Sunder Nursery hosts Ankon Mitra’s stand-alone pleated pavilion presented by The Gujral Foundation

On January 2, 2020, The Gujral Foundation announced an iconic public art project that sanctions temporary pavilions by selected artists, architects and designers. For its inaugural edition, the Foundation will be commissioning a stand-alone pleated pavilion titled ‘The Song of the Earth and the Sky’ at Sunder Nursery in New Delhi, designed by architect and hexagram artist Ankon Mitra, with Reha Sodhi as the curatorial advisor. Having completed 10 years in 2018, The Gujral Foundation forayed into the realm of architecture and design with the presentation of the India pavilion at London Design Biennale in September 2018. ‘The Song of the Earth and the Sky’ takes inspiration from the arcade of Sunderwala Mahal and responds to it by using origami forms. The pavilion will be crafted using mild steel arch frames, hand-folded sheet aluminium, copper finishes, pebbles, grass and LED lights. “This is an unprecedented opportunity, hopefully, the beginning of an annual pavilion building project in New Delhi, comparable to the prestigious Serpentine Pavilion in London or the MoMA PS1 in New York. I would like to laud The Gujral Foundation for spearheading this initiative and express my gratitude to Feroze for selecting me as the inaugural architect-artist,” says Mitra. The pavilion will be available for public viewing starting February 5, 2020, and will conclude on March 30, 2020.