At the Triveni Kala Sangam in central Delhi, the sculptures and installations are visible, but when you enter the room, you are likely to travel. As your eyes adjust to the dim light, you realize that the smooth floor of the once pristine white cube has transformed into an uneven floor made of exposed brick, gray sand, and wooden platforms.
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“I want the audience to be uncomfortable,” says curator Rivu Borphukon, who has been in charge of India Art Fair’s ambitious Young Collectors Program (YCP) for the past three editions.
YCP’s mandate is to bring lesser-known contemporary artists to the attention of the art-going public. It also brings new collectors into the mix. With price in work ₹20,000 and ₹26 lakh, the YCP is the IAF’s investment in the future of Indian industry. With no pressure to make a profit or sell, it’s his most ambitious gamble yet, and much like this exhibition, it offers a chance to stumble.
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Back in Triveni, the design of this particular exhibition, titled “Women, Organisms, Objects, Order,” is deliberately futuristic. Warli Koliwada by Parag Tandel is a series of cyanotype prints depicting traditional Koli recipes (davla and dried prawns, amber and eggplant curry, roasted Bombay duck and potato curry), a nod to the ethnicity of the artist’s own fishing community.
Deepak Kumar’s “Neglected Reality” is an installation of drawings, found objects and metal sculptures that use the metaphor of detritus (small bird skeletons, an empty nest, bones) to show his preoccupation with time. Berlin-based Sam Madhu’s digital installation—the highest priced of the lot ₹26 lakhs with screens — combines cyberpunk aesthetics with symbols of the past. “The exhibition considers the idea of collecting in the future, with some pieces created specifically for this idea,” Bourfoucon said.
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Triveni is not the only one of the many sites where the India Art Fair has expanded its programme. YCP also collaborated with the Fashion Design Council of India, engaging independent curator Shreyansi Singh, who curated an exhibition for YCP titled “Unruly Objects: The Biography of Clothes”. The exhibition opened earlier this week at STIR Art Gallery at DLF Chattarpur Farms and showcases garment making as a method of contemporary art. “These works show contemporary art practices that critically engage with textiles, drawing our attention to materials, processes and labor,” Singh said.
Representing artists in the foundation’s press and gallery-fairs, emerging practices that are experimental and new need their own space. The 17th edition, which opens on February 5 and continues through the weekend, will host 135 exhibitors, including 27 first-time participants. The number increases every year – 15 more than last year, and even 50 more than three years ago Among the 105 national and 30 international participants this year are at least 22 foundations and 14 design studios.
“The expansion to the 17th edition reflects a measured and strategic response to the evolution of the region’s art landscape,” said Jaya Ashokan, director of the fair. Apart from exhibition booths, the fair will also offer talks, panel discussions and guided tours in multiple languages.
