Shruti Suman
22nd December, 2023 , Delhi :
Bikaner House has been conferred the UNESCO Asia Pacific Award Merit 2023. The UNESCO Asia-Pacific Awards for Cultural Heritage Conservation have been given out since the year 2000. The awards recognize the efforts of private individuals and organizations to restore, conserve, and transform structures and buildings of heritage value in the region.
Bikaner House in a new avatar was registered by the Government of Rajasthan in April 2016 as Bikaner House Management Society (BHMS). The society looks after the management, curation, programming of events for the purpose of promoting various artistic expressions and cultural heritage of Rajasthan. The efforts made by Government of Rajasthan have transformed Bikaner House into a world-class repurposed heritage centre. Bikaner House has emerged as a premiere centre for art, culture & heritage based activities, at the national capital.
Mrs Shubhra Singh, Chief Resident Commissioner, Govt. of Rajasthan informed that Bikaner House has successfully held a streak of in-house curated events and exhibitions for sensitising people from all walks of life towards recurring artistic trends and cultural ethos. Rajasthan Utsav is celebrated with much zeal and fervour where the event is a weeklong celebration of the cultural synthesis of Rajasthan culminating on 30th March observed as Rajasthan Diwas. The Self Help Groups (SHG’s) from Rajeevika have been provided a dedicated space in Bikaner House on non payment basis for extending the economic opportunity and empowering the rural poor. Bikaner House organises special heritage and curatorial walkthroughs around the complex highlighting the ongoing exhibitions, events and other activities.
As an outreach initiative, collaborations were forged with premiere entities by signing the MoU with them, respectively. In a special initiative, Bikaner House Management Society (BHMS) signed an MoU with India Art Fair (IAF) in January 2022 to position Bikaner house as a parallel venue for India Art Fair. The much anticipated collaboration witnessed a combination of exhibitions, events, and performances. Delhi Contemporary Art Week (DCAW) collaborated with Bikaner House Management Society (BHMS) to position Bikaner House as the sole venue for Delhi Contemporary Art Week and for the reflection of contemporary art practices prevalent in India.
As the first of its kind in New Delhi, the in-house curated Sculpture Park exhibited traditional, modern and contemporary sculptures that were set in harmony with the unique Bikaner House gardens. The exhibition created new ways of seeing in the natural settings, connecting the sculptures through an expanded “narrative environment” and a series of “vistas” that lead from one sculpture to the other.
Additionally, Bikaner House Dialogue series is an in-house initiative to create, comprehend and exchange ideas and postulations on enriching, highlighting and promoting the current artistic trends, revival of heritage and traditional artforms of India. The inaugural edition of BH dialogues witnessed many renowned personalities from the field of Art, culture and International diplomacy.
Bikaner House has established itself as a centre showcasing various artforms held simultaneously. It has successfully garnered the attention of India’s prominent art aficionados. Bikaner House has progressed as a one-stop destination for artists, curators, authors, exhibitors, gallerists, collaborators, school ars, researchers, students, art collectors, performers and others. The reflection of multi-disciplinary artforms has opened the avenues for Govt. entities, institutions, embassies and international visitors alike.
In congruous with the vision of expanding international participation, Bikaner House has hosted multiple international exhibitions and events. The embassy of Italy, Luxembourg, Israel, France, Brazil, Australia, Germany and entities like UNDP, KNMA, DAG, Planet India, Grosvenor, Business France, Young Munich Leaders etc. have chosen Bikaner House for their respective shows. Bikaner House has been graced with the presence of celebrated guests such as Paresh Maity, Jaya Jaitley, B.R Mani, Alka Pande, Rehab Allana, Jyotindra Jain, Rajiv Lochan, Ratish Nanda, Raghu Rai, Rohit Chawla, Jacky Shroff, Bhumi Pednekar, Muzaffar Ali and Akshay Kumar amongst others.
