India Art Fair Will be Back in Feb Next Year and Here is What it Packs!

by  Shantanu Jain Entertainment | December 15, 2016 | News

NSIC

Since its launch in 2008, India Art Fair has established and consolidated its position as South Asia's leading platform for modern and contemporary art. Engaging with the arts in the region at every level of the market, the fair has become the bedrock of a booming cultural community and is set to return from 2nd to 5th Feb, 2017 at NSIC Stadium Okhla, Delhi.

India Art Fair 2017 will feature an exciting range of national and international exhibitors from South Asia, Middle East, Europe and US, representing a breadth of contemporary art practices such as painting, sculpture, new media, installation and performance art. Viewers can expect to see returning participants as well as several newcomers, all of whom are concerned with developing key relationships with the Indian art market including Sabrina Amrani (Madrid, Spain), Kalfayan Galleries (Athens, Greece), Lukas Feichtner Gallery (Vienna, Austria), Chemould Prescott Road (Mumbai, India), Gallery Espace (New Delhi, India), Vadehra Art Gallery (New Delhi, India), Experimenter (Kolkata, India), GALLERYSKE (Bangalore / New Delhi, India) and Photoink (New Delhi, India). The fair also continues to nurture and develop the subcontinent’s long-standing links with the Middle East, with more galleries from the region than ever before including 1x1 Gallery (Dubai, UAE), Grey Noise (Dubai, UAE) and Leila Heller Gallery (Dubai, UAE and New York, US).

Building on the success of the 2016 edition, and marking the fair’s strategic importance in the development of South Asian arts, India Art Fair 2017 will also see the return of Platform - a significant section at the fair designed to provide an opportunity for the best of the established and emerging South Asian galleries, artists and artist collectives to exhibit on an established international platform. This year participants include Britto Arts Trust (Dhaka, Bangladesh), Nepal Art Council (Kathmandu, Nepal), Theertha International Artists' Collective (Colombo, Sri Lanka) and Blueprint 12 (New Delhi, India).

The 2017 edition will also unveil a new curated space, Vernacular in Flux, curated by Dr. Annapurna Garimella to create a rich display that showcases vernacular art with a focus on Gond, Madhubani and Mysore painting.

The Speakers Forum might also be an interesting highlight providing a platform for deeper exploration of the varying fair sectors and their cultural content, particularly The Future of Museums panel which will explore the evolving role of the museum and the roles that South Asian art has played in the development of their programming, and how it influences the cultural position of their institutions in the 21st century. Particularly of note the panel includes two prominent US museum representatives Sheena Wagstaff, the Leonard A. Lauder Chairman for Modern and Contemporary Art at The Metropolitan Museum of in New York, and Richard Armstrong, director of the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum in New York.

BMW is the Presenting Partner of India Art Fair 2017 while JSW is the Associate Partner of the event.

Commenting on the upcoming edition Neha Kirpal, Founding Director India Art Fair says, "India Art Fair continues to play an increasingly significant role presenting the best of the region to a global audience, and creating a leading platform for both national and international artists, galleries and cultural institutions.  We are delighted to have MCH Group join as an experienced international partner that can cement and enhance this position. Following the upcoming edition we look forward to MCH Group’s involvement to help develop India Art Fair to its fullest potential in the coming years.”