How the Jaipur Centre for Art is redefining the city’s cultural landscape

With the shared vision to include Jaipur in the global dialogue around contemporary art practices, inspire artistic communities, and propagate cultural exchange, Sawai Padmanabh Singh and Noelle Kadar opened the doors of the Jaipur Centre for Art (JCA) in November. Spread over 2,600 sqft, the public art exhibition space is nestled inside the regal City Palace. The idea took birth with a collective understanding of Jaipur’s glorious history—the fact that Maharaja Sawai Jai Singh II built the city in 1727, which at that time was a contemporary move. “For generations, different members of our family have made significant contributions to the world of art—way ahead of their times. It led us to think about what it is that we’re doing to add to this already progressive landscape? And that’s when Noelle and I started discussing this project. Being an incredibly talented woman with years of experience in the field of art, she laid the foundation of the thought, and here we are today...,” shares Singh.

For Kadar, the Jaipur-based contemporary art expert, JCA is born from a clear commitment that she shares with Singh toward the city. She envisions it as a platform where diverse perspectives converge and creative boundaries dissolve. Talking about her collaboration with Singh, Kadar elaborates, “He (Singh) certainly pushed me to make better decisions. He has a visual language that is fluent in the architecture of the city and of Rajasthan, something that I will never have. He can see things that I will just miss. I’m lucky that he trusts me to take artistic decisions. And, I might have pushed him into seeing things in a different or maybe funkier way. It’s been a great balance and that’s exactly what friends do. I don’t think this would have worked if we were strangers. It has been the result of years of conversation.”

Being the beating heart of history, craft, jewellery, and architecture, the Pink City has always attracted creatives from all over the world. Drawing inspiration Noelle Kadar and Sawai Padmanabh Singh 121 from his family legacy of artistic patronage, Singh aims to dynamically engage today’s youth with museums and palaces by transforming iconic historic spaces into places of participation. “Jaipur is one of the most culturally rich cities in the world. It is a privilege of my life to be born in this beautiful city with so much incredible talent all around. All that I have been trying to do is just highlight that fact and present it in a slightly more modern way. JCA is one such initiative to remind the world that Jaipur is and has always been a contemporary city.”

The inaugural exhibition of JCA, A New Way of Seeing, curated by Peter Nagy, brings together eight established artists from India and other parts of the world who create a dialogue about how art is made and how we perceive it. Tanya Goel, Manjunath Kamath, Anish Kapoor, Alicja Kwade, Sean Scully, Dayanita Singh, Hiroshi Sugimoto, and LN Tallur use paintings, sculptures, and photography in a variety of styles, both materially and conceptually, to manipulate or subvert what the audience will encounter. In his curatorial note, Nagy wrote, “Through abstraction, multiplication, reaction, and deception, these artists manipulate form and material to challenge our visual expectations. How do we recognise what we are looking at, and how do artists cajole, confound, and delight those who experience their artworks? This inaugural show serves not just as a launch of our Centre, but also as a beginning of a broader conversation about the intersections of vision, material, and meaning in contemporary art.”

In addition to the exhibitions, JCA is all set to launch an artist residency programme to facilitate a nurturing environment for both emerging and established artists to draw inspiration from Jaipur’s rich history, culture, and craftsmanship. “From a community standpoint, we have a lot riding on the residency programme. We hope to support artists from India and abroad coming into Jaipur, and encourage them to leverage the resources available in the city—from varied craft techniques, materials, to artisanal practices,” shares Kadar. This initiative is aimed at fostering meaningful connections between artists and the local community, nurturing a spirit of creative collaboration and cross-cultural exchange. “I would love to see some of these artists work with our local artisans and craftsmen in vernacular techniques. I think that to me is a really exciting concept which could positively impact the community,” adds Singh. 

The debut show of JCA is open to the public till March 16, 2025.

Image: Courtesy Gallery; Photo Credit: Gourab Ganguly

This article first appeared in Harper's Bazaar India, Jan-Feb 2025 print edition. 

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