented and extended. The biennial is all too often viewed only through the optic of national identity, or as a representative survey of global contemporary art. It is equally important to regard it as a production system for contemporary artists, and as a special venue for co-production between curators and artists. Situating the biennial within its social and cultural history, Hoskote will take, as his starting points, his work as curator of the first India pavilion at the 54th Venice Biennale, as co-curator of the 7th Gwangju Biennale, as well as the key themes of his much-cited essay, ‘Biennials of Resistance’ (in The Biennial Reader, Hatje Cantz, 2010).

Ranjit Hoskote is a cultural theorist, curator and poet. He is the author of 20 books, including Vanishing Acts: New & Selected Poems 1985-2005 (Penguin, 2006) and Zinny & Maidagan: Compartment/ Das Abteil (Museum für Moderne Kunst, Frankfurt/ Verlag der Buchhandlung Walther König, 2010). Hoskote co-curated, with Hyunjin Kim and Artistic Director Okwui Enwezor, the 7th Gwangju Biennale (2008). He is curator for India’s first-ever national pavilion at the 54th Venice Biennale (2011) and is currently research scholar at BAK/ Basis voor actuele kunst, Utrecht (2010-2011).