I Dwell in Possibility
The Museum of Contemporary Art Ahmedabad & GALLERYSKE
Ahmedabad
Sep 18–Nov 1, 2026

Live plants are an unusual sight in a gallery, yet they populate “I Dwell in Possibility,” sharing the floor with the art as equals. From birds of paradise to bundled palm leaves, these botanical interventions by landscape architect Aditya Shah bring ecology indoors, softening the corporate office space that is currently the satellite venue of the Museum of Contemporary Art Ahmedabad (MCAA). Founded by Indian art collector Aneri D. Patel, the institution marks the first of its kind in the city, set to open its flagship location in the coming years. 

“I Dwell in Possibility” is MCAA’s inaugural exhibition, organized in collaboration with GALLERYSKE and gathering works by Avinash Veeraraghavan, Buddhadev Mukherjee, Dia Mehhta Bhupal, Sudarshan Shetty, and Sunil Padwal. The show reads as a primer for the museum’s vision, deriving its title from the opening line of Emily Dickinson’s 19th-century poem, which metaphorizes the boundless creativity of poetry through the motif of a house. Here, each artwork is framed as a window into another discipline, and the exhibition emphasizes the viewers’ comfort through homely and interactive elements: one can sit on the furniture, drawn from Phantom Hands’s Geoffrey Bawa Collection; pick up a book, selected by economist Arjun Jayadev to accompany each artwork; peruse the various recipes supplied by culinary researcher Sheetal Bhatt; or listen to a soundtrack, put together by music archivist Nishant Mittal, through wireless headsets.

Interiority runs through the exhibition, with each artist offering a unique reading of inner worlds and lived spaces. Avinash Veeraraghavan’s Blind Visionary (2024) limns surreal mindscapes in embroidery and video. Buddhadev Mukherjee’s watercolors on silk, Living Together in Fragments (2026), locate the self in daily rituals, with humor as the hinge. Dia Mehhta Bhupal’s prints depict life-size sets of public and private spaces—from movie theaters to locker rooms—constructed by the artist herself from hand-rolled magazine paper. Sudarshan Shetty’s No Title (2013) comprises a wooden frame with acrylic letters spelling out “sometimes when we travel we forget who we are,” considering how objects carry memory and impermanence.

Sunil Padwal’s Overlooked Mangroves on Found Paper (2020) is where the show’s premise feels most earned. He sources old documents, banknotes, posters, and archival documents from the Chor Bazaar in Mumbai, and collages them into cartographic portraits of the city, blending past and present. Each fragment arrives with a history of its own; rewarding those who slow down to observe. 

This exhibition is an intimate, contemporary ode to Ahmedabad, embodying the city’s culture of hospitality. MCAA’s partnership with the commercial GALLERYSKE, whose program is rooted in collaboration, builds on this communal energy. Odes of this kind tend to affirm more than they challenge, and this one speaks a language that is familiar to the city. What remains to be seen is what the museum will say once it has walls of its own.

Shreya Ajmani is a writer and art professional focusing on art from Asia and its diasporas.