Unusual new cultural centre hosting art, performance, and fashion will be opened in Mumbai, according to its founder, philanthropist Nita Ambani.
The Nita Mukesh Ambani Cultural Centre (NMACC) will comprise around 16,000 feet of exhibition space and three theatres, one of which will have 2,000 seats and feature a lotus-petal ceiling installation made of 8,400 Swarovski crystals. It will be a three-story building set within the Jio World Centre.
The cultural and business hub, which occupies Mumbai’s Bandra Kurla Complex neighborhood, is also funded by Ambani and encompasses two convention centres, one of them India’s largest, as well as three exhibition halls, numerous meeting rooms, and an enormous ballroom.
Troughout the NMACC will be various art installations. The centre has made public the plans for its inauguration, which include an exhibition cocurated by American gallerist Jeffrey Deitch and Indian cultural theorist Ranjit Hoskote. Titled “Sangam Confluence, the show will bring works by Indian contemporary artists into conversation with those by Western artists who cite India as an inspiration.
Also on view will be an exhibition curated by Vogue editor Hamish Bowles researched the how Indian fashion and textiles have influenced global clothing styles between the late 18th century and today; included in the display will be a variety of garments loaned by London’s Victoria & Albert Museum.
As well, Indian playwright and director Feroz Abbas Khan will direct a performance exhibition incorporating dance, music, and puppetry and themed around India’s journey as a continuous civilization.
Ambani, who sits on the board of New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art, is a former Indian classical dancer and the wife of billionaire businessman Mukesh Ambani, chair of energy and retail conglomerate Reliance Industries and the second-wealthiest man in India. In a statement, she acknowledged that she hopes the centre “will make art more accessible to all Indians while connecting Indian contemporary artists/designers with the rest of the world”.