In 1994,the American artist Doug Aitken mounted his first solo exhibition at 303 Gallery, signalling the arrival of an artist concerned not simply with objects, but with experiences that unfold in time and space in New York. 31 years later at Nita Mukesh Ambani Cultural Centre (NMACC) in Mumbai, the 57-year-old multidisciplinary artist, Aitken debuts his exhibition in India, UNDER THE SUN.
Doug Aitken, LIGHTFALL / OTHER WORLDS, 2025; Installation view at NMACC, Mumbai, India, 2025, Courtesy of the artist.Brian Doyle
Spanning three floors of the Art House at NMACC, UNDER THE SUN captures the audiences into a journey through past, present, and future, and explores what it means to be human in an age of constant change. The exhibition fuses light, sound, and material to create an immersive landscape where visitors confront their relationship with nature, technology, and time.
Curated by Mafalda Kahane and Roya Sachs, and co-produced by Elizabeth Edelman Sachs, partners of the international creative house TRIADIC, The Past, one of the three parts of the exhibition, is a tactile encounter with elemental terrains crafted from wood, glass, and textiles, evoking the foundational textures of our world.
Whereas, The Present immerses viewers in NEW ERA, Aitken’s six-screen video installation where shifting reflections and voices interrogate how technology reshapes identity, connection, and perception while The Future culminates in a vast, glowing orb of light — a hypnotic, ever-changing symbol of evolution, potential, and possibility.
NEW ERA, 2018 Video installation with three channels of video (color, sound) Three projections, freestanding room, PVC projection screens, mirrors.
Doug Aitken is one of the most influential contemporary artists of his generation, renowned for transforming museums, landscapes, and architectural spaces into multi-sensory experiences. From wrapping the exterior of MoMA in moving images in Sleepwalkers (2007) to building mirrored desert houses for Mirage (2017–2021), Aitken’s projects challenge the way audiences perceive both space and self. At NMACC, his vision reimagines the Art House itself, turning every encounter with art into a reflection of our collective experience and a meditation on what lies ahead.
The exhibition features multiple site-specific commissions. Many of these works are the result of a two-year collaboration between Aitken’s studio and Indian artisans, blending traditional craftsmanship with cutting-edge contemporary practice — a dialogue between local heritage and global vision.
Step UNDER THE SUN that is open to visitors starting December 6 to 22 February 2026 and witness a world in flux: grounded in the handmade, expanded by the digital, and illuminated by the infinite. In this debut showcase, Doug Aitken invites Mumbai audiences not just to observe art, but to inhabit it — a luminous journey through time, space, and human imagination.
