Individual Resistance to Institutional Gaze:
Art Fairs, Kala Melas, Dasara Shows and the Soliloquy of K. Venkatappa

H. A. Anil KUmar

The tradition and history of Indian Art Fairs, Art Melas, Kala Godas and Chitrasanthes (fairs) are not comfortable in acknowledging a certain ancestry, despite knowing that they are not swayambus (selfborn or udhbhava-murthy). Most art fairs and Melas were by and large an economic extension of art education in their respective immediate contexts;
and also a public face of a considerable privately mystified preoccupation called art pedagogy. The Baroda ArtFair, Nandan Mela of Santiniketan and Dasara Festival at Mysore are a few cases. Most cities wherein artistresidencies flourish, themselves do not act as aliens to their own genealogical connection to the older art schools. The new tradition of artist-run-initiatives is the prodigal off shoot of their pedagogic ancestry, suffering from an intentional amnesia.