2023 Asia Arts Game Changer Awards India

Asia Society India Centre is delighted to announce the seventh edition of the Asia Arts Game Changer Awards India, which returns to its in-person avatar after two editions.

For more than thirty years, Asia Society has been a pioneer in identifying and fostering contemporary Asian artists, and engaging new audiences with their work. The Asia Arts Game Changer Awards India is an annual marquee convening of Asia Society that honors visionaries across the field of art and culture. Through three award categories, namely the Asia Arts Vanguard Award, Asia Arts Future Award (India) and Asia Arts Future Award (International), the ceremony pays tribute to artists and arts professionals who have made a significant contribution to the development of modern and contemporary art in South Asia and who inspire a deeper empathy and understanding of the world through their work. 

Past awardees include: Abir Karmakar, Akbar Padamsee, Arpita Singh, Benitha Perciyal, Gulammohammed Sheikh, Hamra Abbas, Himmat Shah, Jasmine Joseph Nilani, Jyoti Bhatt, Kochi Biennale Foundation, Krishen Khanna, Prabhakar Pachpute, Sohrab Hura, Sumakshi Singh, Sun Xun, teamLab, Tiffany Chung, Vibha Galhotra, Vivan Sundaram, and Yang Yongliang. 

While the Asia Arts Vanguard and Asia Arts Future awards celebrate artists from India, the Asia Arts Future Award (International) recognises artists from across Asia. Over the past two editions, we have consciously decided to spotlight South Asia through this Award, and was therefore presented to an artist from Pakistan and Sri Lanka respectively. This year, we are delighted to pay tribute to Bangladesh as part of this effort. Along with the esteemed arts committee, we are joined by Tanzim Wahab, curator, researcher, lecturer and festival director of Chobi Mela International Festival of Photography, as guest advisor for this category.

Co-chaired by the esteemed Pheroza Godrej, Sangita Jindal, Kiran Nadar and Radhika Chopra, the 2023 Asia Arts Game Changer Awards will see the coming together of major art collectors, artists, gallerists, curators and dignitaries from across South Asia, as well as Asia Society trustees and patrons.

The gala is supported by Bloomberg. 

2023 Asia Arts Game Changer Awards India

Invite - only, in-person gala

Friday, 10 February, 2023

7:00 PM (IST) onwards

HONOREES

Ark Foundation Asia Arts Vanguard Award 2023

Born in New Delhi in 1945, Nilima Sheikh studied History at the Delhi University (1962-65) and Painting at the Faculty of Fine Arts, Baroda. (1965-71).  She started exhibiting her work in 1969 and has had 12 solo shows and has participated in several group exhibitions in India and abroad. Her significant solo exhibitions include Lines Of Flight: Nilima Sheikh Archive,Asia Art Archive, Hong Kong; Each Night put Kashmir in your Dreams, The Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago (2014) and Chemould Prescott Road, Mumbai (2010), New Delhi (2011); Drawing Trails, Works on paper 2008-09, Gallery Espace, New Delhi (2009); The Country Without A Post Office: Reading Agha Shahid Ali, Gallery Chemould, Mumbai (2003);  Conversations with Tradition, Asia Society, New York (2001); Painted Drawings, Gallery Espace, New Delhi (1999); Song-Space, Gallery Chemould, at Max Muller Bhawan, Mumbai (1995); Song, Water, Air, Gallery Espace, New Delhi (1993).

Nilima Sheikh has also been a part of several group shows around the world including but not limited to, Dhaka Art Summit, Dhaka, 2020; Kochi Muziriz Biennale, Kochi, 2018; Documenta 14, Athens and Kassel, 2017; !n Transit 2, presented by Sakshi Gallery, Mumbai at the Alexander Ochs Galleries, Berlin Germany (2004); ; Edge of Desire, co-sponsored by the Asia Society, New York at the Art Gallery of Western Australia; Pictorial Space, Lalit Kala Akademi, New Delhi (1977); Art Today, II and IV, Kunika Chemould Art Centre, New Delhi (1969,71).

She has also worked alongside artist BV Suresh, to design and execute Conjoining Lands, a collaboration between artists and craftspeople from Vadodara and Srinagar. Conjoining Lands is a 50’ X 180’ multi-media mural, Terminal 2, Chhatrapati Shivaji Airport, Mumbai, 2011 – 2013. She is also one of the 150 artists from over 70 countries selected for the highly-anticipated Sharjah Biennial in 2023.

The artist currently works in Vadodara.

 Emami Art Asia Arts Future Award 2023

Dr Varunika Saraf is an artist and art historian based in Hyderabad. Saraf has participated in several group shows such as Sangam/Confluence, Heidelberger Kunstverein (2020),  Critical Constellations, Foundation for Indian Contemporary Art, New Delhi (2019), Days Without a Night, Max Mueller Bhavan, New Delhi (2018), and Phantoms of Asia, Asian Art Museum, San Francisco (2012). In 2016 Saraf received the Amol Vadehra Art Grant.  She was also the Summer Research Fellow at the Getty Research Institute, Visiting Fellow at the Max-Planck Institute, Florence,  NTICVA Visiting Fellow at the V&A Museum and the CWIT fellow at the Centre for South Asian Studies, University of Cambridge.  Saraf holds a PhD and an MPhil in Visual Studies from the School of Arts and Aesthetics, JNU, and an MFA in Painting from S. N. School, University of Hyderabad. She is represented by Chemould Prescott Road where she recently mounted her third solo show Caput Mortuum.  In her recent work, Saraf draws upon “apocalyptic manuscripts”, particularly the Augsburg Wunderzeichenbuch, a 16th century manuscript from Bavaria. She uses the medieval imagery of interpretations and revelations to develop a language that allows us to process violence, phenomena, and socio-political upheaval. She is also one of the 150 artists from over 70 countries selected for the highly-anticipated Sharjah Biennial in 2023.

The artist lives and works in Hyderabad.

DBF Asia Arts Future Award 2022

Gidree Bawlee Foundation of Arts started its journey in 2001 as a multidisciplinary platform focused on cultural and artistic explorations. It is a community-based arts organization running various creative programs and research in the village of Balia in Thakurgaon, in the northwestern corner of Bangladesh, with participation of several culturally diverse communities. Through its social practice and community focused activities, the organization attempts to create a balance of influence in the artistic process, and through that process develop artworks and projects that respond to local history, culture and the environment. As a community collective, Gidree Bawlee practices an organic mode of growth, similar to the agricultural fields open to change of form and structure, inventing ways to cope with all external interventions by putting in a collective effort.

The artists collectively live and work together in Bangladesh.

SPECIAL PERFORMANCE

Kartikeya and Makrand are eclectic musicians transcending known realms of sound by amalgamating flavours of ancient, classical, contemporary & future with their vibes, music & ambience.                                      

The duo has worked on several projects together. The exploratory percussions and classical inventiveness of the versatile Makrand Sanon combined with the soulful and surreal melodies of the prodigal flautist Kartikeya Vashist bring musical influences and ideas from World music, Folk, Indian classical to Jazz, Blues, Rock n Roll.  

Makrand Sanon is a versatile and experimental percussionist, performance artist and an experienced sound engineer who has been privileged to learn a wide range of instruments (starting from tabla, drums to djembe) and musicality throughout his expansive journey, which began not less than nineteen (19) years ago at a very tender age of five (5). Makrand later trained in Indian Classical music at the Pracheen Kala Kendra, Chandigarh for a period of over five years.Followed by learning Electronic Music at A.R. Rahman lead K.M. Music Conservatory, Chennai for a year. He is currently Pakhawaj learning under Pandit Mohan Shyam Sharma. He has additionally been experimenting with his sound of music and collaborating with artists from authentic, fresh and unique backgrounds.                                                                                                     

Kartikeya’s introduction to flute and music began at sixth grade when he purchased a flute from a local fair and tried playing it on his own. He took up flute in school and started learning Hindustani Classical under the guidance of Guru Shri Sujit Mandal (Maihar Gharana) from 2006. Sometime in 2010, he discovered Alghoza through YouTube videos and was fascinated by its sound. A year later, he traveled to Jaisalmer, Rajasthan and started learning the Rajasthani Alghoza under the guidance of Shri Tagaram Bheel (Moolsagar, Jaisalmer) while living in his village. In Jaisalmer, he met many other folk musicians and also picked up the Morchang. In June 2012, he traveled to Pandit Hari Prasad Chaurasia Ji’s Brindaban Gurukul, Bhubaneswar on a two-month music scholarship awarded by Krishna Prerna Trust, and experienced the tradition of Guru Shishya Parampara.

OUR HOST

Mallika Sagar works as an auctioneer and an art consultant in Mumbai. She works with Pundole’s, the auction house founded in 2011, as a Specialist and Auctioneer on their Estate sales, auctions of Ancient and Modern Indian Art as well as their multi-category Decorative Arts sales.

She also works as an independent art consultant, advising collectors of Modern and Contemporary Indian Art, a role that includes building collections and advising on ancillary issues. She also worked as the VIP Relations manager for Art Basel for four years.

Mallika began her career at Christie’s twenty-five years ago. After organizing the first auctions of Modern Indian Paintings in New York and Hong Kong, she moved back to Mumbai as the Christie’s India representative, organizing sales of Modern Indian art at international salerooms and serving as a general liaison for collectors based in India.

Mallika trained as an auctioneer with Christie’s in New York, and continues to take sales for Pundole’s and several charities around India to help them with their fundraising efforts. In the past she has served on the Advisory Committee of the National Gallery of Modern Art, India’s leading institution for Modern Art.

SPECIAL THANKS

Special thanks to our artist patrons, sponsors and supporters.

 Arts & Culture Partner                                                                 Streaming & Media Partner

Asia Arts Award Sponsors

 Production Partner                                                                     Venue and F&B Partner

Production Partner