An art fair that responds to Mumbai's layered landscape

At the forthcoming edition of Art Mumbai, the city becomes the muse as artists create site-specific installations to be juxtaposed against the skyline while galleries showcase the latest in contemporary art

- Avantika Bhuyan

Sculptures are all set to become navigational tools—acting as companions and guides—at the forthcoming Art Mumbai, to be held at Mahalaxmi Racecourse, from 14–17 November. The unique "Sculpture Walk" is a fresh addition to the second edition of the fair.

Outdoor spaces turn into immersive dynamic areas with 20 works such as Wolf’s Sea of Poppies, Ravinder Reddy’s Devi, Monali Meher’s Unknown Landscapes and Parag Tandel’s Vitamin Sea and Coastal Road Project 3, interacting with the site itself. The walk, supported by the RMZ Foundation, looks at the expanded idea of sculptural practices, where the work does not hold just aesthetic value but also presents various intersections of history, textiles, found objects, poetry and performance.

"The collection encompasses a diverse array of works, ranging from monumental installations to intimate, textile-inspired forms, enhancing the overall experience with both tactile and visual depth," says Dinesh Vazirani, who has co-founded Art Mumbai with his wife, Minal, and gallerists Conor Macklin and Nakul Dev Chawla.

The Sculpture Walk has been put together by Veerangana Solanki, an independent curator and writer, who focuses on the convergence of interdisciplinary forms and practices. "There is Monali Meher, who is based out of Ghent, Belgium, and is showing in Mumbai after a really long time. She is known for her performative interventions, but here she is doing a sculptural installation, which responds to the site itself," says Solanki.