Essential Talks, Panels & Curated Experiences (February 5-8, 2026), Delhi
1. THE AMA ARTIST AWARD CONVERSATION: UMAR RASHID
Counter-Colonial Narratives & Global Platforms
Umar Rashid (Frohawk Two Feathers), inaugural winner of the prestigious Angus Montgomery Arts Award, brings revolutionary methodology to contemporary art’s relationship with history. His work synthesizes African cosmology, Native American ledger art, hip hop, Egyptian mythology, and Afrofuturism to dismantle colonial narratives embedded in Western art canons.
For India Art Fair, Rashid presents brand new paintings interrogating colonial histories of India, a direct intervention into how power, identity, and cultural influence are visually encoded. This conversation contextualizes how North American artists engage with international art fairs, how representation operates globally, and why Rashid’s work matters now.
“Local Practices, Global Platforms: An AMA Artist Award Conversation”
- When: Friday, February 6 | 4:00 PM – 5:30 PM
- Where: Nuvama Private Wealth Vervé Lounge, NSIC Grounds
- Panelists: Deepanjana Klein, Rajiv Menon
- Moderator: Vivian Li
2. THE ART OF COLLECTING: FEROZE GUJRAL & SHAILJA VOHRA
Building Meaningful Legacies Through Personal Vision
How do personal collections evolve beyond individual ownership to become cultural legacies? How does spatial context and long-term thinking shape what endures?
Feroze Gujral, one of India’s most influential art patrons and founder of The Gujral Foundation and Outset India, engages with Shailja Vohra, a scholar and interior designer trained at Christie’s, Sotheby’s, and the School of Oriental and African Studies in exploring how collectors think strategically about legacy, institutional partnerships, and artistic futures. Gujral’s foundation has supported over 150 artists and organized 50+ exhibitions internationally, including the collateral event “My East is Your West” at the 56th Venice Biennale.
This is rare access to institutional thinking at the highest level—understanding how patrons, curators, and collectors shape which artists achieve permanence in cultural memory.
“Talk: The Art of Collecting”
- When: Friday, February 6 | 11:00 AM – 12:00 PM
- Where: Nuvama Private Wealth Vervé Lounge, NSIC Grounds
- Moderator: Saba Ali
- Format: Breakfast conversation
- RSVP: events@sothebysrealty.in
3. THE LIGHT AND THE LOTUS: SACRED PIPRAHWA RELICS WALKTHROUGH
127 Years of Absence, One Moment of Return
This special walkthrough is organized by the Ministry of Culture, CII National Committee on Art & Culture, and India Art Fair. “The Light and The Lotus” reunites the sacred Piprahwa relics, Buddhist artefacts discovered in 1898 and repatriated to India after 127 years.
The Piprahwa excavation yielded nearly 1,800 pearls, rubies, topaz, sapphires, and patterned gold sheets—treasures representing some of the “most extraordinary archaeological discoveries of all time.” The exhibition brings together repatriated gems with authenticated relics from the National Museum (New Delhi) and Indian Museum (Kolkata), organized thematically with immersive audio-visual components and digital reconstructions.
“Walkthrough: The Light and The Lotus”
- When: Friday, February 6 | 4:00 PM
- Where: Raipithora Cultural Complex, Press Enclave Road, New Delhi
- Organizers: Ministry of Culture, CII National Committee on Art & Culture, India Art Fair
- Entry: First-come, first-served | Limited capacity | Registration required
4. WAYS OF SEEING: GUIDED DESIGN TALKS
Close Looking and Thoughtful Conversation
Inspired by John Berger’s paradigm-shifting media theory, this curated engagement invites deep looking at India Art Fair’s Collectible Design section. Rather than talking about design, participants engage in sustained looking—a methodology Berger pioneered to activate how we see. What emerges when we slow down? How does design mediate between functionality and poetry? What cultural codes are embedded in objects we overlook?
Two sessions offer different perspectives on how design objects function as carriers of meaning, intention, and cultural memory.
Session 1: Gayatri Rangachari Shah
- When: Thursday, February 5 | 3:30 PM
- Where: Outside Birla Estates LifeDesigned® Lounge, NSIC Grounds
Session 2: Anica Mann
- When: Saturday, February 7 | 2:00 PM
- Where: Outside Birla Estates LifeDesigned® Lounge, NSIC Grounds
Format: Guided looking and conversation | Registration: Required
5. THE INSTITUTIONS SECTION
Infrastructure That Sustains Artistic Practice
The Institutions section at India Art Fair forgrounds the essential scaffolding that makes contemporary art possible across South Asia and beyond. Rather than treating institutions as backgrounds, the fair centers them as protagonists in artistic futures.
Featuring:
- Mapin Foundation
- Museum of Art & Photography (MAP)
- MASH India
- Serendipity Arts
- The Gujral Foundation
- Birla Academy of Art & Culture
- Britto Arts Trust
- Sabyasachi Art Foundation Gallery
- Chennai Photo Biennale x WWF India
- Prameya Art Foundation
- Purushottam Trust for Printmaking
- Australian High Commission
- Korean Cultural Centre India
- The Arts Family
Plan to spend at least two full days navigating the fair. The scale is manageable, but the intellectual and aesthetic density demands time for absorption. Come with questions, engage in conversations, and resist the impulse to see everything quickly.
Athmaja Biju is the Editor at Abir Pothi. She is a Translator and Writer working on Visual Culture.
