The latest art, culture, design, and dining news to know

There’s plenty happening across art, culture, design and dining, from landmark exhibitions and new cultural destinations to restaurants and creative collaborations. Here are the latest happenings worth knowing about.

CREATIVE JOURNEY

Trace three decades of painter Asit Kumar Patnaik’s artistic practice at Continuum: A 30-Year Retrospective. Bringing together around 50 works from 1995 to 2026, including previously unseen paintings and works on paper, the exhibition spans sketches, watercolours, landscapes, abstracts, graphic prints and figurative paintings. Patnaik’s evolving fascination with texture, experimentation across materials and semi-realistic figurative style come to the fore, alongside his explorations of human relationships and women’s empowerment. The exhibition shows the artist’s willingness to experiment while remaining connected to his core ideas. Curated by Shibani Chawla, the show will be on view at LTC Gallery, Bikaner House, Delhi, from October 14 to 18.

ART DESTINATION

Explore modern and contemporary art at Guggenheim Abu Dhabi, opening on December 11 in the Saadiyat Cultural District. Designed by the late Pritzker Prize winning architect Frank Gehry, the museum will showcase works from the 1960s to the present, bringing together diverse artistic perspectives and fostering dialogue across cultures.

CULTURAL IDENTITY

Ritual, memory, and devotion are in focus at Performing Belief, a group exhibition at Kalakaar Art Salon, Delhi. Bringing together works by 22 modern, folk, tribal, and contemporary artists, including SH Raza, FN Souza, MF Husain, Jamini Roy, and Bhuri Bai, the show examines ritual as an evolving cultural language shaped by repetition, labour, identity, and belonging. The exhibition is on view till September 30.

BACK TO BASICS

Let’s Kiss, a new bar in Delhi, brings hospitality back to its simplest, most personal form. With no menu, the bar’s team draws from more than 100 drinks, creating cocktails based on your mood, memories, or preferences—or simply improvising. The raw-concrete space, warm hospitality, and dry humour keep things deliberately unshowy, while the food follows suit, with bar grazers, cold bites, tacos, tartines, shareable small plates, and a house pot meal. Founded by Sahil Sambhi, Let’s Kiss is less about elaborate cocktail theatre and more about conversation, good drinks, and the feeling of being remembered.

RETAIL EXPANSION

Discover P•TAL’s world of handcrafted brass, copper, and kansa at its first experiential flagship store in Hyderabad’s Banjara Hills. Spread across 2,000 sqft, the two-level space brings India’s metal craft traditions into a contemporary setting, with immersive installations, curated displays, and bespoke gifting. Explore nearly 70 products spanning cookware, serveware, drinkware, dinnerware, wedding, and baby hampers. It also offers personalised products, inviting visitors to discover the stories behind the craft.

BIG MILESTONE

Contemporary gallery Nature Morte is celebrating its 30th anniversary with an exhibition at its new permanent gallery in Gulmohar Park, New Delhi. Titled The Evolution of the Soothsayer, the two-part exhibition brings together 35 artists across generations, including Bharti Kher, Dayanita Singh, and Subodh Gupta. Spanning painting, sculpture, photography, experimental materials, and digital practices, the show reflects on the shifting landscape of contemporary art and the individual voices shaping it today. Part One is on view till October 10, followed by Part Two from October 17 to December 12.

CULINARY SPOT

Taste modern Asian cuisine with a Japanese influence at Freddy Who, the new restaurant in Vasant Vihar, New Delhi. The intimate space takes cues from classic Italian social clubs, with oxblood lacquer, burl veneers, bronze detailing, and a sculptural bar. The menu moves from sashimi, carpaccio, and gyoza to robata grills, wok fired dishes and generous plates. A spirit-first cocktail programme complements the food.

SIGNATURE MENU

 

Fashion meets mixology at Sidecar, where the cocktail bar has unveiled Sidecar Ke Kalakar, its sixth signature menu of 12 new cocktails, alongside a collaboration with fashion label Huemn. Extending the idea beyond the glass, Huemn has designed a one-off bar apron using its signature ‘half & half’ deconstruction technique, merging a shirt, dress, and apron into one collectible silhouette. The cocktails are priced between `995 and `1,595.

CAPTURING EVERYDAY LIFE

Explore three decades of human stories through Seamus Murphy’s lens at Life is in Many Days, on view at Museo Camera, Gurugram, till October 25. From his lyrical portrait of Ireland and nuanced images of Afghanistan to the vibrant streets of Kolkata and unexpected parallels between Russia and America, the exhibition celebrates resilience, connection, and shared humanity

GLOBAL SHOWCASE

Veteran artist Nilima Sheikh explores memory, displacement, and renewal through Nilima Sheikh: Fractured Skies, her first solo presentation in New York, at The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) from September 27 to June 13. Co-organised by MoMA and Kiran Nadar Museum of Art (KNMA), the exhibition showcases five decades of her artistic journey and brings together works from three significant series— Each Night Put Kashmir in Your Dreams, Home, Land, and the newly commissioned Shahid/Witness. Moving between poetry, folklore, history, and personal memory, Sheikh’s layered paintings reflect on the Partition of Punjab, Kashmir, war and displacement, transforming historical trauma into meditations on loss, resilience, and hope.

IMMERSIVE EXPERIENCE

Taste Gaggan Anand’s return to India at RAGA, his new New Delhi restaurant created with Rydo Anton in partnership with Zorawar Kalra. RAGA is not a recreation of Bangkok or a nostalgic trip down memory lane. Instead, expect a five-hour, two-seating experience that brings together texture, sound, light, rhythm, humour, memory, and surprise. With one menu priced at ₹11,111++ per person, the restaurant invites diners to rethink what a meal can be. RAGA promises an immersive dining experience that plays by its own rules. Artwork titled Seeking A Yellow Path-III (2024).

COFFEE & CONFIDENCE

Celebrate the freedom to fall, learn, and rise again with In Good Co., a new cafe in Delhi that celebrates experimentation, reinvention, and the courage to try again. It brings this philosophy to life through limited edition journals created with Paperdom, alongside a menu where Southern Filter Kaapi meets specialty coffee, and Badam Halwa Croissant sits alongside Pindi Chole Hummus. With contemporary spaces, Indian inspired design, and collaborations with homegrown creatives, In Good Co. captures the evolving spirit of modern India.

LAYERED EXPLORATION

Artist Raj Chowdhury is showcasing his debut solo exhibition, Where Do I Pause?, at Trace Gallery, Kolkata, a new art and culture space conceptualised by Anissa Sonthalia. Drawing from his time in the ICU, the painter examines contradictory feelings like fear and hope, memory and oblivion, and chaos and clarity. Fragments of personal experiences, current events, philosophy, human behaviour, nature and still life come together in a neo-pop language, creating a shifting landscape where meaning forms, dissolves and lingers in the spaces between. The show will run till September 16.

FOR THE LOVE OF DESIGN

Explore the latest in furniture, lighting, craft and collectible design at Design Democracy at Hyderabad’s HITEX Exhibition Centre from September 18 to 20. Bringing together more than 200 brands, 150 speakers and 250 architects and designers, the highlights of the festival include four curated exhibitions, immersive installations, public art interventions, and talks exploring the future of design.

This article originally appeared in Harper's Bazaar India's August - September 2026 print issue.

Image credits: Courtesy the brands

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