India Art Fair Cancels First Mumbai Iteration Just Months After Announcement

The organizers of the India Art Fair, an annual event held in New Delhi since 2008, have announced that its first Mumbai iteration, planned to launch in 2025, has been cancelled. Dubbed India Art Fair Contemporary, the event was set to host some 60 Indian and international galleries at Jio World Garden, a venue in the Mumbai’s Bandra Kurla Complex, from November 13 to November 16.

“India Art Fair’s mission remains to prioritize the needs of galleries and artists from the region,” fair director Jaya Asokan said in a statement first published in the Art Newspaper. “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.”

India Art Fair is owned and operated by Angus Montgomery Arts, which organizes a slew of regional fairs including Art Central in Hong Kong, Taipei Dangdai, Singapore’s Art SG, and Tokyo Gendai.

The inaugural Mumbai iteration was only just announced in September. The news received a cautious reception from regional gallerists, some of whom had already committed to participating in the third Art Mumbai fair, which would have run concurrently. The last edition of Art Mumbai, which wrapped in November, attracted 71 exhibitors, including many of India’s most prominent galleries, some of whom regularly participate in India Art Fair.

Asokan said in statement: “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 program of events and activations for 2025 that complements existing programming.”