Indian Winter

I just got back from a three week trip in india. While in Mumbai, I visited curator Johan Pijnappel and artist Nalini Malani. They just moved from Pune to Mumbai. Their house was still under renovated (see picture) - which was of course a nightmare.

It was great to catch up with Johan and to finally meet Nalini. We talked about contemporary art - of course, but also about the political, economic and social situation in India. And of course about the truly horrific visa procedures in the Netherlands.

Nalini is an internationally known artist, who's work travels from Biennale to Biennale. She has a 10 year multiple entry visa for the UK and a 12 year multiple entry visa for the USA. But the Netherlands will only give her a three month visa - and with a lot of difficulty at that, even though she is the partner of a Dutch national.

Admirably, Nalini's reaction is: 'well, you must admit the Netherlands does not discriminate.' She means that everybody, whether you're a famous artist or an illiterate farm girl, has to go through the same procedure: there is no preferential treatment for anybody.

This Autumn, there will be a big India festival in Amsterdam. The event includes artists, musicians, designers, architects, actors etc. I wonder whether they all have to go through the same procedure...To be honest: I cannot imagine a famous musician like, let's say Ravi Shankar, waiting in line at the Embassy to drop of three years of original tax accounts to prove he has sufficient means in India so he won't become an illegal immigrant. That would be truly embarrassing.