Paper and Play
Bringing together prints, posters, works on paper, books, games, zines, toys, and artist/ photo books, the exhibition foregrounds practices that originate in paper but extend into tactile, social, and often playful encounters.
Originally conceived by Priyanshi S. for Pulp Society in 2022, the exhibition returns in a new iteration co-curated at Gallery XXL this summer which is livelier and more expansive than before. This evolving curatorial format rethinks the summer exhibition as a site of access, informality, and fun!
First developed as a response to the seasonal lull of the art calendar, Paper and Play departs from the conventional exhibition model to operate instead as an active, ‘chilling’ space: part exhibition, part hangout, part participatory environment. Bringing together prints, posters, works on paper, books, games, zines, toys, and artist/ photo books, the exhibition foregrounds practices that originate in paper but extend into tactile, social, and often playful encounters.
At its core, the project is driven by a deliberate curatorial proposition — to reframe the gallery not as a site of intimidation or exclusivity, but as a hospitable point of entry. The works on view engage audiences across age groups and levels of familiarity, creating multiple thresholds through which viewers can enter, linger, play, pause, acquire, learn, react, and return.
The 2026 edition will feature a wide-ranging group of artists and publishers whose practices span public and studio, underground and institutional. Works include collectibles by the anonymous street artist Daku; prints by German duo Christoph Florin; stencilled bunnies that have traveled from Mumbai by AIKO; political posters by Bangladesh-born, US-based Debashish Chakrabarty and multidisciplinary Indian artist Priyanka Paul; typographical explorations by Thai artist Beer Pitch; and urban mark-making by Indian artists DO, ZERO, and Khatra. Purvi Sharma, Savitha Ravi, Sky, and Showmetheblue offer intimate everyday encounters, while The Accha Studio turns it all into something that feels like a garland of objects. Also on view: zines by Jacinth Kaur, posters and prints by Prithwin Dutta, artist books by Sneha Lakhotia and Suruchi Choksi, and paper mache sculptures by Tanaya Sharma.
Books, zines, and publications are central to the exhibition and will have contributions from Reliable Copy, Offset Projects, Marg Books/Magazines, Roli Books, Irregular Times, Sadboi and Co, Blaft Publications, and more posters by Khwaab Tanha Collective.
One of the most exciting features of this edition is its dynamism: every Thursday, new books, zines, products, and objects will be added to the show. The exhibition stays alive for its full run, always giving you a reason to come back, and always offering something to discover for the first time.
Weekend programmes and events will keep the energy going throughout the course of the exhibition, so the gallery will always be buzzing, beyond the books and what’s on the walls!
Paper and Play is, at its heart, an expansion of the XXL Shop into an exhibition — making it easy, low-barrier, and genuinely joyful for everyone to have a piece of art in their life.