Neoliberalism and sustainability in the art ecosystem

This chapter examines the convergence of neoliberal processes and intensifying preoccupations with sustainability in the context of art in Mumbai. Neoliberal transformations in the city’s art ecosystem since the mid-1990s have centred around the expansion and globalisation of an art market, the hyper-commodification and increased visibility of Indian art, and the emergence of a heavily market-led art scene. This chapter argues that these trigger concomitant critiques, anxieties, and responses related to that system’s sustainability and well-being. Based on ethnographic fieldwork conducted in Mumbai between late 2011 and 2019, it focuses primarily on the perspectives of artists in these transformations. Firstly, it outlines the development of a gallery-centred Mumbai art ecosystem, with the crisis as a key turning point. Secondly, it examines artists’ “ecological concerns” around the sustainability and well-being of the urban art ecosystem and their manifestations. Whereas artists contend that the main problem is the dominance of commercial influence in the art ecosystem, juxtaposing contemporary voices and fine art’s historical relationship with the state in the mid-twentieth century suggests that what is actually unfolding is an impasse in art’s relation to its urban and societal environments.