India art fair diaries

India Art Fair, the leading platform for discovering modern and contemporary art from South Asia, announced programme highlights for the 2018 edition. Presented in partnership with BMW Group in India, the fair will take place at the NSIC grounds, Okhla Industrial Area, New Delhi, from February 9 to 12.

Under the leadership of new fair director, Jagdip Jagpal, the 2018 edition of India Art Fair will feature refreshed and expanded programming across each of the fair's sections and a testing out of new ideas. The 2018 programme will offer unrivalled access to South Asia's thriving cultural scene, including its galleries and artists, private foundations and arts charities, artists' collectives, national institutions, cultural events and festivals. Jagpal promises to inject a sense of professionalism, depth and a certain avant-garde insignia to the 2018 exposition.

Of great interest and intrigue will be the international representation that looks at a sprinkling of South Asian presence.

Presented in a redesigned events space, India Art Fair's public events programme will be reimagined and expanded in 2018 and will feature artist talks, industry debates, live events and digital artworks. Highlights include a moving image work by Hetain Patel, alongside a new strand of talks titled 'I know what you did last summer', which will invite South Asia's most established artists to present on recent international exhibitions and projects. The first participant to be announced is Waqas Khan.

Continuing their long and substantial engagement with contemporary arts, presenting partner BMW Group India will show the 17th BMW Art Car by Jeff Koons – 2010, BMW M3 GT2 reflecting the cultural and historical development of art, design and technology. An exclusive space will be created for collectors to connect at the Collectors' Lounge and an annual BMW Patrons' evening in support and celebration of corporate collaboration and patronage of the art

Blain | Southern will be showing works by Marius Bercea, Jonas Burgert, Francesco Clemente, Mat Collishaw, Rachel Howard, Michael Joo and Bill Viola. A particular highlight is Clemente's Emblems of Transformation series - delicately and intimately scaled paintings which include miniature elements chosen and suggested by the artist, and executed by a family of Indian miniaturist painters from Rajasthan.

Bruno Art Group will present works by artists including Lihi Turjeman and Sharon Ya'ari. These artists will be presented at IAF for the first time to bring to India the most exciting emerging Israeli artists.

Richard Koh Fine Arts will be showing Malaysian artists Anne Samat, Hasanul Isyraf Idris and Dhavinder Singh. This booth will have a suite of works that tap contemporary character that has is born of literary leanings and the images are an allegory of allusions that are at once alluring in every way.

Complementing the fair's regional perspective, carefully selected galleries from across Asia, Europe, South America, United Kingdom and the United States will showcase their globally-recognised artists, many of whom have never exhibited in India before. International galleries are sure to add a distinct definitive flavour to the IAF that will open next week.