A new Mumbai fair planned for next year, run by the long-standing India Art Fair (IAF) in New Delhi, will not go ahead, its organisers confirmed today.
India Art Fair Contemporary was to be held at Jio World Garden in Mumbai's Bandra Kurla Complex neighbourhood between 13-16 November 2025, and feature around 50 galleries of contemporary art and design.
“India Art Fair’s mission remains to prioritise the needs of galleries and artists from the region,” says the fair's director Jaya Asokan. “As part of this commitment, the fair scheduled to take place at Jio World Garden in November will no longer be held in the previously-planned format.”
When the fair was announced in September, concern was raised among India's gallerists due to its dates coinciding with the existing Art Mumbai, which closed its second edition earlier this month. Among the 71 exhibitors that took part in the latest Art Mumbai are many of India's biggest galleries, which also regularly take part in India Art Fair.
One of those exhibitors, Priyanka Raja, the co-founder of Experimenter, says that her gallery "would be participating in Art Mumbai in 2025 as we had committed to it already and wouldn't have the capacity or material to participate in two fairs simultaneously in the same city".
The Art Newspaper understands that Art Mumbai is increasing stand prices next year and, shortly after the second edition closed, offered its current exhibitors a discount if they committed to the fair early. Art Mumbai declined to comment.
To what extent India Art Fair, which was founded in 2008 and has been wholly owned by the Hong Kong-based events company Angus Montgomery Arts since 2019, will have a presence in Mumbai next year is as yet unclear. Asokan says: “We look forward to continuing our ongoing work with cultural institutions in Mumbai and across the country to foster and support emerging art scenes through a new year-round programme of events and activations for 2025 that complements existing programming.”
