The Foundation

BIG I ART FOUNDATION SILIGURI for Contemporary Art is the resource of a combination of knowledge, creation, and action. With the goal of creating a physical, intellectual, and cultural place to investigate and expedite the confluences, the Foundation was established in 2017 to bridge the gap between traditional and contemporary art.

We are a government-registered non-profit organization established in SILIGURI committed to recognizing, fostering, and nurturing North Bengal culture. We act as catalysts to facilitate cultural enrichment and spread it over the world.

We are dedicated to advancing interdisciplinary art education and contemporary practices. We promote and foster collaborations and knowledge building initiatives such as workshops, cultural events, seminars, art talks, camps, artist's residencies, public art projects, and exhibitions. Through these efforts, we continue to bridge gaps, empower creative minds, and enrich the cultural landscape of our region and beyond.

Dipayon Ghosh – A Transformative Voice in Art and Culture of North Bengal

Within the expansive and multidimensional landscape of contemporary art in North Bengal, Dipayon Ghosh has emerged as a distinctive creative force whose practice transcends conventional artistic boundaries. As a multidisciplinary artist, curator, researcher, writer, and cultural organizer, his career represents a dynamic intersection of artistic innovation, critical inquiry, and cultural leadership.

Born in 1979 in Siliguri, one of North Bengal's fastest-growing cities, Ghosh began his artistic journey in a region where formal art education was largely inaccessible. Rather than viewing this limitation as an obstacle, he transformed it into an opportunity through self-directed learning, sustained practice, and philosophical exploration, developing a unique artistic language rooted in abstraction, memory, and human experience. While studying Arts at Siliguri College under the University of North Bengal, his curiosity gradually led him beyond conventional painting toward contemporary and multidisciplinary artistic practices. Ghosh's work extends across painting, installation, site-specific interventions, video, sound art, and research-based projects. His practice investigates the complex relationships between place, time, history, and identity. The borderlands of North Bengal, abandoned architecture, fading historical memory, and contemporary social realities become visual archaeology in his works, where the hidden layers of the past continuously converse with the present. His art therefore functions not only as an aesthetic expression but also as a critical social and political discourse.

This vision found institutional expression through the establishment of BIG I ART FOUNDATION SILIGURI in 2017. Under his leadership, the foundation has become a pioneering platform for contemporary art in North Bengal by promoting exhibitions, artist residencies, research, educational initiatives, international collaborations, and emerging artists. Landmark initiatives such as The Patron Art Award, Chitrakar Samman International Art Award, Short-Lived Artist Residency, North Bengal Visual Art Festival, The Foundation Award, and the Ramkinkar Baij Memorial Lifetime Artist Achievement Award (RBM Award) have significantly strengthened the region's artistic ecosystem.

As a curator, Ghosh has developed critically acclaimed projects including Project Gouripur House (PGH), which reimagined a heritage site through multidisciplinary contemporary art and was featured in The Visual Time, published by the World University of Design, New Delhi. His exhibition Mrittika: Redefining the Essence of Soil explored the intersections of women, land, and ecology, receiving national recognition in Rashtriya Sahara. Other notable curatorial projects include Shadow World, Dinosaurs in the Courtyard, and the international online exhibition Series of Individuals (2025), which brought together artists from India and the global diaspora.

His experimental video and sound works—including The Intellectual Performance in Dreams (2013), HIDE AND SEEK (2013), X Play (2014), Escape (2014), Swāhhā (2015), A Portrait of My Father (2016–2021), and Probability (2021)—demonstrate his commitment to expanding the language of contemporary art. Beyond his artistic practice, Ghosh is an emerging art writer and researcher. His essay on the history and challenges of art practice in North Bengal reflects his critical engagement with regional art history, while his forthcoming book, History of Modern Art: From the Renaissance to Contemporary Art Practice, seeks to make global art history accessible to Bengali readers. Internationally, Ghosh exhibited in Dhaka (2012) and at Germany's prestigious NordArt – Kunst in der Carlshütte (2013, 2014). His inclusion in SaffronArt and Artfacts.net further reflects the growing international recognition of his work.

His achievements include the Best Painting Award (Aranya, 2007), recognition among the Top Ten in the Bengal Art Talent Hunt (2010), an international honour in Bangladesh (2023), awards for teaching and cultural awareness (2024), a Certificate of Appreciation from the Government of West Bengal (2025), and the Nabadisha Srijan Samman presented by the Darjeeling District Legal Aid Forum (2026). In 2026, he also founded the Siliguri Creative Legal Council, dedicated to artists' legal and social welfare, and launched TAAT: A Group of Contemporaries, an international collective fostering cross-cultural artistic collaboration.

Today, Dipayon Ghosh stands as one of the most influential voices in the cultural landscape of North Bengal. Through his artistic excellence, institutional vision, scholarly engagement, and unwavering commitment to community-building, he has transformed art into a living cultural movement. His work continues to connect regional narratives with global contemporary discourse, establishing him as a significant figure in Indian contemporary art.