Shrine Empire Delhi is beginning a new chapter. The gallery has moved to a purpose-designed space in Defence Colony, New Delhi, and marks the occasion with ‘प्रक्रि या / Process’ — an inaugural group exhibition that brings together its full artist roster for the first time.
At its heart, Process is an exhibition about making. It positions the act of artistic production not as background information, but as central to meaning itself. Across mediums, generations, and conceptual directions, the works ask viewers to notice how art comes into being — and why those methods matter.
Why This Exhibition Matters
Galleries often open a new venue with a strong group show. However, Process does more than introduce an address. It connects the logic of artistic practice to the work of building a cultural institution. In that sense, the exhibition and the gallery’s move carry the same underlying idea: that how you make something shapes what it becomes.
This is consistent with Shrine Empire Delhi’s long-standing curatorial identity. Since 2008, founders Anahita Taneja and Shefali Somani have supported South Asian artists whose practices value research, material inquiry, and conceptual depth. Process, therefore, feels less like a new direction and more like a concentrated expression of everything the gallery has stood for.
A Curatorial Lens Across Generations
The title ‘प्रक्रि या / Process’ works because it is open rather than prescriptive. It does not impose a single political stance or aesthetic category on the twenty artists involved. Instead, it creates a shared field of attention — one where each practice remains distinct, while still entering into conversation with the others.
Some works may trace personal histories through material. Others may work through formal experimentation, social conditions, or the politics of labour and representation. Together, they produce what the gallery describes as a generative lens — a way of encountering familiar practices anew.
That is the curatorial strength here. Diversity is not smoothed over. It is the point.
The Artists
Process brings together a strong and varied lineup that reflects the breadth of Shrine Empire Delhi’s programming across nearly two decades:
Amitava, Anoli Perera, Arun Dev, Awdhesh Tamrakar, Baaraan Ijlal, Divya Singh, Hema Shironi, Minal Damani, Moonis Ijlal, Nandita Kumar, Neerja Kothari, Paribartana Mohanty, Ranjana Thapalyal, Renuka Rajiv, Sajan Mani, Samanta Batra Mehta, Sangita Maity, Sarker Protick, Shruti Mahajan, and Tayeba Begum Lipi.
This group spans geography, generation, and medium. Because of that range, the exhibition offers multiple entry points for different viewers and rewards repeated visits.
A Space Designed for Slow Looking
Shrine Empire Delhi’s new home at B-24, Defence Colony has been designed to push back against the conventional white cube model. The founders have been clear about this intention. They want visitors to pause, read, talk, and return — not simply move through the space and leave.
To support that, the gallery includes a dedicated reading salon and a coffee collaboration. These are not add-ons. They signal a considered philosophy: that art lives not only in the moment of first viewing, but in dialogue, reflection, and everyday presence.
That approach draws on Shrine Empire Delhi’s broader history. The gallery has built its reputation through rigorous curated exhibitions, commissioned projects, and sustained conversations around the social and political conditions of contemporary art. It has participated in international fairs including Art Basel Hong Kong, Art SG, Artissima, Asia Now Paris, and Art Dubai. The founders also channel their outreach work through the not-for-profit Prameya Art Foundation.
In 2025, Anahita Taneja and Shefali Somani were awarded the Officier dans l’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres by the French government — recognition of their contribution to the broader cultural field.
The Architecture of Attention
The new gallery’s interiors were designed by Vritima Wadhwa, founder and design principal of Project 810. Wadhwa is an AD100 designer and recipient of the EDIDA Designer of the Year award — and the space reflects that level of considered craft.
Spanning 2,400 square feet, the design unfolds as a sequence rather than a single room. Visitors descend into the space along granite treads and a warm wooden stringer, with a midway landing that offers a moment of pause before the gallery proper. Books and coffee mark that threshold — an invitation to slow down before entering.
Visit Shrine Empire Delhi
- Exhibition: ‘प्रक्रि या / Process’
- Opening: 21 April 2026, 6 PM
- Venue: Shrine Empire Delhi, B-24, Defence Colony, New Delhi 110024
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