In New Delhi’s ever-evolving cultural calendar, February often feels like a pilgrimage for art lovers. Yet this year, tucked within the regal corridors of Bikaner House, something delightfully unexpected unfolds; less white cube, more neighbourhood bazaar; less formal viewing, more curious wandering.
Presented by Thapar Gallery as part of the India Art Fair Parallel Show, India Edition SupaStore x Thapar by London-based artist Sarah Staton reimagines the exhibition as a store and the store as an artwork.
At first glance, it resembles a kiosk you might stumble upon in an old market lane. But step closer, and the familiar begins to shift. Shelves hold not provisions but propositions. Objects are not merely for sale; they are stories, gestures, critiques. The “shop” becomes a stage.
Staton’s SupaStore isn’t a static installation; it’s a travelling, evolving project, part exhibition, part social experiment. Conceived as a durational artwork, each SupaStore adapts to its city, absorbing local textures and artistic voices. For Delhi, she has designed a sculptural kiosk tailored to the site, transforming Bikaner House into a space for encounter and exchange.
Inside, works by Gigi Scaria, Mithu Sen, Raaj Rufaro, and Vibha Galhotra sit like curated commodities, collected, handled, and considered. The presentation blurs the boundaries between browsing and beholding, asking: when art enters the language of retail, how does our relationship to value change?
In an era of late-stage capitalism and hyper-branding, Staton gently probes how identity is shaped by what we acquire and display. For Ashish Thapar, Director of Thapar Gallery, the project aligns with the gallery’s interest in practices that question systems of exchange while fostering intimacy. The result is not an exhibition to be rushed through but one to inhabit.
Staton, who also serves as Reader in Social Aesthetics at the Royal College of Art, seamlessly brings this academic and social lens to the experience. Curated by Jasone Miranda-Bilbao and Vaibhav Raj Shah, the project marks the first-ever presentation of SupaStore in India, a debut that feels both timely and refreshingly grounded.
On View: 2–8 February 2026
Venue: Bikaner House, New Delhi
