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Ranjit Hoskote (born 1969) is an Indian poet, art critic, cultural theorist and independent curator. He has been honoured by the Sahitya Akademi, India's National Academy of Letters, with the Sahitya Akademi Golden Jubilee Award and the Sahitya Akademi Prize for Translation.

Ranjit Hoskote
Ranjit Hoskoté at Leselenz Hausach 2012
OccupationContemporary Indian poet, art critic, cultural theorist and independent curator
NationalityIndian
Notable worksJonahwhale; Hunchprose
Notable awardsSahitya Akademi
SpouseNancy Adajania[1]

Early life and education


Ranjit Hoskote was born in Mumbai and educated at the Bombay Scottish School, Elphinstone College, where he studied for a BA in Politics, and later at University of Bombay, from where he obtained an MA degree in English Literature and Aesthetics.


Career


As poet

Hoskote began to publish his work during the early 1990s.[2][3] He is the author of several collections of poetry including Zones of Assault, The Cartographer's Apprentice, Central Time, Jonahwhale, The Sleepwalker's Archive and Vanishing Acts: New & Selected Poems 1985–2005. Hoskote has been seen as extending the Anglophone Indian poetry tradition established by Dom Moraes, Nissim Ezekiel, A.K. Ramanujan and others[4] through "major new works of poetry".[5] His work has been published in numerous Indian and international journals, including Poetry Review (London), Wasafiri, Poetry Wales, Nthposition, The Iowa Review, Green Integer Review, Fulcrum (annual), Rattapallax, Lyric Poetry Review, West Coast Line, Kavya Bharati, Prairie Schooner, Coldnoon: Travel Poetics, The Four-Quarters Magazine and Indian Literature. His poems have also appeared in German translation in Die Zeit, Akzente, the Neue Zuercher Zeitung, Wespennest and Art & Thought/ Fikrun-wa-Fann. He has translated the Marathi poet Vasant Abaji Dahake, co-translated the German novelist and essayist Ilija Trojanow, and edited an anthology of contemporary Indian verse.[6][7] His poems have appeared in anthologies including Language for a New Century (New York: W. W. Norton, 2008).[8] and The Bloodaxe Book of Contemporary Indian Poets (Newcastle: Bloodaxe, 2008).[9]

Hoskote has also translated the 14th-century Kashmiri mystic-poet Lal Ded, variously known as Lalleshwari, Lalla and Lal Arifa, for the Penguin Classics imprint, under the title I, Lalla: The Poems of Lal Ded. This publication marks the conclusion of a 20-year-long project of research and translation for the author.[10][11][12][13][14]

Reviewing Hoskote's third volume, The Sleepwalker's Archive, for The Hindu in 2001, the poet and critic Keki Daruwalla wrote: "It is the way he hangs on to a metaphor, and the subtlety with which he does it, that draws my admiration (not to mention envy)... Hoskote’s poems bear the 'watermark of fable': behind each cluster of images, a story; behind each story, a parable. I haven’t read a better poetry volume in years."[15]

Commenting on Hoskote's poetry on Poetry International Web, the poet and editor Arundhathi Subramaniam observes: "His writing has revealed a consistent and exceptional brilliance in its treatment of image. Hoskote’s metaphors are finely wrought, luminous and sensuous, combining an artisanal virtuosity with passion, turning each poem into a many-angled, multifaceted experience."[16][17]

In 2004, a year in which Indian poetry in English lost three of its most important figures – Ezekiel, Moraes, and Arun Kolatkar – Hoskote wrote obituaries for these "masters of the guild".[18][19][20][21] Hoskote has also written about the place of poetry in contemporary culture.[22][23]

As a literary organiser, Hoskote has been associated with the PEN All-India Centre, the Indian branch of International PEN, since 1986, and is currently its general secretary, as well as Editor of its journal, Penumbra. He has also been associated with the Poetry Circle Bombay since 1986, and was its president from 1992 to 1997.

As art critic

Hoskote has been placed by research scholars in a historic lineage of five major art critics active in India over a sixty-year period: "William George Archer, Richard Bartholomew, Jagdish Swaminathan, Geeta Kapur, and Ranjit Hoskote... played an important role in shaping contemporary art discourse in India, and in registering multiple cultural issues, artistic domains, and moments of history."[24][25] Hoskote was principal art critic for The Times of India, Bombay, from 1988 to 1999. In his role as religion and philosophy editor for The Times, he began a popular column on spirituality, sociology of religion, and philosophical commentary, "The Speaking Tree" (he named the column, which was launched in May 1996, after the benchmark 1971 study of Indian society and culture, The Speaking Tree, written by scholar and artist Richard Lannoy).[26] Hoskote was an art critic and senior editor with The Hindu, from 2000 to 2007, contributing to its periodical of thought and culture, Folio.[27]

In his role as an art critic, Hoskote has authored a critical biography as well as a major retrospective study of the painter Jehangir Sabavala, and also monographs on the artists Atul Dodiya, Tyeb Mehta, Sudhir Patwardhan, Baiju Parthan, Bharti Kher and Iranna GR. He has written major essays on other leading Indian artists, including, among others, Gieve Patel, Bhupen Khakhar, Akbar Padamsee, Mehlli Gobhai, Vivan Sundaram, Laxman Shreshtha, Surendran Nair,[28] Jitish Kallat, the Raqs Media Collective, Shilpa Gupta and Sudarshan Shetty. Hoskote has also written a monographic essay on the Berlin-based artists Dolores Zinny and Juan Maidagan.[29]

As cultural theorist

As a cultural theorist, Hoskote has addressed the cultural and political dynamics of postcolonial societies that are going through a process of globalisation, emphasising the possibilities of a 'non-western contemporaneity',[30] "intercultural communication"[31] and "transformative listening".[32] He has also returned often to the theme of the "nomad position"[33][34] and to the polarity between "crisis and critique".[35] In many of his writings and lectures, Hoskote examines the relationship between the aesthetic and the political, describing this as a tension between the politics of the expressive and the expressivity of the political. He has explored, in particular, the connections between popular visual art, mass mobilisations and the emergence of fluid and fluctuating identities within the evolving metropolitan cultures of the postcolonial world, and in what he has called the nascent "third field" of artistic production by subaltern producers in contemporary India, which is "neither metropolitan nor rural, neither (post)modernist nor traditional, neither derived from academic training nor inherited without change from tribal custom" and assimilates into itself resources from the global archive of cultural manifestations.[36][37][38]

Hoskote has also speculated, in various essays, on the nature of a "futurative art" possessed of an intermedia orientation, and which combines critical resistance with expressive pleasure.[39] He writes that "the modern art-work is often elegiac in nature: it mourns the loss of beauty through scission and absence; it carries within its very structure a lament for the loss of beauty."[40][41]

In a series of essays, papers and articles published from the late 1990s onward, Hoskote has reflected on the theme of the asymmetry between a 'West' that enjoys economic, military and epistemological supremacy and an 'East' that is the subject of sanction, invasion and misrepresentation. In some of these writings, he dwells on the historic fate of the "House of Islam" as viewed from the West and from India, while in others, he retrieves historic occasions of successful cultural confluence, when disparate belief systems and ethnicities have come together into a fruitful and sophisticated hybridity.[42][43]

Hoskote, in collaboration with wife Nancy Adajania, has focused on transcultural artistic practice, its institutional conditions, systems of production and creative outcomes, and the radical transformations that it brings about in the relationship between regional art histories and a fast-paced global art situation that is produced within the international system of biennials, collaborative projects, residencies and symposia.[44][45][46][47]

As curator

Hoskote was co-curator of the 7th Gwangju Biennale (2008) in South Korea, collaborating with Okwui Enwezor and Hyunjin Kim.[48][49][50][51]

In 2011, Hoskote was invited to act as curator of the first-ever professionally curated national pavilion of India at the Venice Biennale, organised by the Lalit Kala Akademi, India's National Academy of Art. Hoskote titled the pavilion "Everyone Agrees: It's About To Explode", and selected works by the artists Zarina Hashmi, Gigi Scaria, Praneet Soi, and the Desire Machine Collective for it. The pavilion was installed in the central Artiglierie section of the Arsenale. Hoskote wrote that his pavilion was "intended to serve as a laboratory in which we will test out certain key propositions concerning the contemporary Indian art scene. Through it, we could view India as a conceptual entity that is not only territorially based, but is also extensive in a global space of the imagination." In making his selection of artists, the curator aimed to "represent a set of conceptually rigorous and aesthetically rich artistic practices that are staged in parallel to the art market. Furthermore, these have not already been valorized by the gallery system and the auction-house circuit.... The Indian manifestation will also focus on artistic positions that emphasize the cross-cultural nature of contemporary artistic production: some of the most significant art that is being created today draws on a diversity of locations, and different economies of image-making and varied cultural histories."[52][53][54][55][56][57]

As cultural activist

Hoskote is a defender of cultural freedoms against the monopolistic claims of the State, religious pressure groups and censors, whether official or self-appointed. He has been involved in organising protest campaigns in defence of victims of cultural intolerance.[58][59][60][61][62]

Awards, grants and residencies

Hoskote has been a Visiting Writer and Fellow of the International Writing Program of the University of Iowa (1995) and was writer-in-residence at the Villa Waldberta, Munich (2003). He has also held a writing residency as part of the Goethe-Institut/ Polnisches Institut project, "The Promised City: Warsaw/ Berlin/ Mumbai" (2010).[63] He was awarded the Sanskriti Award for Literature, 1996, and won All India Poetry Prize at British Council/Poetry Society All-India Poetry Competition, 1997. India's National Academy of Letters honoured him with the Sahitya Akademi Golden Jubilee Award in 2004. The S. H. Raza Foundation conferred its 2006 Raza Award for Literature on Hoskote.

Hoskote has held an Associate Fellowship with Sarai CSDS, a new-media initiative of the Centre for the Study of Developing Societies (CSDS), New Delhi, and is in the process of developing, jointly with Nancy Adajania, a new journal of critical inquiry in the visual arts.[64]

Hoskote has been researcher-in-residence at BAK/ basis voor actuele kunst, Utrecht, and is a contributor to BAK's long-term Former West platform.[65][66] Hoskote currently lives and works in Mumbai.


Bibliography



Poetry


REVIEW INTERVIEW

REVIEW

REVIEW REVIEW


Non fiction



As editor



As translator



Poetry Anthologies



Exhibitions curated



See also



References


  1. "Ranjit Hoskote: Portrait of a poet as historian".
  2. See Wikipedia entry on Indian Writing in English.
  3. See 'another subcontinent' forum, for a close reading and discussion of Ranjit Hoskote's poetry and poetics
  4. "Anjum Hasan, 'Watering the Desert: Modern Indian-English Poetry'". Archived from the original on 3 September 2014. Retrieved 28 August 2014.
  5. Douglas Messerli's essay on Ranjit Hoskote's poetry, 'Cultivating Mirages'
  6. See Penguin Books India: Author Lounge
  7. See, also, Rizio Raj's contextualisation of Hoskote's generation of poets Archived 22 May 2007 at the Wayback Machine
  8. Language for a New Century, eds. Tina Chang, Nathalie Handal & Ravi Shankar (New York: W. W. Norton & Company, 2008)
  9. The Bloodaxe Book of Contemporary Indian Poets, ed. Jeet Thayil (Newcastle: Bloodaxe, 2008).
  10. Kashmir's wise old Grandmother Lal Review by Aditi De, of Ranjit Hoskote’s I, Lalla in The Hindu/ Business Line.
  11. Mystic insights Review by Abdullah Khan, of I, Lalla in The Hindu
  12. Words are floating Review by Jerry Pinto, of I, Lalla in Hindustan Times
  13. I, Lalla/ Songs of Kabir Archived 26 March 2012 at the Wayback Machine Extracts from Ranjit Hoskote's I, Lalla and Arvind Krishna Mehrotra's Songs of Kabir in The Caravan.
  14. Lalla and Kabir, resurrected Article by Nilanjana S. Roy, on Ranjit Hoskote's I, Lalla and Arvind Krishna Mehrotra's Songs of Kabir.
  15. "Keki Daruwalla's review of Hoskote's 'The Sleepwalker's Archive'". Archived from the original on 22 July 2011. Retrieved 22 October 2007.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link)
  16. "Arundhathi Subramaniam's introduction to Hoskote's work". Archived from the original on 23 July 2012. Retrieved 2 January 2007.
  17. See, also, 'Spy, Interpreter, Double Agent': interview with Ranjit Hoskote by Arundhathi Subramaniam Archived 31 August 2007 at the Wayback Machine
  18. See Ranjit Hoskote: Obituary essay for Nissim Ezekiel
  19. See Ranjit Hoskote: Obituary essay for Dom Moraes
  20. See Ranjit Hoskote: Front-page obituary for Dom Moraes
  21. See Ranjit Hoskote: Editorial Page obituary for Arun Kolatkar
  22. See Ranjit Hoskote: "State of enrichment"[Usurped!]
  23. See Ranjit Hoskote: "Poet's nightmare"[Usurped!]
  24. "Vidya Shivadas, "Mapping the field of Indian art criticism: Post-Independence", Asia Art Archive research project". Archived from the original on 3 September 2014. Retrieved 29 August 2014.
  25. "Vidya Shivadas, "Mapping the field of Indian art criticism: Post-Independence", Asia Art Archive research project" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 11 June 2014. Retrieved 29 August 2014.
  26. See Richard Lannoy, The Speaking Tree Archived 26 September 2007 at the Wayback Machine
  27. See Index of The Hindu: Folio.[Usurped!]
  28. See Ranjit Hoskote, "The Openness of Secrecy: Soliloquy and Conversation in the Art of Surendran Nair". Archived 11 July 2011 at the Wayback Machine
  29. See Extract from Ranjit Hoskote, "The Irresistible Call of the Future: On Zinny + Maidagan's Das Abteil/ Compartment".
  30. See Concept note for Heinrich Böll Stiftung international conference on "Identities versus Globalisation" (Chiang Mai, 2004). Archived 7 February 2007 at the Wayback Machine
  31. See Proceedings of Res Artis annual meeting (New Delhi, 1998).
  32. See Ranjit Hoskote, "Notes towards the Possibility of Transformative Listening" (Initiative Humboldt-Forum, Berlin, April 2010). Archived 20 July 2011 at the Wayback Machine
  33. See Reflection by Ranjit Hoskote on "The Nomad Position" Archived 28 August 2006 at the Wayback Machine
  34. See Essay by Ranjit Hoskote on the Raqs Media Collective. Archived 27 September 2007 at the Wayback Machine
  35. See Essay by Ranjit Hoskote in Sarai Reader 04/ "Crisis/Media".
  36. See Ranjit Hoskote's review of Christopher Pinney's Photos of the Gods: The Printed Image and Political Struggle in India. Archived 9 February 2007 at the Wayback Machine
  37. See Ranjit Hoskote's essay, "Performing a Life, Living a Performance", on Alex Fernandes: Tiatristes Archived 16 December 2007 at the Wayback Machine
  38. See Ranjit Hoskote, "Now that the trees have spoken". Archived 21 July 2011 at the Wayback Machine
  39. See Essay by Ranjit Hoskote for the Jochen Gerz Foundation's Anthology of Art project (2001)
  40. See Essay by Ranjit Hoskote: "Experiences Parallel to Beauty" Archived 24 November 2006 at the Wayback Machine
  41. See, also, Review in The Hindu: "Battling with beauty"
  42. See Broadcast by Ranjit Hoskote for BBC[permanent dead link]
  43. Essay by Ranjit Hoskote on the Ramayana as a travelling text[Usurped!]
  44. See Ranjit Hoskote, "Signposting the Indian Highway" Archived 14 January 2011 at the Wayback Machine
  45. See Nancy Adajania & Ranjit Hoskote, "Notes towards a Lexicon of Urgencies" (Independent Curators International, Dispatch. Archived 6 October 2010 at the Wayback Machine
  46. See Ranjit Hoskote & Nancy Adajania, in NJP Reader # 1: Contributions to an Artistic Anthropology. Archived 14 March 2012 at the Wayback Machine
  47. See The Biennial Reader, edited by Marieke van Hal and Solveig Ovstebo
  48. Gwangju Biennale website[permanent dead link]
  49. Artforum: Philip Tinari's review of 7th Gwangju Biennale 2008
  50. Art in America: Eleanor Heartney's review of 7th Gwangju Biennale 2008.
  51. "Art in Asia: Feature on 7th Gwangju Biennale 2008". Archived from the original on 28 April 2010. Retrieved 7 January 2009.
  52. The Biennial Foundation: note on India pavilion, 54th Venice Biennale.
  53. "La Biennale di Venezia: note on India pavilion". Archived from the original on 20 August 2011. Retrieved 21 August 2011.
  54. Domus: Radhika Desai's review-feature on India Pavilion, 54th Venice Biennale, curated by Ranjit Hoskote.
  55. The Hindu: Rana Siddiqui Zaman's report on India Pavilion, 54th Venice Biennale
  56. Los Angeles Times: Jori Finkel's report on 54th Venice Biennale.
  57. Outlook: Maseeh Rahman's column on 54th Venice Biennale and the India pavilion.
  58. See Ranjit Hoskote: "Enemies of cultural freedom"
  59. See Ranjit Hoskote, "Painting the art world red"
  60. See Amit Varma: The India Uncut blog
  61. See Ranjit Hoskote, 'Liberally dispensing death'
  62. See Letter from PEN All-India Centre, protesting attacks on Indian Christians
  63. See Ranjit Hoskote, writer-in-residence, "The Promised City".
  64. See Nancy Adajania & Ranjit Hoskote: A New Journal for the Arts Archived 7 June 2007 at the Wayback Machine
  65. See BAK: 4th Former West Research Congress
  66. See BAK: On Horizons, a Critical Reader in Contemporary Art
  67. "Nothing is Absolute: - JNAF". Retrieved 20 April 2021.


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