Started by husband-wife duo Prateek and Priyanka Raja in Kolkata in 2009, contemporary art gallery Experimenter has made a mark on the art scene since its inception through its diverse exhibitions and collaborative programmes that often reach beyond the cliched “white cube” experience. Now, 13 years and two galleries in Kolkata later, Experimenter is all set to enter Mumbai’s much-loved art district in Colaba with a new address.
While expanding out of their home city might have come up for discussion, the Rajas, of their own admission, were “not seeking out” a new space. However, as fate would have it, a conversation with Usha Mirchandani (of Galerie Mirchandani + Steinruecke), led to them walking into the first floor space of the restored 1890s Sunny House in February this year and “fall in love with it,” sans any Excel sheet or strategy in place. Both the Rajas refer to the selection of the space as “organic” and something that would provide a new venue to the 24 artists on their roster and to the gallerists, an opportunity to showcase Experimenter’s multidisciplinary curation.
“When we walked into this space while making the decision, it felt like we could have been in another room of Experimenter, Ballygunge Place. It felt like an extension of our spaces–and that felt quite right,” says Priyanka, referring to the second gallery they opened in Kolkata in 2018, which is also housed in an old building with architecture reminiscent of the City of Joy’s days of yore. Calling themselves “lovers of architecture,” the Rajas loved the 120-year-old Colaba building’s history and energy and are now eager to build on it with their own narrative.
For their opening exhibition on 23 September at the Colaba gallery, Experimenter will showcase a new body of work by Atlanta-based artist Ayesha Sultana, comprising a series of paintings, drawings and sculptures across mediums, which will draw attention to her process that is central to her practice. Simultaneously, they will also bring to Mumbai, a curated set of programmes through collaborations with some iconic spaces, one among them being the art and culture collaborative space IF.BE, housed in a 144-year-old ice factory in Ballard Estate. Bani Abidi’s much-acclaimed work Memorial to Lost Words–which sees her document through an immersive sound-and-sculptural installation, the memories and pain of women from undivided Punjab as they yearn for their sons, brothers and husbands who were fighting in the First World War–is one of the works that will be shown here. Alongside, Abidi’s monograph titled The Artist Who, published by Hatje Cantz will also be launched in India at IF.BE on 24 September.
“While having Ayesha for the first exhibition was based on the readiness of her new body of work and an interesting point of her career that she is at, we have now already planned for four or five years ahead and conversations are ongoing. So after this first exhibition, we can say that it will be a more strategic process of one exhibition feeding into the next,” explains Prateek. The collaboration with IF.BE is one example of how Experimenter will engage with spaces outside of the white cube.
Engaging with spaces, its people and expanding beyond the gallery space have always been at the forefront of Experimenter’s programming from when they started in Kolkata with their Hindustan Road gallery. This can be reflected in the diversity of their programming through initiatives such as the Experimenter Learning Program that facilitates learning and discourse around visual arts, the Experimenter Residency for multidisciplinary artists and the popular Experimenter Curators Hub, an annual symposium of curators from across the world. With the Colaba gallery too, Experimenter aims to do the same. “While there will be exhibitions, talks and walkthroughs at the gallery, we will do other things like engage with other cities, spaces and institutions. We will try to bring relationships and collaborations forward and build what we think is a reflection of the discursive programme that we have in Kolkata,” says Priyanka.
This new space in Colaba that earlier housed Galerie Mirchandani + Steinruecke is one that Prateek and Priyanka have “had a long history with”. “We were always fans of the programming they ran out of there and have had fantastic memories of walking into the space for exhibitions and openings. But walking in this time, when we were looking at it as our third space, it really felt right for us on a guttural level. The decision was made from the heart,” shares Priyanka. However, “breaking or building notion” is not what the Rajas are looking to do with the space run by its erstwhile gallerists but are looking forward to bringing to the city, their own identity, ethos and programming.