The INDIA ART FAIR, for its 2016 edition, has partnered with BMW and brings in a load of surprises for all art enthusiasts this January 29-31st 2016 at NSIC Grounds Okhla, New Delhi. Emerging to be South Asia’s leading platform for modern and contemporary art, India Art Fair has been highly instrumental in augmenting India’s Art Industry on a global pedestal.
“Since its launch in 2008, India Art Fair has established itself as South Asia’s leading platform for modern and contemporary art. Building on these foundations, the fair is refining its programming to reflect the best of India, but also South Asia’s diversity in the visual arts. The fair’s 2016 edition in New Delhi will present a unique blend of art with design and film programming both at the fair and through collateral events held across the city. The India Art Fair will be an inspiring start to the year for art lovers from across India and worldwide,” exuberates Neha Kirpal, Founding Director, India Art Fair.
This year, the fair expands its horizon even further by bringing in participants like Blueprint12 (India), Nepal Art Council (Nepal), Theertha Artists Collective (Sri Lanka), Taseer Art Gallery (Pakistan), Swaraj Art Archive (India) and Bengal Art Lounge (Bangladesh). A new programme called Platform will represent young emerging artists, key art-spaces and collectives who might never otherwise find their place at an art fair and among its audiences.
Godrej India Culture Lab, Asia Art Archive and Art India are collaborating with the fair as academic partners of the acclaimed Speakers’ Forum, supported by Forum Partner The Goethe Institute. This broad and exciting programme of lectures and conversations will engage the entire range of stakeholders in the visual arts – artists, curators, critics, administrators, academics, gallerists and collectors in addition to a wide spectrum of artistic practices.
Highlights of this year’s panels will include Stuart Comer (Chief Curator of the Department of Media and Performance Art at MoMA, New York) on the panel Artists’ Moving Image: Distribution and Collection; Thomas Girst (Head of Cultural Engagement, BMW Group) with Sangita Jindal (Chairperson, JSW Foundation) on the panel Towards a Culture of Corporate Patronage; Osman Waheed (Founder and Chair, Lahore Biennale Foundation) and Dina Bangdel (Nepal Arts Council) on Access and Integration in the Arts Across South Asia and Sunitha Kumar Emmart (Founder, GALLERYSKE) with Sudarshan Shetty (artist and curator of Kochi Muziris Biennale 2016) on the Artist and the Gallerist, presenting for the first time a direct conversation between an artist and their gallerist at the fair.
Zain Masud, has been appointed as International Director, India Art Fair and under his leadership the Art fair has witnessed a refreshed curatorial approach to the gallery programming, Speakers’ Forum, regional engagement and the overall programming of the fair. “As India Art Fair prepares to launch its eighth edition, we build on its foundations as the key platform for contemporary and modern art in India, adjusting our focus and programming to provide a more concise selective roster of galleries and turn the fair into a definitive reference point for South Asia. This has become a defining strategic focus for the fair, and it is through this that India Art Fair has, and will continue to evolve,” highlights Masud.
The fair will present new international participants along with some of the best programmes from the Indian subcontinent, emphasising diversity and quality across chronologies and media.
Building on India Art Fair’s ongoing work to stimulate and develop a new generation of collectors across the region, the Speakers’ Forum will also include a panel on Collecting and Public Engagement, with high profile collectors and patrons such as Tariq al Jaidah (Founder of Katara Art Centre, Doha), Haro Cumbusyan (Patron and Founder, Collectorspace, Istanbul), and Lu Xun (Collector and director of the Sifang Art Museum, Nanjing). There is, in addition, a panel on ‘A New Generation of South Asian Collectors’, aimed at cultivating interest across a rapidly developing younger collector base.
These sessions complement the fair’s ongoing efforts to further cultivate its Indian and international network. This is reflected in a comprehensive VIP outreach programme which has delegates from international institutions including The Guggenheim, New York, The Museum of Modern Art, New York, Carnegie Museum of Art, Pittsburgh, The Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, Palais de Tokyo,Paris, The Victoria and Albert Museum, London, The Asian Art Museum, San Francisco and Boston Athenæum, Boston amongst others.
Further initiatives at India Art Fair in 2016 include a designated space called IAF Atrium for the Spotlight Series which will host performances, book launches and talks. This new space will also showcase amongst other art films, an inaugural Film Programme focusing on film as art curated by Shai Heredia (filmmaker and Director of Experimenta, India’s international festival for moving image art) .
The art spaces have been designed in collaboration with Architectural Advisors Morphogenesis, instilling a more experiential, interactive and dynamic design element to the 2016 edition of the fair. Associate Partner JSW will integrate their JSW Cement and REBAR Steel into the fair’s seating and outdoor areas, whilst Presenting Partner BMW, as a part of their global cultural engagement will present the Cesar Manrique BMW 730i Art Car, reflecting the cultural and historical development of art, design and technology. To further their engagement at the fair, BMW will host India Art Fair’s first ever Collectors’ Lounge, creating an exclusive space for collectors to connect, share highlights and continue discussions. They will also host the IAF & BMW Annual Collectors’ Dinner in support and celebration of corporate collaboration and patronage of the arts. Visitors will have the opportunity to engage more directly in design when Preview Partner Officine Panerai presents a renowned watch designer on the VIP preview day for an exclusive insight into the art of watchmaking and design, celebrating their eight year association with the fair.
