Museum Laboratory
arth – art for earth
Public art | Sustainable Development | Climate Change
Time | Water | River | Rain | Rainforest | Trees
Thought Experiments
environment consciousness - innovations
"I am simply walking the path of infinity with a life dedicated to art. If my humble drop in the ocean can help bring about the change in thinking that is so needed in today’s crass, commercialized, mechanized existence, if it can add a dab of spiritual context to the world as it takes art and culture as a vehicle of change across boundaries, it makes my artistic process that much more fulfilling." -Manav Gupta
Sculpture Magazine
art |
taking art beyond art
THOUGHT EXPERIMENTS CONCEPTUALISED & EXECUTED:








Water - The New Gold | 2019
Rasulgarh, Bhubaneswar, Odisha
WATER – THE NEW GOLD
A versatile solo repertoire of sculptures, installations, murals, architecture-design using construction scrap material are all integrated and interwoven together in a beautiful story of museum like objects, in open public space, highlighting the importance of water in a city’s sustainability and narrating the benefits of imbibing the five elements in the modern way of life as well as paying tribute to the local rich heritage as ‘ode to Odisha’.
Half An Acre.
A public art museum on water & sustainability.
The Architectural Design & creation of City in a City.
Twenty Feet Tall – The Giant Sculpture of a Hand Pump.
Seven Tower Murals
Carved Sculpted Ground Paintings
The Sabhaghar


arth - art for earth | 2018
the excavated museum of clay
05/06/2018 - 17/12/2018
Extended by Public Demand Twice.
at IGNCA, Ministry of Culture, Government of India
IGNCA 11 Mansingh Road, New Delhi 110001
A pioneering public art project innovation of transforming rural craft of quintessentially Indian clay pottery into a cutting edge global language of contemporary art as environmental art installations punctuating 23 acres of campus lawns in Lutyen’s Delhi.
Avant garde vision translated as ‘rain’ embracing trees and the ‘Ganga waterfront’ embracing the ‘matighar’ architecture to nurture them as a metaphorical message of
‘our city needs the river, we need our trees.’
Revisiting India’s ‘Chipko’ Movement.
Dialogues at the waterfront. Conceptualised Curated and Choreographed by the artist.
A unique call to all stakeholders of society in the city for a discourse to find transforming solutions for sustainable living.
rain – 25ft high. Half an Acre Dense
Ode to Matighar – Ganga Waterfront – 45ftx 30ft x 60ft, Rain, Rainforest & the Beehive Garden – punctuating in half an acre of ‘rainforest’, the bed of life – 10ft x 10ft x 5ft, Time Machines – the sound of AUM – 10ft x 3ft x 3ft
'arth - art for earth' by Manav Gupta
Times of India Review
‘Arth – art for earth’ is Indian contemporary artist Manav Gupta’s brainchild of 20 years and it explores the meaning of life. ‘Arth’ means ‘wealth’ and ‘meaning’ in the Devanagri script. Through ‘Arth’, a travelling museum which is scheduled to travel across 29 mega cities across the world, the artist explores the earth and nature and urges us to ‘stop a while’ and think about living a life of environmental consciousness. Arth’s exhibitions in clay started in Pretoria, South Africa in 2013 where it was hosted by the National Museum and Indian High Commission. Since then, owing to the exhibition’s success, it has been showcased at various other locations including Aerocity, New Delhi in 2014; India Habitat Centre, New Delhi in 2015; Old Fort, Delhi in 2016; DLF Mall of India, Noida as the Yamuna Project in 2017 followed by a prototype of his Permanent Museum at Amrita Shergill Marg, New Delhi. The 2018 edition was launched on World Environment Day, hosted by IGNCA, Ministry of Culture, Government of India. The artist’s signature suite of ‘excavations in hymns of clay’ is set-up in the 23 acres of IGNCA lawns. The exhibits are made of clay and pottery in different forms imitating nature and are created as ‘excavations’ from ideas of sustainable development. The art installations include ‘The Bed of Life’, ‘The River’, ‘The Beehives Garden’, ‘Rain’, ‘Time Machine, and ‘Noah’s Ark’ and they are made different forms of pottery– earthen lamps (“diyas”), local cigar (“chilam”), earthen cups (“kullar”)– transforming them into monumental art installations which are environment friendly and also supports local artists. What’s more, the travelling museum’s River Waterfront also transforms into a platform for people from different walks of life in the leading megacities to come together and discuss important environmental issues and the need for sustainable development through art poetry and cultural performances. And if we don’t address these problems now, we all will have to be the ‘Noah’s Ark’. The exhibition is currently on-going at IGNCA, New Delhi till October 22, 2018.

Sculpture Garden - a prototype | 2017 - 2018
Amrita Shergill Marg, New Delhi, India
World Premiere:
One Acre of a Sculpture Garden prototype. Created at the artist’s studio at a collector’s house.
Rain: 25ft x 50ft x 15ft, Waterfront 15ft x 30ft x 15ft, Connecting Rivers of the World, the bed 10ft x 10ft x 15ft, Time Machine 6.5ft x 4ft x 4ft, The Beehive Garden Single Edition Beehives 1ft x 1ft x 6in
Excavated Museum in a Mall | 2017
The Yamuna Project
Mega outreach on DLF Mall of India’s invitation:
The Beehive Garden Project: 6ft x 10ft x 5ft River Waterfront (The Yamuna Project): 15ft x 20ft x 30ft, Time Machine: 10ft x 5ft x 5ft, Noah’s Ark: 8ft x 4ft x 4ft | Water Spill: Site Specific, Meet me by the Riverside, the bed of love: 10ft x 6ft x 6ft

Rain the Ganga Waterfront along Time Machine | 2015
The Ganga Waterfront
along Time Machine
India Habitat Centre, New Delhi
Engagement with space and architecture
Bringing a river into the heart of a city
45ft x 60ft x 45ft: Site Specific Art Installation.

Unsung Hymns of Clay | 2013
South Africa
unsung hymns of clay | the shrinking river | rainforests and the circle of life
Hosted by National Museum Pretoria,
Indian High Commission
&
Incredible India.
Exhibition extended to Cape Town, Grahams Town by Lovell Gallery.
Extended as BRICS Summit outreach
Lectures at UNISA & Pretoria University.
7 ft x 9 ft: “the Shrinking River”
2ft x 2ft x 2ft: “Zen” – Sculpture
10ft x 30ft x 10ft: Site Specific Art Installation

Tree of Life mural | 2010
Dimensions: 11,500 Sq Ft: Total Painted Surface Area
5,000 Sq Ft: Glass Facade
Largest Indoor Staircase Mural
FOUR DIFFERENT MULTIPLE PROCESSES OF CONCEPTUAL, SITE SPECIFIC, COLLABORATIVE AND PERFORMANCE ART IN THE CREATION METHODOLOGY.
Painting LIVE for three months in front of 3500 employees, involving thousands of people to put strokes and idioms in the first phase and then weaving it all in the next phase to create a multi layered 3D-2D composition.
PERMANENT COLLECTION, Airtel Campus, New Delhi NCR, India. Site given Museum status by Limca Book of Records