A new ensemble exhibition titled Vichitra/विचित्र will open at the Temporary Gallery of the Bihar Museum, Patna, on 1 July 2026, bringing together fourteen artists across generations in a significant inter-regional cultural collaboration. Organised by Emami Art and the Kolkata Centre for Creativity (KCC), Kolkata, the exhibition will remain on view until 21 July, from 10:00 AM to 5:00 PM daily.
The exhibition travels from Bengal to Bihar with an intent to both acknowledge and extend a long-standing cultural relationship between the two regions. Drawing from the Sanskrit term vichitra, meaning variegated or many-sided, the show foregrounds plurality over cohesion, presenting a range of practices that resist a singular narrative or stylistic alignment.
Spanning painting, sculpture, photography, textile, and print, Vichitra brings into conversation historically significant modernists such as Lalit Mohan Sen and Kartick Chandra Pyne with contemporary practitioners. The exhibition focuses on themes often overlooked in dominant histories—labour, materiality, and everyday life. Artists such as Prasanta Sahu and Anjan Modak engage with agrarian knowledge and migrant experiences, while Soma Das reflects on domestic labour. Ujjal Dey’s work addresses ecological concerns through natural dyes, and Pradip Das uses industrial materials to evoke memories of Partition.
Other participating artists, including Arindam Chatterjee, Arunima Choudhury, Partha Pratim Deb, Sibaprasad Karchaudhuri, Suman Dey, Tapas Biswas, and Kushal Ray explore formal and conceptual questions around figuration, abstraction, and documentation, further expanding the exhibition’s thematic range.
Speaking about the exhibition, Richa Agarwal, CEO of Emami Art and Chairperson of KCC, emphasised the importance of institutional collaboration. She noted that such partnerships allow cultural work to move beyond regional boundaries and create meaningful exchanges between audiences and practices.
Ushmita Sahu, Director and Head Curator at Emami Art, highlighted the curatorial intent to resist simplifying the exhibition into a singular narrative. Instead, she framed Vichitra as an exploration of plurality and tension, where diverse artistic approaches coexist without being subsumed into a unified story.
Set within the Bihar Museum—a space where historical collections intersect with contemporary practice—the exhibition situates itself within an ongoing cultural dialogue between Bengal and Bihar, allowing historical continuities and divergences to remain visible.
Vichitra is expected to draw attention for its nuanced curatorial approach and its emphasis on inter-regional artistic exchange in eastern India.
Cover image: Arindam Chatterjee (b. 1972) | Voyage | Dry pastel, oil, and ink on rice paper pasted on board | 32 x 44 in. (81.3 x 111.8 cm.) | 2019, Kolkata
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