Artists condemn Kiran Nadar Museum for terminating employee over critical FB post

A group comprising artists, academics, and concerned individuals have condemned the termination of a researcher from Kiran Nadar Museum of Art (KNMA) for having written a Facebook post critical of the museum’s chairperson, Kiran Nadar, publicly endorsing and supporting a series of propaganda events organised by the government at National Gallery of Modern Art (NGMA) in Delhi.

The manager of the Curatorial Research and Publications at KNMA, Dr Sandip K Luis, had written a post on the thematic exhibition titled “Jana Shakti”, which was held to commemorate the completion of 100 episodes of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s monthly radio broadcast programme “Mann Ki Baat”.

Curated by Alka Pande and supported by Nadar as the advisor, the exhibition featured the works of 13 contemporary artists, including GR Iranna, Manu Parekh, Madhavi Parekh, Riyas Komu, Atul Dodiya, Paresh Maity, Jagannath Panda, Manjunath Kamath, Thukral and Tagra and Vibha Galhotra.

In a statement, a group of artists underscored that the “Jana Shakti” exhibition has been criticised by both artists and critics, where art world luminaries were called out for participating in what was obviously a “self-aggrandising exercise of the union government to obfuscate ground realities of our times”. The statement noted that “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”. He recognised the systems of domination and exploitation that marked the emerging order of private wealth and its role in constructing false narratives using art and politics.

As a result of the post, Luis was served a ‘show cause’ notice mentioning his comment and then subsequently terminated from employment 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.

Luis said that he has not accepted the termination letter because it did not give the reason for his termination. “I gave a detailed response to the ‘show cause’ notice and I believed that they would get back to me with the reason for terminating my contract along with the clauses I violated. The show cause notice only mentions by Facebook post,” said Luis, who has been working with KNMA since 2019.

Criticising KNMA’s move to terminate Luis, Professor Shukla Sawant of Jawahar Lal Nehru University’s School of Arts and Aesthetics said it is important to remember that KNMA’s museum collection comprises art works which were critical commentary on the society. “You surely can’t remove a permanent employee for a Facebook post. Luis had written that piece as an academician and cultural commentator. It is not as if he has written anything against the institution he works at. There are processes as to how enquiries are done. Was that followed? Are they going to put gag orders on all commentary?” asks Sawant.

In his post, Luis had written, “The reason behind their betrayal, (or maybe the audacity to finally be open about their regressive politics), is very simple. As the day of the deluge and cleansing is near, one might desperately try every means to enter the list of the chosen ones prepared by the new art world oligarchs and to board Modi’s Ark. Those who are left behind might perish forever.”

He pointed out that every instance of compromise of organisations such as the NGMA exhibition or the Hindu sadhus attending the Nita Mukesh Ambani Cultural Centre (NMACC) Gala in Mumbai, could be read as an occasion of necessary pragmatism and diplomacy in the present political situation.

In the statement, the group of artists pointed out that it was 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.

“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. 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,” states the letter.

“This episode is a fall out of what the government is doing. We have entered an extremely dangerous period. The government is going after every institution, whether is it part of the government or not,” underscored Ram Rahman, contemporary Indian photographer and curator. He underscored that the termination of Luis is a bad sign for the future.

“It is damaging both for KNMA and Sandeep Luis. It is going to be difficult for him to get an institutional position and it reflects badly on KNMA. KNMA could have sorted it out with discussions without this kind of move,” said Rahman.

He pointed out that this was first time that the Sangh Parivar entered into the contemporary arts space. “That is a huge problem. In the past they have attacked MF Hussain, Vadodara Art school students. They have entered space which they have vilified in the past.

In addition to Luis, the “Jana Shakti” exhibition has been criticised by Shuddabrata Sengupta of Raqs Media Collective, Dr Santhosh Sadanand of Delhi’s BR Ambedkar University, Dr Parul Dave-Mukherji of JNU, Rohit Goel of Bombay Institute for Critical Analysis and Research and Dr Kavita Balakrishnan of Kerala’s University of Calicut. (This is not an exhaustive list.)

Messages and calls to KNMA director and chief curator Roobina Karode and KNMA founder Kiran Nadar went unanswered. This article will be updated, if and when they respond.