UPDATE

This statement has been issued by concerned individuals in support of Sandip K Luis. We are publishing it here on Kafila in solidarity and to amplify the call, as we routinely do with many such statements. Those who issued the statement have nothing to do with Kafila, although some individuals associated with Kafila have also endorsed the statement. We feel this clarification is necessary as some reports say that the group that issued this statement runs Kafila. This is incorrect.

Link to endorse this statement at the end.

We the undersigned, artists,  academics and other concerned individuals,  have come to know that Dr Sandip K. Luis, Manager, Curatorial Research & Publications at the Kiran Nadar Museum of Art (KNMA),  has arbitrarily been terminated from work. The action was taken  for a Facebook post he made on 15th May 2023 which was critical of the chairperson of the museum Ms. Kiran Nadar in her individual capacity, for supporting and publicly endorsing a series of propaganda events of the current  government of India being showcased at the National Gallery of Modern Art (NGMA) in Delhi.

The Facebook post was also published here:

Decoding Jan Shakti at National Gallery of Modern Art -there is no Schindler’s List! 

We strongly condemn Sandip’s termination from employment and demand his immediate reinstatement by KNMA.

Subsequent to the inauguration of an exhibition in May 2023, titled Jana Shakti (a celebration of the Prime Minister’s monthly radio propaganda Mann ki baat) curated by Alka Pande, supported by Ms. Nadar as the Advisor,  a number of articles appeared in the press and on social media that called out art world luminaries, for participating in what was obviously a self-aggrandizing  exercise of the government of India. The exhibition in effect had  instrumentalized  artists and artworks to obfuscate ground realities of our times. Sandip in his capacity as an academic, contributed to this discussion through his social media post, not as an employee of the museum,  but as a thinking individual who recognized the systems of domination and exploitation that marked the emerging order of private wealth  and its  role in constructing  false narratives of art and politics around.   In response, he was served a “show cause” notice and then subsequently terminated from employment in a highly opaque manner by the museum where he was employed; a museum that is supported by the Shiv Nadar Foundation, the Corporate Social Responsibility arm of HCL Tech.

It is odd that the chairperson  of the KNMA, a museum renowned for its collection of critically acclaimed art works and curated shows,  was  not able to accept criticism of her own shortcomings. Mrs. Nadar’s support of a regressive propagandist event seems to indicate her inability to understand the critical function of art in the present political climate, and her lack of subject expertise to shape art exhibitions in general.

It is important to point out that the cultural capital accrued by Mrs  Nadar is the result of hard work put in by many individuals who work behind the scenes of the  institution that carries her name, the Kiran Nadar Museum of Art. They bring  to bear their academic training in identifying important   strands of thinking, significance  of artworks and advise her on how to build a historically relevant art collection. Curation requires depth of knowledge, theorizing and narrativizing for  public access and knowledge creation.

At present, when we’re locked in a  crisis where government run cultural institutions have become instruments of state sponsored propaganda rather than spaces for critical thinking, it becomes even more important that those who have the power to support a thriving artworld, understand its transformative power  rather than seeing art as just another aspect of conducting  business as usual. We therefore expect even private museums to function as forms of public good rather than personal fiefdoms of the wealthy.

To dismiss a museum  employee  for a social media post made in his individual capacity points to  a high-handed way of functioning that does not recognize the constitutionally enshrined right to free speech. The artworld requires critically informed  voices to be given the space to express  concerns that will shape its future in a constructive way.

Hence, we undersigned demand the reinstatement of Dr Sandip K. Luis on the post that he held before (Manager, Curatorial Research & Publications) with immediate effect.

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSeEy9Aa64Wd5YQBQCIiiUsiePhDRTkYKW4NySLOuGjilysc_w/viewform?vc=0&c=0&w=1&flr=0&pli=1