It has been seven years since India’s National Pavilion was built at the Venice Biennale. Last week, at the India Art Fair in New Delhi, the Culture Ministry announced its return to the 61st Venice Biennale, sharing the artists and theme for the country’s official pavilion.
While the overarching theme of the biennale is in minor keysIndia’s pavilion is titled Geography of distance: homesickness And it is run by Indian-origin curator Amin Jafar, whose career includes senior roles at London’s Victoria and Albert Museum and Christie’s. Currently based in Venice, Jaafar is also the director of the Al Thani Collection, which houses artefacts from the ancient world to the present.
Curator Ameen Jafar
The pavilion will feature works by five artists from India – Alwar Balasubramaniam, Sumakshi Singh, Ranjani Shettar, Aseem Vakif, and Skarma Sonam Tashi – who are connected through their constant engagement with materials. “My initial proposal followed the single-artist model of Venice, but the ministry felt that the diversity of India required a multi-artist project,” says Jafar. “I expanded the offer, selecting artists whose messages were consistent so that visitors would arrive with a clear voice.” The practices of the five artists collectively reflect ideas of home, memory, and transformation.
India’s fifth artist Sumakshi Singh. Photo Credit: Sundar Ramu
Cosmopolitan and scholar, Jafar’s curatorial work has included exhibitions in West Asia, including last year’s historic Islamic Biennial in Saudi Arabia. He frequently visits India and is deeply involved in the contemporary art community of the county with friends in different cities. During the India Art Fair, to which he was returning after almost a decade, he was a ubiquitous presence at parties and events, from Sangeeta and Tarini Jindal’s banquet to Asia Society’s Game Changer Awards.
The India Pavilion is supported by the Nita Mukesh Ambani Cultural Center (NMACC) and Serendipity Arts Foundation. I spoke to Jafar – picture of chivalry in sleeveless black Bundi Despite running across town to lunch, art collector Kiran Nadar — dressed in a long-sleeve shirt — is all about his presentation and what message it will send to an international audience. Edited excerpts:
What was the inspiration behind India’s decision to return to the Venice Biennale with a dedicated pavilion?
About a year and a half ago, I was approached by NMACC to advise on a project for Venice and I suggested that rather than working alone, it would be important to support the Government of India initiative. When we contacted the government, we learned that the Culture Ministry had already decided to build a National Pavilion.
The Ministry invited me to make an artistic proposal [they had also solicited proposals from other curators]. My initial proposal followed the single-artist model of Venice, but the Ministry felt that the diversity of India required a multi-artist project. I expanded the offer, selecting artists whose messages were consistent so that visitors would arrive with a clear voice. After discussion the project was selected in October.
(L-R) Kamini Sahni, Board Member of CIMAM, with Vivek Aggarwal, Secretary, Ministry of Culture, Curator Amin Jafar and artist Sumakshi Singh. Photo Credit: Special Arrangement
What was the main curatorial idea guiding this pavilion?
Each National Pavilion is a separate project. The purpose of the pavilion is to reflect the overall theme of the biennale, which it does in a very concrete manner. The 2019 pavilion was about Gandhiji; This pavilion is something different. It is a message and story that applies and is representative of India, but is not unique to India.
The notions of home, change, continuity have been an academic interest of mine since the beginning of my education. The first article I published was on continuity and identity in the Ismaili community, which is my community – I wrote it when I was 19. Many of my projects, like furniture of british indiawere about the recreation of domestic life and how the Western presence changed it… so the question of defining home has been a constant throughout my career. I’m a member of the Indian diaspora – I feel very Indian, but I was born in Rwanda, my mother is from Kenya, and I’ve spent a lot of time in North America and Europe.
I considered this project very autobiographical. I grew up in a two-family home, my mother’s and my father’s. Both are no more. Ultimately both of them would be demolished. The idea of erasing the past, physical change, memory, the future, these are the things that are running through my mind. This is a theme that is very prevalent in art today, the question of where we are.
“The remarkable thing about Indians is that they retain a sense of Indianness. A lot of people say to me, six of your generations are in Africa. How do you feel so Indian? I am not unique in this. Indians have a deep attachment to their core values, a sense of family, language, food, dress. The pavilion, as I envisioned it, needed to reflect this. The materiality and practice is Indian. The vision of the world is a contemporary one.”Amin JafarCurator, India Pavilion, Venice Biennale 2026
Ameen Jafar Photo Credit: Joe Hubban
What is the theme of ‘In Minor Keys’?
On a piano keyboard, the major keys are triumphant, dominant, strong, and the minor keys are beautiful, introspective, delicate. When creating a project in minor keys, I felt, we would have to look at smaller materials. They should not have technology, complex metals and extremely powerful technologies. We should use materials that are delicate, fleeting, that have a sense of organic origin about them.
My particular mission was to ensure that our artists work with materials that are part of Indian civilization. We should use technologies related to our culture. Bala, working with terracotta, for example – terracotta sculpture goes back to the beginning of Indian civilization. Sumakshi working with thread; It is the basis of the Indian economy and a part of the freedom movement. Ranjani works to make flowers using traditional techniques coming from Karnataka. Giving flowers, garlanding someone, is deeply connected to our culture. Asim with bamboo, a material that is part of our civilization but also a material used in the scaffolding and building construction tradition in India. Conceptually, that’s what the project is about.
Asim Waqif’s art installation at Venu, London. It is designed using 610 pillars and 700 strips of bamboo tied together and supported by an industrial metal skeleton. | Photo Credit: Getty Images
What aspects of India did you most want this pavilion to convey to international audiences?
We wanted to create a pavilion that meant something to everyone who walked through the doors. That’s why I chose a topic that is particular to India, but universal. What is important is that India is well represented in an important pavilion by artists who reflect the originality and integrity of art practice in the country today.
In India, physical space is changing rapidly… old ways of living are being replaced by new ones, old architecture is being replaced by new architecture. Every year 15 million new people come to India. There are new townships, cities, neighborhoods. India is the fourth largest economy in the world today. Could an Indian have been the CEO of the channel 40 years ago? We have seen a paradigm shift in the identity of Indians and the way Indians are viewed across the world.
Do you see this pavilion as a form of soft power?
Each biennial pavilion is an expression of soft power. Using indigenous materials and technologies, we must create a project that is visionary and contemporary in its approach. We are a people who are very connected to our civilization. We’re visionaries, we embrace opportunities, we’re very quick learners. In Roman times there were communities of Indians at Mediterranean ports.
The remarkable thing about Indians is that they retain the spirit of Indianness. Many people say to me, six generations of yours have lived in Africa. How do you feel so Indian? I am not unique in this. Indians maintain this deep attachment to their core values, sense of family, language, food, dress. As I envisioned it, the pavilion needed to reflect this. Materiality and behavior are Indian. The world view is contemporary.
the sculpture Help By Italian artist Lorenzo Quinn in a vintage edition of the Venice Biennale | Photo Credit: Getty Images
Since the announcement of the pavilion, there has been some discussion about whether someone based in India might be better suited to manage it.
While living in Venice for several years, I dreamed that I would attend an Indian pavilion. This is something I have discussed over the years with curators, with biennale officials, with friends who have worked in an official capacity in the Indian government. It is a feeling of great personal achievement, pride, national pride. I am genetically 100% Indian. I eat Indian food. I listen to Indian music. I celebrate Indian things. I have OCI status, but I am an international individual. I would say more that this is the condition of Indians today. You talk to anyone in India, they have a brother in Los Angeles or a sister in Chicago. I don’t think creative vision, emotion, artistic expression is defined by geographical boundaries.
It is a public-private partnership. How do you balance different stakeholders?
This kind of project should not be directed by one person. This is decision making by consensus. I’ve been doing this all my life. When I started at the V&A in London, everything was decided by groups. Here, we have a steering committee, which represents all the key partners and various cultural institutions from India. Everyone comments, people have the right to disagree. We have a WhatsApp group and Zoom meetings. This is a public project, and it is important that everything is analyzed, discussed and approved together. This is the true reflection of India.
Geographies of Distance runs at the Venice Biennale from 9 May to 22 November.
The author is a Mumbai-based journalist and author.