Song of earth & sky on canvas

The Gujral Foundation has announced a public art project - commissioning temporary pavilions by selected artists, architects and designers that respond to interesting locations.

For its inaugural edition, the Foundation will be commissioning a stand-alone pleated pavilion titled 'The Song of the Earth and the Sky' at Sunder Nursery, New Delhi designed by architect and hexagram artist Ankon Mitra.

Reha Sodhi has been appointed as the curatorial advisor for the project. It will be open to the public for viewing from January 30 to March 30.

The Gujral Foundation completed its 10th year in 2018, which marked the beginning of its focus into the realm of architecture and design.

This began with the presentation of the India pavilion at the London Design Biennale in September 2018 and continues through various initiatives including partnerships, exhibitions, outreach, interventions and forums in India and Internationally.

The Foundation aims to examine the effect of design and architecture on cultural landscape as well as propose larger questions of the role of these within the spheres of nation building, ownership of public space, and sustainable futures.

Mitra will respond to the gardens of Sunder Nursery and will create a pleated pavilion that takes inspiration from arcade of the Sunderwala Mahal and responds to it by using origami forms.

The pavilion, with the dimensions of 4m X 14m X 4m, will be constructed using Mild Steel Arch Frames, Hand-folded sheet Aluminium, Copper finish, Pebbles, Grass, LED Lighting.

The foundation will also present multi-disciplinary artist Remen K Van Der Vaart's solo exhibition 'Memory's cut; Its Deep Embrace' at its experimental site 24 Jor Bagh, New Delhi, as a highlight on the collateral events programme of the India Art Fair 2020.

The exhibition with Reha Sodhi as the curatorial advisor will include new works by the artist, which will be on view from January 31 to February 24.

Through this exhibition, the artist will reflect upon her personal journey of migration by questioning notions of home, lineage, space and time.

She will trace the history of objects and spaces which once lived, through multi-layered artworks that create contrasts of real and endorsed time.

She will delve into the history of personal spaces and its memory using writings, maps, objects, poetry and sculptural works to respond to the emotion and idea of home.

The artist will transform 24 Jor Bagh with personal objects to punctuate the exhibition by recalling family stories of Iran, Rawalpindi and Shimla, as narrated to her by her grandmother.

Reha Sodhi, the curatorial advisor said: "The exhibition is a poignant chronicle of the artist's life that interweaves personal archives, notions of home and memory.

Her work is a unique assemblage of intimate moments, poetry and personal objects that were passed on from one generation to the other."