The Visual Arts Gallery at India Habitat Centre is set to unveil A Voyage to Permanence, an immersive, multi-disciplinary exhibition by noted filmmaker Purandar Chaudhuri, curated by acclaimed art historian and critic Johny ML. Presented by gallerist and art consultant Jooby Yohannan, the exhibition opens on March 10 and continues until March 14, offering audiences an evocative convergence of film, photography, performance, and text.
Building around Chaudhuri’s three experimental films, namely Dhushor, Tremors, and Impressions of Mingling, the five-day event reimagines cinema within the context of visual art. Rather than projecting films as linear narratives, A Voyage to Permanence transforms them into spatial experiences that oscillate between abstraction and figuration, inviting viewers to engage with the moving image as a meditative, almost tactile encounter.
Alternative photographic works by artist Prakash Braggs extend the visual language of the films into material form, evoking the nostalgia of analogue filmmaking while highlighting its contemporary digital reincarnations. The exhibition will also feature a live installation-performance on March 11 by Dr. Bhoominathan — actor, director, and faculty member at the National School of Drama, who will create a performative response to Chaudhuri’s immersive cinematic universe.
To deepen the dialogue between filmmaking and photography, a panel discussion titled Moving Focus of Film Making and Photography will be held, bringing together practitioners such as Samar Jodha and Aditya Arya. The event will also include the release of a new book by Jayanth Kodkani and Nemiraj Shetty, rounding out the exhibition’s exploration of memory, migration, and human endurance.
In his curatorial note, Johny ML describes Chaudhuri’s work as “aesthetic contemplations using the medium of film, where the memories of traditional analogue moviemaking are evoked along with their digital possibilities.” The filmmaker himself calls his work “an attempt to capture memory — films that break conventional cinematic grammar and pay tribute to the human exodus and survival.”
Exhibition Details
Title: A Voyage to Permanence
Venue: Visual Arts Gallery, India Habitat Centre, New Delhi
Curator: Johny ML
Dates: March 10–14, 2026 (Preview on March 10, 6:30 p.m. onwards)
Timings: 10 a.m. – 8 p.m.
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