By: Chahat Sharma
The opening afternoon of the Young Collectors’ Programme (YCP) Edition 2026, presented as part of India Art Fair, unfolded less like an event and more like a lived experience. Across the familiar spaces of Triveni Kala Sangam, audiences were invited not just to observe, but to move, listen, follow, and participate.
Supported by Burgoyne Original Masters (BOM), two opening performances set the emotional and conceptual tone for YCP 2026. A textile-led performance by Chathuri Nissansala was followed by a sonic sculptural work by Harsha Durugadda.
Together, the performances explored what it meant to carry grief, memory, sound, labour and the weight of contemporary life.
Chathuri Nissansala’s Mother’s Calling
Chathuri Nissansala’s practice has long been rooted in acts of repair. Working across performance, textile, installation, and painting, she has consistently engaged with questions of gender, intergenerational trauma and lived histories shaped by conflict and displacement. Found, damaged and discarded objects often formed the starting point of her work, which she restored through embroidery and beadwork drawn from ceremonial textile traditions. These gestures of care transformed broken materials into quiet memorials of healing.
That sensibility shaped her opening performance at YCP 2026, Mother’s Calling. The work did not remain anchored to a single site. It began at the amphitheatre of Triveni Kala Sangam, where her voice first filled the space, raw cries and sounds that immediately stilled the crowd. From there, she moved steadily onward and the audience moved with her.
The performance travelled through the corridors of Triveni, slipped outdoors near the front gate, passed through a gallery space and finally came to rest in the sculpture court. At no point did the movement feel staged or abrupt. Instead, it unfolded like a procession. Her voice aching, insistent, deeply human, stayed constant throughout. The cries sent shivers through those following behind, raising goosebumps and quieting conversations.
Without instruction or announcement, the audience followed her path, almost instinctively. There was a sense of being carried along, of surrendering to the movements of her work. By the time the performance ended in the sculpture court, the line between performer and viewer had softened. What remained was a shared stillness, charged with emotion and presence.
Harsha Durugadda’s The Weight of the Unweightable
Where Nissansala’s performance traced a journey of memory and invocation, Harsha Durugadda’s Weight of the Unweighable confronted audiences with excess and burden. Known for expanding sculpture through sound, vibration and participation, Durugadda approached performance as a physical test, one that demanded endurance from both body and material.
The work began at the entrance of Triveni Kala Sangam. Durugadda appeared carrying a heavy load of laptops, keyboards, mice, monitors and tangled wires. Cables draped from his neck and arms, while a basket filled with digital devices weighed him down further. As he moved forward, a single word echoed again and again through the space: “Digital”
The repetition was relentless. As the performance progressed, the audience was drawn in, not just as witnesses, but as participants. Viewers were asked to help place more devices into the basket he carried. Each contribution added to the visible strain, making the weight collective rather than singular.
Under the accumulated burden, Durugadda finally collapsed in a dramatic fall. The moment felt inevitable and unsettling, a physical manifestation of digital dependency and overload, rendered through repetition, labour and sound. The silence that followed was as heavy as the performance itself.
BOM × YCP: A Shared Commitment to Depth
Reflecting on their collaboration with both artists, Burgoyne Original Masters emphasised a shared belief in creativity that pushed beyond comfort. The decision to work with Chathuri Nissansala and Harsha Durugadda was rooted in the strength of their practices, works that challenged conventional ideas of visual appeal while carrying intense emotional and physical demands.
BOM also underscored their long-standing association with India Art Fair, noting that the Young Collectors’ Programme had consistently provided a meaningful platform for emerging voices, heritage practices and contemporary expressions of art and craft. Supporting the opening performances of YCP 2026 was described as particularly exciting, marking an opportunity for thoughtful storytelling, values-led visibility and deeper engagement with audiences.
Opening YCP 2026 Through the Body
As one of India Art Fair’s most recognisable initiatives, the Young Collectors’ Programme had evolved into a space for experimentation, discovery, and risk. Opening the 2026 edition with two performances grounded in endurance, movement, and participation felt deliberate.
These were not works meant to be consumed quickly. They asked audiences to walk, to listen closely, to carry weight and to stay present. Together, the performances supported by BOM transformed the opening of YCP 2026 into something more than a launch, they created a shared experience that lingered long after the final sound faded.
