Kalakriti India · Hyderabad · Art in the Public Realm
Public
Art Projects
Taking art beyond the gallery walls — into the streets, underpasses, medians, and public spaces of Hyderabad.
Art belongs to
everyone
“Art is not meant only for gallery walls. It belongs to every street, every underpass, every public space where people live their lives.”
For over two decades, Kalakriti India has been committed to bringing ambitious public art to Hyderabad — transforming the city’s urban fabric through large-scale installations, murals, sculptures, and street art that are experienced by hundreds of thousands of people every day.
This work is led jointly by Kalakriti Art Gallery and the Krishnakriti Foundation, in collaboration with the Government of Telangana, corporate partners like IKEA India, and a community of local and national artists. Through ArtCafe, Kalakriti also offers public art as a professional service — available to hotels, corporations, institutions, and city authorities seeking to transform their spaces.
The MS Maqtha Street Art District is Hyderabad's first and most significant public art district — created in 2016 through a collaboration between St+art India Foundation and Asian Paints, in association with the Government of Telangana and the Krishnakriti Foundation. The project began in 2016, led by the St+art India Foundation in partnership with Asian Paints. The initiative included contributions from 38 artists, including international participants such as Delphine Delas from France and Sadhu X from Nepal. The NGO, in association with Asian Paints, made creative comments on topics concerning the environment, education, and themes that resonate with the very essence of the chaos and culture of the neighbourhood. Kalakritikalakritiartgallery The district is informally divided into four colour-coded zones — Pink Gully, Yellow Gully, Green Gully, and Blue Chowk — with directional arrows helping visitors navigate the area. The murals have been periodically refreshed since their inception, with new artists added at each edition. Kalakriti India and the Krishnakriti Foundation have been partners in the annual Telangana Kala Mela and Street Art Festival that has sustained and expanded the district since 2016.
These projects have made Hyderabad one of the most visually alive cities in South India — a city where art is not an amenity but an integral part of daily urban experience.
From the iconic Love Hyderabad sculpture on Necklace Road to the IKEA India Underpass Mosaic Mural, from the MS Maqta Street Art District to the Love Vizak Sculpture in Visakhapatnam — each project is a permanent contribution to the public life of a city.
Work that endures
in the public realm
The MS Maqtha Street Art District is Hyderabad's first and most significant public art district — created in 2016 through a collaboration between St+art India Foundation and Asian Paints, in association with the Government of Telangana and the Krishnakriti Foundation.
The project began in 2016, led by the St+art India Foundation in partnership with Asian Paints. The initiative included contributions from 38 artists, including international participants such as Delphine Delas from France and Sadhu X from Nepal. The NGO, in association with Asian Paints, made creative comments on topics concerning the environment, education, and themes that resonate with the very essence of the chaos and culture of the neighbourhood.
The district is informally divided into four colour-coded zones — Pink Gully, Yellow Gully, Green Gully, and Blue Chowk — with directional arrows helping visitors navigate the area. The murals have been periodically refreshed since their inception, with new artists added at each edition. Kalakriti India and the Krishnakriti Foundation have been partners in the annual Telangana Kala Mela and Street Art Festival that has sustained and expanded the district since 2016.
The iconic लव Hyderabad typographic sculpture on Tank Bund, Necklace Road was created as part of the St+art India Foundation's Street Art Festival in November 2016, supported by Asian Paints. Unveiled in November 2016 during the Street Art Festival, the 'Love Hyderabad' structure was designed by Hitesh Malaviya (Rocky) in collaboration with Hanif Kureshi. The installation incorporates a heart symbol into the Devanagari script, adding a multilingual and fun aspect that resonates with the city's Hinglish-speaking generation.
The powerful icon cuts across demographics and language barriers — the transliteration of love in Devanagari adds a multilingual, fun aspect which imbibes elements from our Hinglish speaking generation and popular culture.
Hanif Kureshi, who co-designed the sculpture, was the co-founder and artistic director of St+art India Foundation and one of the pioneers of India's contemporary street art movement. He passed away in September 2024. The Love Hyderabad sculpture remains one of the city's most photographed landmarks and a permanent symbol of Hyderabad's creative identity.
Commissioned by IKEA India, this large-scale mosaic mural was designed and executed by Kalakriti to transform a major Hyderabad underpass into a vibrant public artwork celebrating local culture, colour, and the character of the city. The project demonstrated Kalakriti's capacity for corporate art commissions of significant scale and complexity, delivered with full design and production management by the in-house team.
Also commissioned by IKEA India, this project brought sculptural installations to major road medians across Hyderabad — bringing art into the daily commute of thousands of residents and signalling the city’s ambition to embed culture into its public infrastructure. The sculptures were designed and produced by Kalakriti’s in-house team of artists and technical operators.
Following the success of the Love Hyderabad installation, a companion typographic sculpture — Love Vizag — was installed on Dr. NTR Beach Road, opposite the Submarine Museum, R.K. Beach, Visakhapatnam.
The sculpture is part of the same series of typographic city identity installations created by St+art India Foundation, supported by Asian Paints, designed by artist Hitesh Malaviya (Rocky) in collaboration with Hanif Kureshi — the same creative team behind the Love Hyderabad and Love Delhi sculptures.
The Love Vizag sculpture stands against the backdrop of the iconic Submarine Museum on R.K. Beach, extending Kalakriti India and the Krishnakriti Foundation's public art footprint from Hyderabad to Andhra Pradesh.
In association with the Embassy of France in India, Krishnakriti Foundation jointly conducted Bonjour India in Hyderabad in 2010, 2013, 2017–18, and 2022 — a major public celebration of French art and culture that brought international artists and performers to the city, reinforcing the deep cultural ties between Kalakriti India and France that began with Prshant Lahoti’s Chevalier des Arts et des Lettres in 2012.
Public art as
a professional service
Through ArtCafe, Kalakriti India offers the full range of public and commercial art services — from large-scale murals and sculptural installations to corporate hotel artification and artist collaboration. Every project is managed end-to-end by an in-house team of artists, designers, and technical operators.
Large-scale murals, sculptures, and installations for public spaces — cities, institutions, and infrastructure projects.
End-to-end art curation and installation for corporate offices, hotels, restaurants, and commercial spaces of every scale.
Connecting artists with commissioners for site-specific works — from concept development through to final installation and documentation.
Working with architects and interior designers to integrate original art into residential, commercial, and hospitality projects.
Professional framing, mounting, and installation services for individual works and large-scale collections.
Strategic art advisory for institutions, collectors, and developers — drawing on Kalakriti’s 20+ years of expertise in Indian art and heritage.
MS Maqta —
A city transformed
The MS Maqta Street Art District is perhaps the most sustained and visible expression of Kalakriti’s belief that art belongs in public space. Since 2016, what was a largely overlooked neighbourhood near the Maqta bridge has been transformed into one of Hyderabad’s most distinctive cultural destinations.
Each year, the Telangana Kala Mela and Street Art Festival brings a new wave of artists to the area — painting entire building facades with works that range from monumental figurative murals to intricate pattern-based designs. The result is a living, evolving open-air gallery that changes with every edition.
The project is conducted jointly by Krishnakriti Foundation, Art@Telangana, and the Street Art Foundation, in association with the Government of Telangana — a model of private cultural vision and public institutional support working together.
“Art belongs to the city. To every street and every wall. To every person who walks past it on their way to work.”
— Kalakriti India
Commission a project
or collaborate with us
To discuss a public art commission, corporate artification project, or institutional collaboration, get in touch with the ArtCafe team. We work with city authorities, corporations, hotels, developers, and cultural institutions of all kinds.
Banjara Hills, Hyderabad — 500 034
