October 2026

Ahmedabad Cultural Week

Second Edition

Natarani Amphitheatre
Darpana Academy of Performing Arts

A conversation with Shristi Sainani, curatorial director of Ahmedabad Cultural Week, about climate change and art in public space.

Interview By Dan Golden
October 2026

Hi Shristi. Congratulations on the second edition of Ahmedabad Cultural Week—can you give me an overview?

Thanks so much, Dan! The second edition of Ahmedabad Cultural Week (ACW) highlights the global climate crisis and its wide-ranging effects on Earth's systems, with 18 venues participating.

India—with its large rural populations, densely populated cities, and extensive coastlines—is especially vulnerable to climate risks. Extreme weather often disrupts agriculture and infrastructure, underscoring the need for long-term adaptation and disaster-management strategies. Through its local governance, Ahmedabad has included a separate climate chapter in its main budget. This year's program spans everything from traditional art spaces—galleries, performance hubs, and art centers—to unconventional foundations that double as schools, nonprofits, and archives. For the first time, it also includes a public space.

Tell me about ACW’s origins—what was the initial spark?

Ahmedabad is celebrated for its rich history and exquisite traditions in handicrafts and cuisine. The city is designed as a hierarchy of living environments, with streets that also serve as community spaces—reflecting local wisdom and strong community bonds.

Because Ahmedabad is home, we've watched it grow, adding vibrant contemporary spaces with a global outlook. Yet the city remains whole. It has absorbed change and growth while preserving its traditional resilience. We saw the potential for a larger, more comprehensive event that could activate all these spaces at once—and that's what inspired us to start Ahmedabad Cultural Week.

Kanoria Centre for Arts

What did the first edition teach you that changed how you approached this one?

The first edition had 15 venues, most with their own administrative structures. This year, with 18 venues taking part, we looked for unfamiliar, fresh venues to add novelty, along with a public space.

For future editions, we hope to bring art to the people of Ahmedabad not only through formal art spaces, but also through the city's everyday public spheres—parks, heritage sites, and vernacular or modern buildings that have often been forgotten or neglected.

You're a curator, designer, researcher, writer, and a trained architect. How does that combination shape the way you build something like ACW?

Years of close study across these fields shape every project we take on, including Ahmedabad Cultural Week.

For instance, a completed research paper on inclusivity underpins our venue selection and how we approach programming and outreach. Lessons from architecture and urban planning push us to think about navigation and connectivity—both physical and psychological—within the city. Our curatorial experience lets the project act as a facilitating engine and a network-building agency. At the same time, our deep enthusiasm for private art museums and their economic impact helps us suggest policy changes to the governing bodies that interact with the project.

Gujarat Vishwakosh Trust

Walk me through some of this year’s highlights—the exhibitions, performances, or moments people shouldn't miss.

Here are a few highlights:

Museum of Contemporary Art Ahmedabad—a new private art museum in the city—collaborates with one of India's leading galleries, GALLERYSKE, on I Dwell in Possibility, featuring work by Avinash Veeraraghavan, Buddhadev Mukherjee, Dia Mehta Bhupal, Sudarshan Shetty, Sunil Padwal, and more.

Conflictorium, the Museum of Conflict, uses water as a lens to explore climate change. Its interactive session Jal, aaj... aur kal? ("Water, today and tomorrow?") invites the audience to take part.

Darpana Academy of Performing Arts and Natarani present the Natarani Theatre Festival, including a biography of Amrita Sher-Gil, one of India's most renowned avant-garde women artists.

Iram Art hosts Delhi-based performance artist Murari Jha, who will present a performance in Ahmedabad for the first time.

Kanoria Centre for Arts offers a dynamic program, including Climate Recipes Now, a project by Kiran Nadar Museum of Art curator Srinivas Aditya Mopidevi, and Games People Play 03, an exhibition by Thukral and Tagra presented by Ashvita's Art.

Mehnat Manzil presents a street play that spills into public space, reaching the informal settlements around the museum and engaging them with stories about climate change.

The Sabarmati Riverfront hosts Australian-born, Glasgow-based artist Penny Chivas for an interactive performance on the climate crisis, her first in India, supported by the British Council.

Shreyas Foundation is hosting, for the first time in the city, the Council on Energy, Environment and Water (CEEW), which is collaborating on a cartoon exhibition for kids, multiple workshops, and talks with leading voices from across the country.

Vastu-Shilpa Foundation

Ahmedabad has such a deep cultural heritage. How do you see ACW contributing to the city's cultural life?

For 10 days, ACW activates the city's contemporary art spaces with high-quality exhibitions and programs, drawing large audiences and sparking real conversations around contemporary art. We want to connect international and national voices with the organizations rooted here, and bring visitors to Ahmedabad for the Week.

Looking ahead, where do you want to take ACW next?

As we move from one edition to the next, we hope ACW becomes a larger citywide activation that brings art to people—not just through white cube and black box presentations, but by spilling into streets and energizing easy-to-access public spaces. We see bringing new work into heritage spaces as a way to promote inclusivity and community building. Longer term, we hope to nurture Ahmedabad's art scene through residencies based outside the city.

Kasterbhai Museum

Ahmedabad Cultural Week
Second Edition
Ahmedabad, India
October 23—November 1, 2026