On a sweltering summer evening in Delhi, some of Indian art’s renowned names came together at the Kiran Nadar Museum of Art (KNMA) in Saket for the unveiling of the architectural model of its new building. Designed by celebrated Ghanaian-British architect Sir David Adjaye in collaboration with S Ghosh & Associates, introducing the building and its ethos from Venice - where she was present for its international unveiling at the 18th International Architecture Exhibition of La Biennale di Venezia - Kiran Nadar, founder and chairperson of KNMA, stated in a video message: “(The newly built space) will be a place for cultural discovery, with a high engagement across a broad range of audiences. At the heart of KNMA is the notion of giving back to society, preserving treasures of the cultural past and nurturing a young generation of creative practitioners and thinkers, while bridging the gap between art and the public.” Located on National Highway 8 in Delhi, near the Indira Gandhi International Airport, the museum covering over 100,000 square metres in area will be dedicated to both visual and performing arts, and apart from changing exhibitions that will held across its various wings, it will also feature a youth educational center to encourage learning about the arts for the country’s future generations. Speaking about the inspiration for the model over a video message, Sir David Adjaye stated, “Its location in Delhi gives new context to its position as a dynamic, living cultural force. As such, its specific location directly influences the new building's form, rhythm and landscape.” While in Venice the model is being showcased as part of the Curator’s Special Projects until 26 November 2023, at the KNMA museum in Saket the model will be on display till May 28. It also serves as the centrepiece for an exhibition that explores the themes “mnemonic” and “partition”. On the walls around it are works by artists such as Tyeb Mehta, Zarina Hashmi and Nasreen Mohamedi. Playing onscreen is filmmaker Amit Dutta's short film Touch AIR (2023), that pays homage to Mohamedi’s unique architectural vision and invokes the aesthetics of the bare line. On the intersecting themes of KNMA’s new exhibition, project director and chief curator Roobina Karode said: “Borrowing from these artists’ visual sensibilities that are directly and indirectly derived from the notion of partage, KNMA’s curatorial strategy takes recourse to their compositional devices such as diagonals, grids, suspended imageries, lattices and texts, by interpreting them as the ciphers of a history still under construction.” The model, along with the exhibition, will be on view till May 28 at KNMA, Saket 📣 For more lifestyle news, follow us on Instagram | Twitter | Facebook and don't miss out on the latest updates!
