Intersections of Contemporary Art, Anthropology and Art History in South Asia
Taking South Asia as its focus, this wide-ranging collection probes the general reluctance of the cultural anthropology to engage with contemporary visual art and artists, including painting, sculpture, performance art and installation. Through case studi
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INTERSECTIONS OF CONTEMPORARY ART , ANTHROPOLOGY AND ART HISTORY IN SOUTH ASIA Decoding Visual Worlds
Intersections of Contemporary Art, Anthropology and Art History in South Asia “Contemporary art is a complicated terrain. Artists everywhere are motivated by a critical impulse to engage with the ‘here and now,’ and they work like under-cover anthropologists, sociologists, archaeologists, political scientists, etc. In a scenario like this, contemporary art demands to be examined, and engaged with protocols that are beyond art history, art theory and aesthetics. As Sasanka Perera and Dev Nath Pathak convincingly argue here, if the nuanced nature of contemporary works of art is to be mapped and the organizational apparatus that makes it possible in the contemporary world is analyzed, then it must be placed in a wider canvas of critical engagement informed by disciplines such as sociology and cultural anthropology, and further, such an approach will transform contemporary art as a necessary focus of those disciplines. This is a volume that can induce a covert intellectual and political intervention in to the workings of individual eccentricities and curatorial, institutional and community politics that govern the art world today.” —Jagath Weerasinghe, Artist and Founding Chair, Theertha International Artists’ Collective, Sri Lanka “This is an unusual and vivid account of art and art history where its parameters are broadened to map its intersections with anthropology, sociology and history. Art and its crossovers are mapped with a view to enhance its horizon and making it more nuanced and complex. One of the first of its kind, the volume of essays by well-known art historians, art practitioners and sociologists, covers the wide arc of South Asian art from countries, apart from India, like Pakistan and Bangladesh as well as Sri Lanka and Nepal. The honing of artistic practices to disciplines like anthropology and sociology makes a valuable contribution to the existing framework of art history.” —Yashodhara Dalmia, Art Historian and Independent Curator, India “Intersections of Contemporary Art, Anthropology and Art History in South Asia: Decoding Visual Worlds attempts to understand the necessary dialogues between artists and sociologists in the postmodern world. It brings to us contemporary debates, which interlink art history, sociology, social anthropology and the thinking of practitioners. The contributors construct a map of South Asia as one, which beckons towards intellectual liberation.” —Susan Vishvanathan, Jawaharlal Nehru University, India
“This is a unique book that brings together scholars from sociology, anthropology, art history and art practice who critically discuss and debate contemporary art practices in South Asia. The essays in the book are rich, textured and evocative and they point to what the editors refer to as the ‘polyphonic intersections’ between art practice, art history and anthropology/sociology in South Asia. This book will be of tremendous value to not only students and scholars inter
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