Sadanand Menon

Sadanand Menon works in the charged space between culture and politics. He is an editor, columnist, photographer, arts curator and stage lights designer. He has been in an executive/advisory capacity at the National Museum, Delhi; Lalit Kala Akademi, Delhi; National Gallery of Modern Art, Bengaluru; Indian Institute of Advanced Study, Shimla; National School of Drama, Delhi; Board for Intangible Cultural Heritage Delhi. He is trustee, Dakshinachitra, Chennai and Managing Trustee of the arts foundation, SPACES, Chennai. He has taught and lectured at various universities/ colleges across India. A long-time collaborator with dancer/ choreographer Chandralekha, he is deeply involved with issues connected with the creation of a contemporary Indian dance. Besides several art and photography exhibitions and performing art events, he has curated landmark Retrospectives of senior artists Dashrath Patel (NGMA, Delhi/Mumbai); Balan Nambiar (NGMA, Bengaluru) and S.G. Vasudev (NGMA, Bengaluru/Mumbai). Many of his essays are part of volumes on art, performance and politics, the latest being for the book On Nationalism (Aleph, 2016), along with Romila Thapar and A.G. Noorani. He is a recipient of Kerala Government’s prestigious ‘Kesari Balakrishna Pillai Award’ (2010) for his contributions to art criticism.