The Museum of Art and Photography, Bengaluru
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Neelam Raaj, February 26, 2023: The Times of India
From: Neelam Raaj, February 26, 2023: The Times of India
Bengaluru’s latest landmark is a shiny stainless-steel museum whose acronym is quite apt for what it aims to do — that is, put India’s Silicon Valley on the country’s art map. The Museum of Ar t and Photography (MAP), which opened to the public last week, gives art lovers access to an expansive and eclectic collection of 60,000 works from South Asia.
While many of them are from Bengalur ubased businessman Abhishek Poddar’s personal collection that includes everything from Bhil art to Bollywood posters, there have also been generous donations such as a huge archive of ar tist Jyoti Bhatt that includesrare photos he took of folk artists and some of his peers. There’s a delightful shot of Bhupen Khakhar taking a nap in the park and another arresting image of a young M F Husain.
But MAP isn’t just showcasing art, it’s also an ambitious attempt to take the museum into the digital age. On its opening day, visitors were encouraged to light virtual lamps and take selfies with them. It also has other fun, interactive elements such as a hologram of Husain. While the pandemic did delay the project and result in cost overruns, it did have one posit ive effect, points out Poddar. “The pandemic allowed us to think of ways in which technology can play a role in enhancing the museum experience for a visitor. With MAP being in Bengaluru, often called the Silicon Va lley of India, we are surrounded by some of the brightest tech minds. Through one of our initiatives — MAP Labs — a number of these companies have come forward and, as part of their CSR, worked with us on developing cutting-edge tech innovations for the art and culture space. For instance, we have an interactive, multi-touchMicroTile wall that displ ays all the artworks on view in real-time and allows visitors to browse curated views of the collection,” says Poddar, whose own collecting journey began when he was a teenager.
Another way in which it remakes the museum is by demolishing the hierarchies of so-called high and low art. For instance, the exhibition on the fourth floor, which is the highlight of the museum, has every thing from Bollywood lobby cards to textiles, photography, indigenous art, and big-name artists.
Titled Visible/Invisible, it looks at the way women are depicted in art. “Though they were the ce ntral subject in art, they had so little agency over their representation because the image-builders were usually male,” says MAP director Kamini Sawhney. For instance, one trope tha t it examines is the way a woman is often depicted as the goddess. Another section explores the concept of mother and child. “The iconography is always with the male child rather than the daughter. This makes us think about the violence of invisibility,’ says Sawhney.
The striking thing about the show is its ability to surprise. If there’s a poster of Mother India showing the female perso nification of the nation-state in one corner, another displays a brocade skirt in which a map of undivided India has been cleverly hidden inside a sunflower motif. “This was the way women participated in the freedom movement,” explains Sawhney.
Poddar is optimistic that this ambitious venture will encourage a new museum-going culture in the c ity. “We hope to be a catalyst of change by getting people excited about art. It’s not that the country lacks museums but they’re perceived as fuddyduddy places. The aim was to make MAP fun and relevant. ”
