Samagam 2024 - The Inaugural

A Gathering of Hands, Earth, and Spirit

Inauguration of the Takshni Gallery, MG Road, Delhi

With the opening of the Takshni Gallery on MG Road, Delhi, a new chapter began not only for the space but for the vision that has quietly taken root over years of thoughtful making. This evening marked the inauguration of Samagam, Takshni’s dedicated event that brings together artists, thinkers, makers and seekers across disciplines. The word Samagammeans a coming together. At its core, it is about sharing presence and process. It is a space of encounter and listening, where the artist and the viewer, the idea and the material, the personal and the collective, are all allowed to meet without hurry.

Takshni, as an art collective, has always centred its work around the handmade, the postcolonial, and the intimate. The gallery opening and the first edition of Samagam became one. Both began together, not with pomp, but with intention. On that evening, there was no grand announcement. Instead, there was an unspoken invitation to step into a rhythm that felt older than the space and deeper than the form.

The evening began with a welcome by Richa Uppal, the founder and guiding force behind Takshni. She spoke gently about the journey of Takshni as a growing network of artists, craftspeople, collaborators and curators who are united by a shared value for slow creation, cultural awareness and emotional depth. Her words reflected the vision of a space where art does not exist in isolation, but lives within lived experience. She shared how Takshni is not a brand, but a movement that values being rooted, thoughtful and open.

Following this, the talk titled “The Importance of Craftsmanship, Culture and Spirituality in the New Age”brought together three voices working with art and philosophy in deeply embodied ways.

Koral Dasgupta, a celebrated author and educator, spoke about how myth, gender, and cultural memory influence our relationship with creativity. She traced the lives of women in mythology who carry wisdom through silence and resilience, and reminded the audience that storytelling itself is a form of craft that survives through transmission, not technology.

Apeksha Rohit Nagia, architect and co-founder of MDA.P.L, brought her lived experience of working with sustainable materials, colour, form and Indian crafts in contemporary design. She offered insight into how real spaces can be designed to honour ecological ethics and cultural roots. She spoke about the fine balance between inspiration and integrity, and how working with artisans has transformed her own approach to interior architecture.

The session was moderated by Mansi, who held space with clarity and calm. She drew connections between the speakers without rushing their flow. The conversation moved gently, often pausing to let an idea settle. What emerged was not a panel, but a living dialogue between three people who carry very different but equally rooted practices.

A central moment of the evening was the unveiling of “The Bridge of Devotion”, a new Takshni installation that now anchors the gallery space. Created by Puja, a young multidisciplinary artist working with sculpture and ritual materiality, the bridge stood open, metaphorically, at the centre of the room. Made of reclaimed wood, textured brass, and natural pigments, the piece invited the viewer not to observe, but to walk through. Its textured body and layered surfaces held stories of ritual, memory, and presence.

Puja spoke about the piece as an offering. She explained how making the bridge was a symbolic return to the body, to the real, to what we forget when we are constantly distracted in the form of Hanuman and his travel to Lanka for Sita. Her words came from the place of an artist who listens before she shapes. The audience, after her words, moved slowly toward the bridge, each one crossing it without instruction. Some closed their eyes. Some placed their hand on the arch. It became a shared gesture of quiet attention.

Later in the evening, the space shifted into listening again, this time through sound. Shri Shankar Gitte, a revered tabla artist and teacher, performed a solo that held the room in stillness. With decades of learning behind him, his performance was both precise and open. Each rhythm arrived with intention and left space around it. Gitte ji’s journey began under the guidance of Pt. Panduranga Vaidya, Pt. Prem Vallabh ji, and Padma Vibhushan Pt. Kishan Maharaj. His long associations with Gandharva Mahavidyalaya and Shriram Bharatiya Kala Kendra shaped him into not just a performer but a custodian of the tradition. His music was not entertainment. It was a form of devotion in its own right. The room listened without needing to applaud. It was enough to be there, breathing with the cycles of the taal.

Also present among the artists were members of Takshni’s own collective, each contributing in different ways. From the handmade décor to the layout of the gallery to the curation of the installations, the presence of many unnamed hands could be felt in the details. Each object in the gallery reflected a story, a lineage, a choice made with care.

After the performance, the evening flowed into informal conversations. Guests walked around, rested beside artworks, and shared food made with seasonal ingredients. The meal was not extravagant, but thoughtfully prepared. It felt like being part of a home. There was a natural rhythm to the gathering, where nobody seemed in a rush to leave.

As the night settled, someone began to hum an old Hindi song. Slowly others joined in. What followed was a small sing-along to Zindagi Ek Safar Hai Suhana, a song that carries the lightness of youth and the depth of time. There were no mics or spotlights. Just voices.

Samagam 2024 did not try to impress. It did not need to. It simply opened a space for being with others, with art, and with the self. It asked us to come as we are, to bring our questions, our practices, our histories, and to sit with them for a while. The inauguration of the Takshni Gallery was not a celebration in the usual sense. It was a beginning. And Samagam was the way it chose to begin—with intention, with warmth, and with the quiet dignity of things made with love.