Mumbai Gallery Weekend Ξ On a wonderful, balmy Sunday galleryIntell visited the hotel ‘Taj Land’s End’, Mumbai, where 9 of the top gallerists of the city decided to come together and give Mumbai its first ever Mumbai Gallery Weekend.
We spoke with Usha Mirchandani, founder of Galerie Mirchandani + Steinruecke, who was the force behind this initiative and gave us an insider’s view of the art world in India. India contains a rich treasure trove of artworks and artists, and Usha feels the time has come for India to enter the world map. This step to consolidate forces and come together for a weekend fair is an encouraging sign in a market that has the potential to increase the collector base exponentially.
Interview transcript
Usha Mirchandani: Very simply put, the idea is to broaden the audience for art. In India, it is limited to a very few collectors, hence we need to broaden the collector base.
Bandra (in Mumbai, India) does not have any galleries, we are all concentrated in one neighborhood (in South Mumbai). That concentration in the neighborhood brought us together, and we thought – OK, we are neighbors, in the same business, let’s do something together that goes beyond what any one of us can do on our own. Having seen the results of this collaboration, I am thrilled that we did come together, that there was enough trust and respect for each other’s points of view and ways of working, and that we could pull it off, I must say, rather amicably.
It has worked really well, so much that I think we should make this an annual event. I think we have tremendous potential, but then we have been seeing that for a long time. Perhaps what we should do, is take this Mumbai Gallery Weekend to New York, because I think, it is not that we lack the art or the creativity – we are a country that is standing on the richest ground in terms of that. But, we need to come together and showcase this, and I don’t think that is being done enough. Today there is a lot of focus on art fairs, and again, India doesn’t have a strong presence there. We need to present things on a broader platform, and , you have given me something to think about.
This article and video interview © galleryIntell