Mumbai’s highly anticipated art fair, India Art Fair Contemporary, planned for November 2025, has been called off, confirmed the organisers of the long-standing India Art Fair (IAF) in New Delhi. Scheduled to take place at Jio World Garden, Bandra Kurla Complex, Fair was expected to feature over 50 galleries dedicated to contemporary art and design.
“The mission of the India Art Fair, as ever, is to have our gallery and artists from the region at the forefront,” said Jaya Asokan, director of the fair, in a statement. In line with this commitment, we have taken the decision to not hold the fair as previously planned, at Jio World Garden this November.” The move follows increasing concern among India’s art community since the fair was announced in September. The scheduled dates conflicted with the long-running Art Mumbai, which recently wrapped its second edition with 71 exhibitors, including many of India’s most prominent galleries, which also take part in India Art Fair.
Priyanka Raja, co-founder of Kolkata-based gallery Experimenter, urged for logistical space in such overlap for galleries: “We would be participating in Art Mumbai in 2025 as we already had confirmations and we wouldn’t have the capacity or the material to do two fairs in the same city in the same year. Art Mumbai reported in The Art Newspaper that it had raised stand prices for 2025 but promised existing exhibitors discounts if they signed early. Art-mumbai declined to give a comment but the move is another layer to an undercurrent of competing between the two fairs.
New York based John McGowan and Hong Kong–based Angus Montgomery Arts are under contract to launch the India Art Fair (which was founded in 2008 and bought by Angus Montgomery Arts in 2019) and are seeking new ways to cement its status in Mumbai. “We are excited to continue our ongoing work with cultural institutions in Mumbai and across the country, nurturing and supporting emerging art scenes through a new year-round programme of events and activations for 2025 that complements existing programming,” Jaya Asokan said.
The cancellation comes as the art-fair landscape in India continues to evolve, and it begs the question of whether, as more of them open, Mumbai can sustain several high-profile events aimed at contemporary art and design.
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