The hottest art spots to visit this year

Where do poet TS Eliot’s women who ‘Come and go, talking of Michelangelo’, actually go? ‘The Love Song of J Alfred Prufrock’ is famously silent on that account, but art lovers are spoilt for choice with a calendar that is chockablock with art fairs, biennales (and triennales) and other art outings that span the world across all seasons. For collectors and those whose patronage matters, there are private viewings and vernissages ahead of public openings, for art is anything but democratic in its temperament and consumption. A curation of some of these events (dates mentioned here are public or general dates) could have you rub shoulders with the high and mighty of the art world even as it allows you a glimpse of some of the most cherished art (and other treasures) that the world is aching for a slice of.

Shanghai  Biennale
Shanghai, China
November 11, 2016-March 12, 2017
Launched in 1996, the eleventh biennale of Shanghai’s most influential art exposition has an exciting Indian connection this year—its curator, the New Delhi-based Raqs Media Collective, which raises the question ‘Why Not Ask Again?’ to knit different cities and time zones into a layered conversation. While it will be interesting to see what the exposition’s collaborators have come up with, especially given China’s great buying power and consumption of contemporary art, the Shanghai Biennale is a particularly potent voice in terms of Chinese—and Asian—contemporary art. The biennale engages with often troublesome discussions around the social, if not political, space.