Jaipur’s Nahargarh Fort has been drawing tourists’ attention from a long time owing to its ancient history but now it’s all set to seek the attention of the art lovers as well. The Rajasthan government is going to open a Sculpture Park on December 10 in the forts’ premises. Speculated as one of the world’s largest open-air galleries, this park will feature a range of artworks from 21 imminent artists including 15 Indian and 6 international artists.
These art installations will include works of Artists like Arman, Astha Butail, Viba Galhotra, Prashant Pandey, Subodh Gupta, Anita Dube, Manish Nai, Reena Kallat, Huma Bhabha, Mrinalini Mukherjee, Benitha Perciyal, LN Tallur, Jitish Kallat, Ravinder Reddy, Bharti Kher, Gyan Panchal, James Brown, Evan Holloway, Arlene Shechet, Asim Waqif, and Thukral & Tagra.
This initiative is an effort of Rajasthan government in collaboration with a non-profit foundation called Saat Sath Arts founded by Aparajita Jain. Under the project, the Madhavendra Palace inside Nahargarh will be resurrected into an art gallery. It will be an annual affair and charge will be INR 20 rupees (for Indian tourists).
Nahargarh Fort Aerial Shot (Image Courtesy: India.com)
The exhibition is going to be organized by Delhi-based artists Peter Nagy who has selected artists working with everyday objects. One of these will include Artist Jitish Kallat’s annexation of an over-sized stove. According to Peter, the project will present a blend of the city’s history and contemporary artwork.
However, the work of setting up the gallery was not easy as the curators had to face a lot of challenges. There were limitations like no use of nails while putting up a wall panel and installation of large mantelpieces in the presence of sharp meanders. In order to prevent any distortion to the ancient property of the fort, they had to make the pieces that could stand independently without any support.
Madhavendra Palace (Image Courtesy: Wikimapia)
As per Malvika Singh, member of Chief Minister’s Advisory Council (CMAC), the government was very keen on this public-private association. The aim is to promote the artworks and encourage artists to curate masterpieces that standout. It also focuses on drawing more tourists to the fort so as to “take the Jaipur experience to the next level”.
