Rajasthan's Nahargarh fort to get a sculpture park

The Madhavendra Palace at Nahargarh Fort in Jaipur will soon be transformed into a sculpture park with art works by leading Indian and international artists on display at heritage property.
The project which is being initiated by the government of Rajasthan in collaboration with a non-profit organisation Saath Saath Arts, will showcase art works by 14 Indian and six international artists, selected by renowned artist and gallery director Peter Nagy.
Nagy says he wants to indulge in his passion for art, architecture and decor into a marvellous synthesis of the past and the present with this project.
"For most of my career as a gallerist and curator, I have been trying to break away from the white-box exhibition space.

"Jaipur is one of the first places where tourists go. People travel for contemporary as well as traditional culture and this initiative will help to promote that further," Nagy said.
The partnership is being seen as a first of its kind initiative where the government has collaborated with a range of corporate sponsors and private individuals to bring a contemporary edge to India's heritage properties.

"There will be several outreach and education programmes with fashion shows and music that will unfold in later part of the project. It will help the local as well as young artists to learn about contemporary arts.

"Artists from across the world want to come to India and display their works. For me, culture is an engine of economy for any country and India must tap on it," the curator said.
The project which started around seven months ago involved in-depth research of the palace to ensure that no damage is done to the heritage property during the installation of the sculptures.
"The palace is more like a maze with several spots here and there. Although we wanted to bring the palace to life through art but a lot of decisions to display artworks were taken according to the availability of the space," he said.

The exhibition which will be open to public from December 10, includes artist Jitish Kallat's famous sculpture "Annexation (2009)" along with Karnataka-based sculptor L N Tallur's "Chromatophobia" (2012) - a granite sculpture with wooden logs and coins, among others.
A collection of seven sculptures - all in Hydrocal plaster, acrylic paint skins by American artist Arlene Schechet and a popular piece of art created by French-born American artist Arman, "Fried Chicken (1984)" will also be displayed at the gallery.
"I believe art in many forms embraces and connects people from across continents and am therefore delighted that the sculpture park at the Nahargarh fort will be the first permanent international art space in Rajasthan drawing people from far flung parts of our state and the Indian sub-continent as well as from across the world, bringing them together to share and celebrate diverse international creative expressions," Vasundhara Raje, chief minister of Rajasthan said.