Public Art
Extending beyond the white cube, Thota Vaikuntam’s works enter the public realm to meet audiences in motion.
You are your own creator. You can’t base yourself on others. It has to come from within you.
Thota Vaikuntam
In the artist’s home region of Telangana, key installations in Hyderabad, at Rajiv Gandhi International Airport and HITEC City, offer moments of cultural pause within corridors of transit and innovation.
Public art, a profound medium of expression and cultural engagement, remains largely absent in India despite its rich artistic heritage. The Public Art Initiative brings art into the country’s urban landscapes, creating accessible, engaging encounters for the general public and turning everyday environments into vibrant cultural spaces.
In New Delhi, the initiative continues at the Shangri-La, Bikaner House, The Chanakya Mall and within the VIP Lounge, Terminal 1, Indira Gandhi International Airport.
Public art is a powerful means of communication. It transcends language, connects with people on a personal level and shapes the cultural identity of a place, creating landmarks that carry a community’s history and values.
By placing art in the public domain, the initiative democratises access to cultural experiences. Art is no longer confined to galleries and museums but available to everyone, regardless of background, bridging the gap between artists and the public.
In Amritsar, the initiative reaches Welcomhotel by ITC Hotels, where Vaikuntam’s standing figure forms the second station of the Heritage Walk, a route of three monumental sculptures across the sacred city.
Together, these placements carry Vaikuntam’s vivid Telangana iconography into the everyday, through the rhythms of travel, hospitality and work, so that his timeless figures are encountered not only in galleries but across the living fabric of the city.
April – December 2026
Three monumental sculptures by three of India’s most celebrated artists, installed across the sacred city.
From the Partition Museum to Le Méridien, this walk threads through Amritsar’s most resonant spaces, pausing at each station to encounter a sculpture that speaks to the city’s layered identity. Memory, rootedness, and transformation: three meditations on what it means to belong, to endure, and to reimagine.
