New Brick in the Wall

To take place on November 6 at Nature Morte,Neeti Bagh,the fundraiser titled “A Gift for Khoj” will feature artwork by 40 artists,including Anita Dube,Jagannath Panda,Hema Upadhyay,Manu Parekh,Reena Saini Kallat and Vivan Sundaram. “The work is their gift to Khoj. In 2007 too,we had called-on artists to contribute works for a fundraiser,” states Sood,recalling the humble beginning of the organisation that got its first donation of Rs 60,000 from Ebrahim Alkazi. While meetings were held at Sood’s Panchsheel home,it was more than five workshops later,in 2002,that Robert Loder,founder of Triangle Arts Trust,helped Sood find a permanent address for Khoj after he spotted the two-storey Khirkee space. In the midst of the urban village,the surrounding could not have been more befitting. “It has the best of both worlds — the village area,and malls across the road,in Saket,” says Sood,who is working on an architectural blueprint for renovation — the new space will have a hostel for artists,media lab for sound and editing,library,an experimental project space theatre and a cafeteria.

While Sood hopes that art connoisseurs will be as benevolent as the artists,she has kept the prices reasonable. Limited edition photography portfolio,comprising 12 original signed prints of photographs by the likes of Amar Kanwar,Anita Dube,Atul Bhalla,Raqs Media Collective and Vivan Sundaram,comes for Rs 3 lakh. For Rs 50,000,one can purchase a sculpture by one of the 11 artists,including Arun Kumar HG,Manisha Parekh and Sumedh Rajendran. Eighteen paintings and drawings by artists — including Ashim Purkayastha,Hema Upadhyay,Jagannath Panda,Madhavi Parekh,Manu Parekh and Reena Saini Kallat,Rohini Devasher and Vasudha Thozur — have been divided into five portfolios,each containing 18 works,priced at Rs 8 lakh each.