LuxeBook February 2022

We’ve also realised our capacity for resilience because we’ve recognised that working together allows us to tap into new audiences. This collaborative approach is something new and it’s been an interesting process that has made the market stronger. People have realised their strengths. The whole digital playing field has been levelled for a lot of galleries that were not up to the mark. Institutions have found new collaborative ways of coming together to sell art. The market has become quite strong in the past two years. What are some of the initiatives that IAF has undertaken in association with the Gujral foundation and Ishara Art Foundation? We are working with The Gujral Foundation and Artdemic who supported many young artists through grants during the pandemic. We’re working with them to do an open call for the façade of the fair which is really the biggest canvas in New Delhi. We announced the winning artist: the young Anshuka Mahapatra who is a Masters student at the Sarojini Naidu School of Art in Hyderabad. We believe in collaboration and work closely with leading institutions as well as commercial galleries. We’re keen to spotlight newtalent and earlier this January, we hosted our first-ever online symposium ‘Staging the Contemporary: The Next Generation’ in partnership with Ishara Art Foundation with support from the Shiv Nadar University. The last few years have seen a rise in political artwork. Will there be representations of political art at the fair? I feel that art has always been a response to the environment around you. Artists are constant speakers of our society and we’re proud to give a platform to their voices. So, IAF will definitely see some political work, whether social or ecological, which is pertinent at this time, along with sustainability and equality. Our main aim is to give the artists a platform to say what they want to, and that later on will speak for itself. With over 800 artists at the fair, we don’t know about the artworks at the fair as of yet. I’m sure there will be some political works, but that is part of everyone’s consciousness. We have a Selection Committee including gallerists, an artist and an institutional lead who broadly represent the local and international art scene. The Selection Committee evaluates applications and makes selections based on the quality of submissions and proposals. The IAF Selection Committee also ensures that the diversity of artists and art forms from India and South Asia are represented at the fair. Art Incept, Delhi 32| L U X E B O O K | F E B R U A R Y 2 0 2 2 Coming soon...