"It will be the country's first contemporary sculpture park," said Aparajita Jain, founder and director of Saat Saath Arts Foundation, which has collaborated with the Rajasthan government in a public-private partnership on the project.
Come December 10, Nahargarh Fort, the picturesque 18th century fort overlooking the city of Jaipur, will offer more than just history. For a nominal fee of Rs 20 (for Indians only), visitors will get to see a selection of cutting-edge contemporary sculptures of top-notch artists from India and across the world as Madhvendra Palace inside the fort gets transformed into a Sculpture Park.
"It will be the country's first contemporary sculpture park," said Aparajita Jain, founder and director of Saat Saath Arts Foundation, which has collaborated with the Rajasthan government in a public-private partnership on the project.
"The state government, which owns the fort, has given us the space and also with the manpower, security, etc. We also have a host of supporters among the younger generation of corporate leaders. There's, among others, Shreyasi Goenka, content editor, DNA, Pirojsha Goenka of Godrej Properties, and Mayank Singhal, MD of PI Industries, who are supporting the initiative" she added.
Peter Nagy, noted gallerist of Nature Morte, a Delhi-based contemporary arts gallery, has curated the artwork for the park. Among the 22 artists selected are Jitish and Reena Kallat, Subodh Gupta, Bharti Kher, Thukral & Tagra, LN Tallur, Ravinder Reddy, Manish Nai, and Mrinalini Mukherjee. In addition, there are a few international names such as Arman, a French-American senior artist, and Huma Bhabha, a Karachi-born American artist.
"Jaipur is the first place in India that most tourists travelling to India visit. We would like to give them a reason to come back to the city. For local visitors, it gives them a chance to relate to the historical space in an entirely new way, and to relate to contemporary art," said Nagy. Care has been taken, he added, to make sure that there was no damage to the heritage structure.
The Sculpture Park will be a permanent feature of the Nahargarh Fort, said Malvika Singh, member of the Rajasthan government's Chief Minister's Advisory Council, who is spearheading the project. However, the current set of sculptures will be replaced by a fresh set a year later, in December 2018.
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