India Art Fair preview: What to expect in 2022

Each year, we turn the India Art Fair (IAF) façade into a literal work of art, and this edition is no exception. It is an excellent opportunity to feature young artists from India, and for the first time this year, we have selected Anshuka Mahapatra through an open call in partnership with the Gujral Foundation and Artdemic, which are platforms that have supported artists during the pandemic through weekly grants. The 24-year-old artist is currently pursuing her master’s degree from the Sarojini Naidu School of Arts and Communication, Hyderabad. She will respond to the theme of ‘Deep Future’, which entails raising questions around creativity, sustainability, and climate change.

The fair will also showcase over 50 galleries from across India, South Asia, and beyond, bringing together a vibrant mix of cutting-edge conceptual artists at Jhaveri Contemporary, and artists with a distinctly Indian aesthetic to Galerie Mirchandani + Steinruecke, Vadehra Art Gallery, and Apparao Galleries. A specially curated ‘Platform’ section is another important highlight, lending contemporary practitioners of traditional Indian art forms—like Madhubani and Gond art—their much-deserved attention. Treasures of Indian art at DAG’s and Dhoomimal Gallery’s booths will give visitors a peek into the history of India’s modernists, while affordable and limited-edition prints by modern masters like M.F. Husain, S.H. Raza, B.V. Doshi, and Madhvi Parekh, will be available at the Archer Art Gallery, specifically catering to new collectors. Noa Eshkol’s vibrant wall carpets at the booth of the Berlin-based Neugerriemschneider gallery is another key feature to watch out for.

This year, our amazing line-up of artists in residence—all new but powerful voices—will include feminist artist-photographer Indu Antony; Gurjeet Singh, who is known for soft sculptures celebrating queerness; London-based artist Haroun Hayward; and Arpita Akhanda, an emerging name in performance art. They will lead workshops, talks, and film screenings, while free poster art will be available for anyone to download from the IAF website.

We have over 10 institutions participating at the fair, many of whom will show large-scale, interactive outdoor projects from the past year. Right from the fair entrance and walkway, which will be decorated with murals painted by Aravani Art Project—a Bengaluru-based collective of trans artists—and an open-air library of art books by Serendipity Arts Foundation. Some of India’s biggest cultural festivals like the Kochi-Muziris Biennale and Chennai Photo Biennale will be at the fair, along with the performance hub HH Art Spaces led by artist Nikhil Chopra.

We have noticed a great appetite for digital art among millennials. This year, the fair will have an extensive ‘Young Collectors Programme’—a social and educational initiative that engages with the next generation of art buyers.

Additionally, IAF’s Bookshop and Café is a museum-style space, and popular among audiences across ages, abilities, and backgrounds. You can find a wide range of art books, magazines, photo-books, and artist-made zines at the CMYK shop. Among the books being launched at the fair are a yet-to-be titled photobook comparing Raghu Rai’s and French ambassador to India Emmanuel Lenain’s visions of each other’s country, and the much-anticipated Moving Focus, India: New Perspectives on Modern and Contemporary Art, which explores five favourite artworks made at any time since 1900 by artists living in India, or identifying with its diaspora, that have been nominated by a group of artists, curators, art historians, writers and academics. We also have a variety of art stationery and supplies selling at the Bookshop through partners like Molotow, Hobbycraft, and the Art Industry.

The fair is a space to spot important trends, and the buzzword this year has undoubtedly been NFT. The fair will have a range of new NFTs presented by Terrain Art, and will also host an ‘Auditorium Talk’ on art and technology.

Finally, I’d like to mention our association with BMW, which has had a 50-year-long history of supporting art. We are proud to have BMW India as our presenting partner for the sixth year in a row. For 2022, we have worked very hard to introduce ‘The Future is Born of Art’ commission, in an attempt to give back to the art community, and also lend an Indian artist the opportunity to design the vinyl wrap for BMW’s new electric vehicle.

For the BMW Artist Films—which is a series of studio tours and interviews with Indian artists—we have commissioned films on Baaraan Ijlal, Dia Mehhta Bhupal, Ayesha Singh, Manjunath Kamath, and Rameshwar Broota. 

The 2022 programme is shaping up well, covering our annual BMW Art Talk with an important Indian artist inspiring change, along with other artist-led presentations and conversations on art and crafts related to our Platform section, and we hope to offer something for everyone at the fair

— As told to Arshia Dhar