This session invites audiences to reflect on the evolving format of the retrospective exhibition through a conversation between Roobina Karode, Chief Curator and Director, Kiran Nadar Museum of Art, and Srinivas Aditya Mopidevi, Curator, KNMA.

Since its inception, KNMA has presented significant retrospectives of artists such as Nasreen Mohamedi, Arpita Singh, Jeram Patel, Himmat Shah, Nalini Malani, Gulammohammed Sheikh, and TYEB MEHTA. Each of these exhibitions has required a distinct curatorial approach, often moving beyond a purely chronological narrative to explore deeper conceptual, material, and contextual dimensions of an artist’s practice.

In this discussion, Karode reflects on her curatorial methodology, drawing from her experience of shaping retrospective exhibitions over the past decade and a half. The conversation explores how close engagement with an artist’s work informs exhibition-making, and how retrospectives can be reimagined as dynamic frameworks that interpret, rather than simply present, an artist’s trajectory.

While you’re here, explore KNMA’s ongoing exhibition
TYEB MEHTA Bearing Weight (with the lightness of being).