Devika Singh is an art historian, art critic and curator who specialises in modern and contemporary art in their global contexts, with a particular emphasis on art in South Asia and the transnational history of 20th-century art. As a critic and curator, Singh has worked with a number of international contemporary artists. At the Courtauld she is the co-lead of the new Master鈥檚 Programme in curating.
Before joining the Courtauld in 2022 she was Curator, International Art at Tate Modern. At Tate she was part of the Hyundai Tate Research Centre: Transnational, leading and convening a number of research events that advanced new perspectives on global art histories. Singh was also the curator in charge of museum displays and acquisitions of South Asian art for the Tate collection. She was previously Smuts Research Fellow at the Centre of South Asian Studies at the University of Cambridge and a fellow at the Centre allemand d鈥檋istoire de l鈥檃rt (Max Weber Foundation) in Paris. She has been a member of the 鈥極bservatoire: Globalisation, Art et Prospective鈥 at the Institut National d鈥橦istoire de l鈥橝rt (INHA, Paris).
Devika Singh completed an hypo-kh芒gne and a kh芒gne at Lyc茅e Condorcet in Paris and holds a BA (first class honours) in the history of art from the University of Cambridge (King鈥檚 College) and an MA (with distinction) from the Courtauld Institute of Art, which was funded by the Arts and Humanities Research Board (AHRB). She worked at Marian Goodman Gallery in Paris before pursuing her PhD in the history of art (Cambridge, 2013) supported by the AHRC and a Knox studentship from Trinity College. Her thesis dealt with the reception and representation of Mughal art and architectural history in twentieth-century India and led to articles in Art History, Modern Asian Studies and the Journal of Art Historiography. She has held an AHRC fellowship at the Kluge Center, Library of Congress, Washington DC, a Deutscher Akademischer Austausch Dienst (DAAD) fellowship at the Freie Universit盲t, Berlin, an Andr茅 Chastel fellowship of the INHA at the French Academy at Rome (Villa Medici) and was a resident of the Office for Contemporary Art, Oslo (OCA)鈥檚 International Studio Programme.
She has curated internationally in a diversity of contexts. She co-curated 鈥楪edney in India鈥 (Jehangir Nicholson Art Foundation, Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Vastu Sangrahalaya, CSMVS, Mumbai, 2017; Duke University, 2018) and curated exhibitions including 鈥楶lanetary Planning鈥 (Dhaka Art Summit, 2018), the India pavilion at Dubai Photo (Dubai Design District, 2016); 鈥楬omelands: Art from Bangladesh, India and Pakistan鈥 (Kettle鈥檚 Yard, Cambridge, 2019-20) as well as a number of displays at Tate Modern including Lee Mingwei鈥檚 Our Labyrinth (Turbine Hall, Tate Modern, 2022). She was also a curator of the Voices sector at the last edition of Paris Photo (2025).
Her writing has appeared widely in English and in French in exhibition catalogues of international museums and institutions (including The Museum of Modern Art, New York, the Barbican, the Office for Contemporary Art, Oslo and the Centre Pompidou), in art magazines such as frieze, Art Press and MARG and in the journals Third Text, Modern Asian Studies, the Journal of Art Historiography and Art History. Her book International Departures: Art in India after Independence, for which she received a research grant from the British Academy and a publication grant from the Paul Mellon Centre, was published in December 2023 with Reaktion Books.
She is a member of several professional bodies, including CIMAM, is a founding advisory board member of Art South Asia Project (ASAP), regularly nominates and juries for art prizes, recently jurying for the Rencontres d’Arles, the Cavendish Arts Science fellowship and Studio Voltaire, and she is a joint editor of the Oxford Art Journal.
Current teaching at the Courtauld
MA Curating Programme co-lead (major administrative role)
History and Theory of Curating – MA core module (convenor and lecturer)
Working with Collections – MA elective module (convenor and lecturer)
Group Exhibition Project 1 and 2 – MA core modules (co-convenor and lecturer)
Critical Debates: Migrations – MA core module (lecturer)
Exhibiting Art – BA2 core module (convenor 2024 and 2025; lecturer)
Another Story: A Transnational History of Postwar Exhibitions – BA3 elective module (2023, 2024 and 2025 convenor and lecturer)
Publications
Book monograph:听
International Departures: Art in India after Independence, Reaktion Books, London, 2023
See here for endorsements and excerpts of reviews and book selections in Apollo, Critique d’Art, Les Cahiers du Mus茅e National d’Art Moderne, Art Margins, Take on Art, Morning Star听and Hyperallergic:
Select articles, book chapters and exhibition catalogues (please scroll further down for shorter texts):
(forthcoming) with Ming Tiampo, ‘Venir 脿 Paris, venir aux Beaux-Arts ? Formation et artistes des Suds globaux’, in Lucie Lachenal, D茅borah Laks, France Nerlich and Alice Thomine-Berrada, Reg’Arts, Beaux Arts de Paris, Paris, 2026.
‘Strangers into Neighbours’, in Tamsin Hong (ed.), Arpita Singh: Remembering, Serpentine, London, 2025, pp. 28-33.
‘Vers de nouvelles narrations de l’art au mus茅e’ (op-ed), The Art Newspaper (French edition), no. 69, December 2024, p. 12.
‘The City: True and Tangible’, in Shanay Jhaveri (ed.), The Imaginary Institution of India: Art 1975-1998, Barbican, London and Prestel, Munich, 2024, pp. 134-147.
鈥楶lanning and Dreaming: Architecture and the Media鈥, in Sean Anderson, Anoma Pieris and Martino Stierli (eds), The Project of Independence: Architectures of Decolonization in South Asia, The Museum of Modern Art, New York, 2022, pp. 135-141.
鈥楻evisiting the History of SAHMAT: Devika Singh in conversation with Ram Rahman鈥, in Actions of Art and Solidarity Reader: Radical Actions, Politics and Friendships, OCA, Oslo, 2022, pp. 259-268.
鈥楪erman-Speaking Exiles in the Bombay Art World鈥, in Partha Mitter, Parul Dave Mukherji and Rakhee Balaram (eds), 20th-Century Indian Art, Thames & Hudson, London, 2022, pp. 158-160.
鈥楾ransnationalism and the work of Isamu Noguchi: A conversation between Karen Ishizuka, Katy Siegel, Dahn Vo and Devika Singh鈥 (conversation chair) in Fabienne Eggelh枚fer, Rita Kersting and Florence Ostende鈥 (eds), Isamu Noguchi, Prestel, Munich, 2021, pp. 254-259.
鈥楢 Million Mutinies Now: Art and Architecture in Conflict in 1970s India鈥, in Glenn D. Lowry (ed.) Art and Conflict (special issue), MARG, June 2020.
Editor (with Amy Tobin), Homelands: Art from Bangladesh, India and Pakistan, Kettle鈥檚 Yard, Cambridge, 2019.
鈥楬omelands: An Introduction鈥, in Homelands: Art from Bangladesh, India and Pakistan, Kettle鈥檚 Yard, Cambridge, 2019.
鈥楢rchives of Home and Homelessness: Devika Singh in conversation with Homi K. Bhabha鈥, in Homelands: Art from Bangladesh, India and Pakistan, Kettle鈥檚 Yard, Cambridge, 2019.
鈥業ndian art and the Bangladesh War: Somnath Hore, K.G. Subramanyan and Bhupen Khakhar in a time of 鈥渦pheaval and chaos鈥濃, in Natasha Eaton and Alice Correa (eds), Third Text, special issue, Autumn 2017, pp. 459-476.
鈥楪erman-speaking exiles and the writing of Indian art history鈥 in Journal of Art Historiography, no.17, December 2017: https://arthistoriography.files.wordpress.com/2017/11/singh.pdf
鈥 鈥淭he Time lived by others鈥: Indian art reviews after independence鈥, in Katya Garc铆a Ant贸n and Antonio Cataldo (eds), Critical Writing Ensemble, Office for Contemporary Art (OCA)/Mousse Publishing, Oslo/Milan, 2017, pp. 218-227.
Guest editor, India-France: Artistic Exchanges, MARG, September-December 2017.
鈥楳ukti Bahini Soldier鈥, in Chris Dercon and Nada Raza (eds), Bhupen Khakhar: You can鈥檛 please all, Tate, London, 2016, pp. 32-35.
鈥業samu Noguchi and Jaipur鈥檚 Jantar Mantar鈥, Hannah Barry Gallery, London, 2016 (contribution to a book on Mohammed Qasim Ashfaq), 2016.
鈥 鈥淒es ciels gris de crystal鈥. Mots pour Christoph von Weyhe鈥, in Donatien Grau (ed.), Christoph von Weyhe. Au silence, Association Azzedine Ala茂a/Actes Sud, Paris/Arles, 2016, pp. 49-57.
鈥楾he In-Coming Passengers鈥 (on artist Desmond Lazaro), in Desmond Lazaro, The In-Coming Passengers, Chemould Gallery, Mumbai, 2016.
鈥楨brahim Alkazi and Exhibition-Making: Revisiting the Post-Independence Indian Art Scene鈥, in Parul Dave Mukherji (ed.), Directing Art: A Tribute to Ebrahim Alkazi, Mapin, Ahmedabad, 2016, pp. 152-167.
鈥楲earning from Chandigarh: Architecture and Photography鈥, in Shanay Jhaveri (ed.), Chandigarh is in India, The Shoestring Publisher, Mumbai, 2016, pp. 232-240 & pp. 273-281.
鈥榋arina’s Folding House’, in Zarina: Folding House, Gallery Espace, New Delhi, 2014.
鈥業ndian Nationalist Art History and the Writing and Exhibiting of Mughal Art, 1910-1948鈥, Art History, volume 36, issue 5, 2013, pp. 1042-1069.
鈥楢pproaching the Mughal Past in Indian Art Criticism: The Case of MARG (1946-1963)鈥, Modern Asian Studies, volume 47, issue 1, 2013, pp. 167-203.
鈥楢 Modern Formation? Circulating International Art in India, 1950s-1970s鈥, in Shanay Jhaveri (ed.), Western Artists and India: Creative Inspirations in Art and Design, Thames and Hudson, London, and The Shoestring Publisher, Mumbai, 2013, pp. 46-57.
鈥楢 German Insider in Bombay Cinema: Franz Osten鈥檚 Situated Orientalism鈥, in Shanay Jhaveri (ed.), Memory and Representation, Cultuur Centrum Brugge, Bruges, 2012, pp. 28-33.
鈥楥ontextualiser l鈥檃rt contemporain indien. Une histoire des expositions de groupe de 1968 脿 nos jours鈥, in Sophie Duplaix and Fabrice Bousteau (eds), Paris-Delhi-Bombay, Editions du Centre Pompidou, Paris, 2011, pp. 88-95.
鈥楾he Compass that keeps on spinning鈥 (on artist Amar Kanwar), in Juan Guardiola (ed.) INDIA: Auteur films, independent documentaries and video art (1899-2008), La Casa Encendida, Madrid, 2009, pp. 168-175.
Other publications include:
‘Trajectory of Thoughts’ (review of Geeta Kapur, Speech Acts), MARG, December 2025, pp. 135-136; contributions to Foreigners Everywhere. Catalogue of the 60th International Art Exhibition, La Biennale di Venezia, Venice, 2024; ‘Foregrounding Global Narratives’ (review of Monica Juneja, Can Art History be made Global?), Texte zur Kunst, June 2024, pp. 192-197; ‘Un appel 脿 la raison’, in Patrick Bouchain (ed.), Pierre Guyotat. La parole visible, Association Pierre Guyotat and Diaphanes, Paris, 2024, pp. 140-141; ‘Avant-Garde and Liberation. Zeitgen枚ssische Kunst und dekoloniale Moderne, Springerin, issue 4, 2024;听‘Connecting South Asian Modernities’, TAKE on Art, March 2024, pp. 36-39; ‘Radhika Khimji: Cutting into Space’, Experimenter 2023, Experimenter, Kolkata, 2024; ‘Conversation entre Manish Pushkale et Devika Singh’, in Claire Betinelli (ed.), To whom the bird should speak? Carte blanche 脿 Manish Pushkale (at the Mus茅e Guimet), Mapin, Ahmedabad, 2024; contribution to Mortimer Chatterjee (ed.), Moving Focus, India: New Perspectives on Modern and Contemporary Art (The Shoestring Publisher, Mumbai, 2022) pp. 504-505; 鈥榋arina: A Tribute鈥, Critical Collective (online, 2020: https://criticalcollective.in/ArtistInner2.aspx?Aid=135&Eid=1340); contribution to Donatien Grau and Christoph Wiesner (eds), After the Crisis: Contemporary States of Photography (Diaphanes, 2019); contribution to 鈥楧ecolonial Documents鈥 (frieze, online, 2018 : https://www.frieze.com/article/decolonial-documents-part-three); Review of India: Contemporary Photographic and New Media Art, Critique d鈥橝rt, 2018; 鈥楬era B眉y眉kta艧c谋yan, 鈥淒econstructors鈥濃, TAKE on Art, January-June 2018, pp. 44-47; 鈥楴alini Malani : 鈥淚f humankind wants to survive the twenty-first century鈥濃, Art Press, no. 450, December 2017, pp. 49-54; contribution to Paris Photo, 1997-2016. Parcours (Paris Photo, 2016), pp. 92-93; 鈥楩our literary shows鈥, frieze, October 2016, pp. 238-239; 鈥業nheriting the transnational history of art reviews鈥, TAKE on art, July-December 2016, pp. 32-35; 鈥楩arah Atassi鈥, frieze, September 2016, pp. 182-183 ; 鈥楳ade in Algeria. G茅n茅alogie d鈥檜n territoire鈥, Art Press, January 2016, pp. 8-11; ‘Mrinalini Mukherjee’, frieze, April 2015, pp. 152-153; 鈥楽heela Gowda鈥, Art Press, May 2014, p. 18; 鈥榋arina鈥, frieze, June-August 2013, p. 235; 鈥楧elhi City Report鈥, frieze, no. 148, June-August 2012, pp. 142-149; 鈥楢mar Kanwar. La juste mesure du documentaire鈥, Art Press, no. 379, June 2011, pp. 42-46; 鈥楻anjani Shettar鈥, June-August 2011, frieze, p. 205; 鈥楲ooking back at the influential Summer of 1977鈥 (interview with Vasif Kortun), ArtAsiaPacific, March and April 2010, pp. 62-63; 鈥楤eing Singular Plural: Moving Images from India鈥, Art Press, November 2010, p. 98; 鈥楾suruko Yamazaki: Beyond Gutai鈥, ArtAsiaPacific, July-August 2010, p. 124; 鈥楥hristian Boltanski鈥, frieze, May 2010, pp. 136-137; 鈥楻esemble Reassemble鈥, Art Press, April 2010, pp. 78-79; 鈥業ndian Highway鈥, frieze, March 2009, p 148-149; 鈥楲ooking Back/Looking Forward鈥 (best of 2008), frieze, January-February 2009, pp. 96-115; 鈥楽till Moving Image鈥, frieze, November-December 2008, p. 209; 鈥楩ire in the Belly: The Poetics of Ranjani Shettar鈥, ArtAsiaPacific, November-December 2007, pp. 144-149; ‘Made in India’, Art India, vol. X, issue IV, 2005, pp. 86-87.
Modern Art and Museums panel, Art Dubai 2023 (with Karina El Helou, Nathalie Bondil and Nada Shabout, moderated by Ridha Moumni and introduced by Lorenzo Giusti)
Towards a Transnational Approach to American Art: Isamu Noguchi in India and Beyond, Terra Foundation for American Art, online, 2021 (with Katy Siegel, convened by Elisa Schaar)
L'Avenir des mus茅es. Conversation con莽ue et anim茅e par Donatien Grau, Festival apr猫s, demain, Th茅芒tre du Ch芒telet, Paris, 2020 (with S茅bastien Allard and Caroline Bourgeois, introduced by Ruth MacKenzie)
Postwar: Art between the Pacific and the Atlantic, 1945-65 conference, Haus der Kunst, Munich, 2014