Momentum at 079|STORIES asks a deceptively simple question: what keeps art moving in a world already in constant motion? Opening on 7 August 2026 in collaboration with Interspace, New Delhi, the group exhibition brings together ten contemporary artists whose practices turn that question into material, image and form. Curated by Delhi-based writer and curator Shankar Tripathi, Momentum looks at movement as persistence, negotiation and the work of staying with a changing world.
Across painting, drawing, printmaking, photography, quilting, sculpture and mixed-media practices, the exhibition traces how artists respond to ecological uncertainty, labour, memory, identity, architecture and domestic life. Rather than aligning under a single aesthetic or manifesto, the participating artists—Aman Kumar, Anshu Kumari, Ishita Patel, Jaimini Jariwala, Manaswini Balekkala, Shashikanta Mohanty, Shruti Parekh, Simran Yagyik, Soumen Ray and Vatsya Padia—create a shifting field of conversation. Personal narratives brush up against shared social realities; intimate marks speak to larger structures of care, rupture and survival.
The idea of “momentum” is staged here as more than forward thrust. It appears in the slow accumulation of stitches in a quilt, the repetition of a gesture in drawing, the layering of images in printmaking, or the way a photographic series sits with a single place over time. Some works may attend to the vulnerabilities of bodies and landscapes under pressure, others to architectures and domestic spaces that both shelter and constrain. Together, they suggest that movement can be fragile and speculative, as much about holding on as moving ahead.
Tripathi’s curatorial approach frames the exhibition as an open-ended inquiry rather than a thesis. Instead of offering neat conclusions, Momentum invites viewers to stay with uncertainty: to notice how materials are stretched, repurposed or pushed to their limits; to see how artists test inherited forms and languages; and to recognize art-making itself as a form of endurance. In this sense, the show positions contemporary practice as a way of thinking through the social, cultural and emotional conditions of the present, rather than simply reflecting them.
The exhibition suggests that momentum is not a given; it is something built, broken, repaired and reimagined in the studio, and in the spaces where art meets its viewers.
Momentum
Presented by 079|STORIES in collaboration with Interspace, New Delhi
Curated by: Shankar Tripathi
Venue: 079|STORIES, Bodakdev, Ahmedabad
Preview: 7 August 2026, 5:30 pm onwards
On view: 7–23 August 2026, Monday to Saturday, 11 am–7 pm
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