Dilli Reimagined

How an art & heritage festival is transforming the national capital into a 'living museum'

- MITALI

Delhi is a portrait of many pasts. But an ongoing art and heritage festival is reimagining the national capital as a cultural map, "weaving together interconnected sites and layered histories".

On since September 7, the first Delhi edition of DAG's acclaimed art and heritage festival, The City as a Museum, is encouraging audiences to traverse Delhi in new ways. Through exhibitions, walks, performances, audio trails, and discussions, it seeks to uncover how the city has nurtured modern Indian art while reflecting the nation's evolving identity.

The City as a Museum arrives in the city after four successful editions in Kolkata and a widely lauded debut in Mumbai earlier this year.

At the heart of the Delhi edition is Sair-e-Delhi: Chronicles of Change, curated by historian Swapna Liddle. The exhibition presents a remarkable array of paintings, prints, photographs, maps, and plans that tell the story of Delhi's shifting built environment—from the Sultanate and Mughal dynasties to Lutyens' imperial capital. "The exhibition focuses on the layered and dynamic history of Delhi," Liddle tells FE. "I am hoping this will invite viewers to think also of how they interact with these sites in the present," she adds.