FRIEZE Moment

In its tenth year,the leading international contemporary art fair will have a strong Indian presence. If Hemali Bhuta will showcase her large scale installation titled Speed Breakers at the Sculpture Park,in Regent’s Park alongside Dutta,Bani Abidi will present a solo in the “Frame section” of the fair that is dedicated to galleries that are under six-years-old. Mumbai-based galleries Project 88 and Chaterjee & Lal will occupy stands too. If the former will present works by Raqs Media Collective and Sarnath Banerjee,Neha Choksi and Hema Mulji,The Otolith Group founded by Kodwo Eshun and Anjalika Sagar and Chatterjee & Lal will have a stand showcasing performance-based work of Nikhil Chopra and Hetain Patel — both using personal histories as building blocks.

“This is possibly the biggest Indian contingent at Frieze till now. It’s the place to be seen. There is a a buzz,with collectors and gallerists from across the world in London,” says Prateek Raja,founder of Kolkata-based Experimenter Gallery that is representing both Dutta and Abidi at Frieze.

Berlin-based Abidi is excited about her participation at the fair. Known for her commentary on her socio-political surroundings,she will present a set of photographs shot in the home of a fictitious character. The exhibit titled Table Wide Country will aim to capture human eccentricities in make-belief worlds that often become psychological cushions. “The character is also a collector of war models,but his is an attempt to overcome. He reacts to the history of a particular conflict with his own narratives that are uneasy and provocative,but also perhaps therapeutic,” says the Karachi-born artist,who exhibited this year at Documenta 13 in Germany and is currently showing at Shanghai Biennial.

Her husband,Sarnath Banerjee will present Gallery of Losers,comprising 12 digital prints on Hahnamuhle rag paper. Celebrating losers,the work was showcased on billboards during the Olympics. Sharing space with him at the stall will be Mulji’s photographs of abandoned communal spaces with lace-like acrylic grilles and Huma Mulji’s mixed media and enamel paint on canvas titled Memory of a Blue that depicts the “ironic and farcical juxtapositions of the wearing down of metropolitan glitter and spectacle”.

For Dutta,42,the nests are a symbol of aesthetic sensibilities and delicate craftsmanship. “It is a great example of the nesting instinct in humans and other mammals to provide a sense of protection. One of the nests is the kind seen in tropical regions. Placing it in London will mean taking it to an unnatural setting,” says Dutta,looking forward to his London outing and that of Indian art.