This is an invited exhibition and participation is by invitation only. If you are reading this, it means you have been invited to participate. 

Yes, artists can suggest and curators will consider. However, we have invited printmakers and paper artists / sculptors to join the exhibition, so our first priority would be to pair the invited participants. We will give due weightage to the thoughts and opinions of the artists. There can be no forced marriage, especially in the act of creation – both partners must willingly consent to the collaboration.

There are three curators of this project of varying age and experience. They have their networks and decades of understanding, relationships in their own specialized art spheres. In some senses it is completely subjective. However some objective thoughts behind the curation are stated below – 

1. Kavita Nayar is a very senior and accomplished print-maker and she has invited celebrated and feted printmakers in her sphere who work across a large diversity of printmaking techniques. 
2. Ankon Mitra is a trained architect and focuses on the structural and sculptural aspects of paper. He has invited paper sculptors and manipulators, who like himself, are sometimes not formally trained artists, but are self-taught practitioners, who have made a mark with some unique technique of paper manipulation, or are young and very flexible and excited to break new ground. He has also invited some artists who are well established, explored paper in their early artistic life, but moved onto other materials and are now being invited to revisit / re-explore / redefine their relationship with paper.
3. Chetnaa straddles both practices of paper sculpture and printmaking and brings the unique ‘third eye’ into this curation, lived experience of such collaborations and the finesse needed in the pairing as well in the nuanced understanding of the diversity of collaboration techniques that could happen. 
4. The curation also seeks a balance between well-established artistic voices and young guns of art. The pairing process also makes this format unpredictable. Would senior artists ‘absolutely set in their ways’ allow disruption to their language and practice by a young upstart? These are exciting questions we want to explore in this project. 
5. The show is Delhi based and all the three curators are also Delhi based, therefore the majority of collaborations are Delhi based. However a strong effort is being made to have representation of paper artists as well as printmakers from cities like Mumbai, Pune, Jaipur, Hyderabad, Chennai, Bangalore and Calcutta.

The format of the exhibition is a pairing of artists getting together to co-create a work. Having said this, there may be the rare artist who is both accomplished in paper manipulation techniques and in various aspects of printmaking. We will consider such solo participations. But it will not be the norm and it is not encouraged. Artists often create in their own ivory towers. This project has been formulated to encourage co-creation, collaboration, negotiation and driving forward artists out of their comfort zones.

We are all human, and artists are sometimes more emotional and sentimental than most. We will go through a slow and careful process of pairing the artists, with an initial tentative pairing, followed by interactions between the paired artists, culminating in a final cemented partnership. However, as with all things in life, there can be unpredictability and a falling out to could happen midway. If it happens in the initial stages, we will try to re-pair the artists to other artists. However if it happens at a later stage of the project, we may have no option but to cancel that particular collaboration. This is also a social challenge in a way, how to 

negotiate and continue to create in situations where fellow co-creators are not the most suitable. One of the curators of this exhibition is an architect and has faced many such projects in his career. Such challenges build emotional strength and maturity, to continue to build excellence in the face of compromised support / collaboration. Vishwakarma can build even on quicksand!

The work is co-created, so it is co-owned. The value of the work should be jointly determined by the artists of the pair. When sold, both artists must mutually agree to their share of the proceeds, in proportion to their contributions. The ideal split is 50:50, but it is possible that the quantum of work or material contributions were not equal, it is for the artists of the pair to determine between themselves. If the work is consigned by one of the artists in the pair to their gallery, the gallery commission must be factored-in, in discussion between the gallery and artists.  

Curators are making a number of simple suggestions on resolving the physical ownership issue of the work after the exhibition – 

1. There can be two identical works created (Editions), one each goes to one artist of the pair after the show. Only one of the Editions will be on display in the exhibition. 
2. Two works are created like ‘sawaal-jawaab’, they complete the composition, but can be separated and one part taken away by each artist of the pair. Both parts must be on display at the exhibition, and both parts must have physical artistic interventions by both the artists. The two parts cannot be created in isolation with only a conceptual connection.
3. A modular work is created with multiple modules and both artists agree to divide the modules equally amongst themselves. The full set of modules make sense as a work of art, as do half the number of modules.
4. Both artists trust each other completely, create a single work and are okay with one of the artists holding onto the work physically after the show is over. Any artist of the pair may sell the work, inform the other and share the proceeds received. We would advise a plain paper agreement to be signed between the artists in such cases. India Paper Triennial can provide a simple format. However if there is dishonesty in the heart, no amount of paperwork can overcome it. We live and learn to understand character from such experiences, growing richer in other ways, spotting dishonesty in people early in the process!

India Paper Triennial has no commercial interest in the proceeds of this exhibition. We wish to push artistic and creative practices through the mediums of paper and printmaking. Artists who work with galleries are free to consign the works created for this exhibition to their galleries, and should request the galleries to send their patrons to the exhibition to see these works. This will also benefit emerging artists in the show who currently don’t have gallery representation, as well as galleries indirectly, who can scout fresh talent and possibly offer them shows or representation.

No. There is no participation fee and this entire special project is a not-for-profit initiative. The curators are also working completely pro-bono without charging any curation fee.

Packing, transport and return transport of the work to the Kamaladevi Chattopadhyay Hall at IIC, New Delhi are the responsibility of the artist pair to be mutually agreed between them. One or both artists of the pair are requested to be present and actively participate in the installation of the works. Or send an assistant from their studios if available. We will try our best to make an exception to this for outstation participants. They may send the works and we will install/uninstall pack. They have to take care of shipping costs both ways. Detailed discussion on installation requirements will be entered into with drawings to be provided by the artists who cannot be physically present during the install. Owing to the non-profit nature of the exhibition, artists from outside Delhi-NCR have to take care of their return travel and stay in Delhi at their own expense. Further details will be shared at the right time. 

False walls, pedestals as necessary, labels, hooks in ceiling etc., will be arranged by India Paper Triennial. Any special requirements will be discussed with artists in advance and if artists will be requested to plan if difficult for IPT.

Show opens on the 29th of January and closes on the 9th of February. We may have a soft / intimate opening show on the 29th of January and a proper opening 

on the 3rd or 4th in alignment with India Art Fair, just prior, as more art connoisseurs and patrons are in Delhi at that time. This will also benefit the outstation participating artists who are planning to visit art fair as well. However, nothing is final about this and when final decisions are made in October / November, all the artists will be informed, so they have 2-3 months to plan their travel.

Installation : 28th January 2027

Uninstall : 9th February evening 2027

This special project ON+WITH is a part of a much larger series of events and exhibitions around the India Paper Triennial / Kaagaz Kumbh being organized at Bikaner House, Travancore Palace, Crafts Museum, India Habitat Centre, IGNCA and the Grand Hotel, with multiple openings, programs, immersions and projects being showcased across the disciplines of art, design, craft, technology and architecture. An estimated 4,00,000 art lovers are expected to witness this unprecedented celebration of Paper in India for the first time, over multiple venues and over 45 days, starting 8th January and ending on the 20th of February. International participants to various events are flying in from all over the world to take part in an International Paper Congress in Udaipur, and they will also visit the exhibitions in Delhi before heading to Udaipur. This is a valuable opportunity to immerse, connect and network.

The curation would encourage established and experimental techniques – 

1. Relief – woodcut, wood engraving, linocut, reduction or suicide printing, CNC or laser cut reliefs or 3D print relief, mono-block with any textured materials ; 
2. Intaglio – Engraving, etching, drypoint, aquatint, mezzotint, soft-ground etching, photogravure, polymer gravure, solarplate etching, electro-plate etching etc.,
3. Planographic – stone lithography, aluminium plate, waterless litho with silicone coated plates etc.
4. Screen Printing – Serigraphy, Textile screen printing, photo emulsion screen printing, conductive ink printing, printing on paper clay tablets, papier-mache, paper twine woven materials etc. 
5. Monotype and monoprint – ink rolling, ghost prints, painterly transfer methods;
6. Collagraphy – plate built with cardboard, leaves, string, torn paper, fibre and textiles ; 
7. Stencil based – Pochoir, Katazome, Spray stencil ; 
8. Photographic methods – Cyanotype, salt prints, albumen prints, van dyke brown, gum bichromate, photogravure (photography merged with intaglio) ; 
9. Digital Printmaking – Inkjet / Giclée, Dye Sublimation, UV Printing, Latex Printing
10. Hybrid Analog-Digital Techniques 
11. Resist Printing – Batik / Wax Resist / Ajrakh (but all on paper instead of textiles)
12. Blind Embossing – No ink, image appears through relief 
13. Deep Embossing – Sculptural paper surfaces 
14. Special Wood Block techniques like Mokulito and Mokuhanga
15. Letterpress 
16. Risographs – Hybrid of photocopying and screen printing
17. Cutting Edge – Nano printing, bio-printing with fungi, robotic printing, algorithmic or data driven printing (for instance a point-cloud correlating traffic and pollution in the city becomes a print) ; 
18. Printing of metallic-paper hybrid foil materials ;

There are endless possibilities but a few are listed below – 

1.  Cutting / Kirigami / Wycinanki
2. Folding (Pleating, Straight line Origami, Curved Folding) 
3. Embossing / Debossing / Carving 
4. Crushing / Crumpling
5. Papier-mâché
6. Slice-Form 
7. Paper Pulp Painting 
8. Wet paper moulding
9. Manipulating found paper objects – cardboard tubes, shoe-boxes, packaging materials, cake boxes, paper bags etc.
10. Paper twine knitting and crochet
11. Paper twine Macramé
12. Heinz Strobl’s Snapology and Knotology
13. Paper Weaving and Weaving manipulations
14. Paper Twine Embroidery on Paper 
15. Quilling 
16. Paper Raffia Basketry 
17. Kite Paper and Newsprint Overlaying Techniques
18. Paper Honeycombing
19. Paper Puppetry and Cutouts 
20. Architectural Model-making Techniques
21. Paper layering and Contouring
22. Paper with other Fibres 
23. Decoupage    

And more…

This is the Paper Triennial, the most visible and main material should be paper and the surface articulation clearing exhibiting printmaking. Other materials like plastic, metal, wood etc., can play a secondary or supporting role and not be prominently visible in the works created.

This is the primary million-dollar question of this entire exercise. The unusual and innovative use of both types of techniques and their adventurous / audacious combination are sought by the curators as the leitmotif for all works in this project.

Will the work be on a wall, hanging from the ceiling, a free-standing sculpture on the floor or on a pedestal, or something like a space one walks into, or perhaps a combination of these, are all primary questions of scale that each pair must address. Once they propose a certain scale or size, it will be a discussion with the curators, where to place the work, how much space to allocate it, how one work thematically flows into the next work etc. These are all aspects of detailed exhibition design. 

It is also possible that the techniques selected by a pair are best implemented through small scale bejeweled artist books. Or something like that – giving a generic example. Then so be it. The scale must work in consonance with what is the idea of combining the two (or more) techniques, and what would be the most impactful and ‘wow’ presentation in the exhibition, both conceptually and in final execution.

We have paired artists from both disciplines within the same city, so as to facilitate ease of working. Artist pairs can discuss how they want to work by alternatively travelling to each other’s studios or figuring out ways to coordinate, shipping work components locally back-and-forth etc. One of the artist’s may have a larger setup and the other may be working from home. The second artist may choose to work at the first artist’s studio or carry components when ready. The India Paper Triennial will not facilitate how two grown adults should coordinate work logistics!

The concept behind the work should hold the philosophical underpinnings or concerns of both the artists in a nutshell. It should underscore the identity of the artists and what is uniquely understood in the art world as their ‘brand’ of thinking and making. For young practitioners as yet not sure what their brand is, this is an amazing opportunity to explore and find out and clarify for themselves, what are the things that hold the most meaning for them by way of artistic expression.

Yes, you can. Some of the other showcases of the India Paper Triennial are Solo artist’s projects, primarily presented by art galleries : at Travancore Palace and Bikaner House. Some of the artists of this exhibition (at IIC), will be approached separately via their galleries for participation in those formats in their solo capacity. In some cases, galleries may be persuaded to represent some of the younger artists who have innovative practices with paper and deserve solo projects or showcases but as yet do not have gallery representation.

Yes. If you are interested in being considered for any of the other sections of the India Paper Triennial, you are welcome to submit your CV and portfolio to indiapapertriennial@gmail.com. Please mention the name of the section you wish to be considered for in the subject line of your email so that your submission can be forwarded to the appropriate curatorial team.

The respective curators will review your portfolio and assess its suitability for their section. Please note that several sections of the India Paper Triennial are curated through an invitation-based process. While all submissions will be given due consideration, sending your portfolio is an expression of interest and does not guarantee selection or participation.