'We Must Show Our Commitment To The Art Ecology Of The Region'

Jagdip Jagpal, the new director of the India Art Fair, talks about her plans for the event, having a year-round programme and making art culture accessible

- Jagdip Jagpal

The 11th edition of the India Art Fair (IAF), from February 9 to 12, will be the first one after MCH—which runs Art Basel, the world’s premier annual modern and contemporary art fair in Basel, Miami Beach, and Hong Kong—acquired a 60.3 percent stake in it last year. It will also be the first with Jagdip Jagpal as director, who took over from founder and former director Neha Kirpal six months prior to the fair.

The event is expected to be a testing ground for new ideas, with an expanded programme and increased participation from Indian and South Asian galleries and artistes. Jagpal, 53, a British national who has relocated to India, brings with her experience in the UK’s art sector, as well as in publishing, radio and television. Edited excerpts from an interview:

Q There are two new elements in the IAF: MCH as a new shareholder, and you as its new director. How will the IAF this year be different from the ones in the past?

What Neha [Kirpal] managed to achieve was remarkable. In quite a new market, particularly for contemporary art, she was able to attract exhibitors to sell the art, and visitors. What it created was the foundation on which we are now building. So, the headlines remain the same: It’s an art fair, it sells art, with artists from India and the region, and some international galleries.