What Purpose Does the Museum Serve for Art Photography
"In my stance, what really makes a museum come up live is skillful storytelling," says Abhishek Poddar, Founder, Museum of Art and Photography (MAP). He reminisces the fourth dimension, near 15 years back when western museums ofttimes made request to borrow from his art drove for specific curated exhibitions. While it was a matter of pride and satisfaction to be lending significant works from Republic of india, Poddar felt the need of museums within the country. And this planted the seed for establishing MAP. The collection is broad ranged and non limited to fine art lone. The holdings have been categorised into half-dozen cardinal areas, namely, Modern & Contemporary, Photography, Folk & Tribal, Pop Culture, Textiles, Craft & and Design and Pre-Modern Fine art. "The idea for our curatorial strategies is centred on interconnected and interdisciplinary narratives, focusing on non-dominant voices. Re-drawing the map, and so to speak," says Poddar when asked how all this fits together.
I speak to him soon after the digital launch of the museum, on the need for a museum, his vision for MAP, and the unique use of applied science as an enabler.
Rahul Kumar (RK): MAP'southward stated mission is to "have art and culture to the heart of the community, making information technology accessible to various audiences, and to create a museum-going culture that encourages people to feel art and heritage in new ways". Delight elaborate on how this is being envisaged and what are the precise innovative ideas to bring near a cultural change in Indians at big?
Abhishek Poddar (AP): I have been collecting fine art for the last 35 years and take had the privilege of growing upward surrounded by art. One of the reasons for edifice MAP was to look at how I could help provide this opportunity to others every bit well. I strongly believe in the capacity for art to change the way in which nosotros view the world and the relevance of museums as agents of positive change.
Our primary mission at MAP is to take art into the heart of the community and this, we promise to accomplish through our focussed outreach initiatives and collaborations with institutions, non only in Bengaluru, but all over the world. Our aim is to actively work at reaching new audiences through digital campaigns, curating relevant exhibitions, building international collaborations and commissioning interesting content. Another of import element of reaching out to various audiences is our recently launched Digital Museum. However, the Digital Museum is simply the beginning of what we hope to accomplish. The upside of digitising collections and hosting online exhibitions is that it is possible to attain much wider audiences – not just geographically but also linguistically, since content can be made more easily accessible in multiple languages.
In the next few months, we will exist working on the translation of our content so that eventually big portions of the site will be available in Hindi and Kannada and we are building for development in terms of human resources and engineering science. We see the Digital Museum as another site for the museum, in addition to the physical building in Bengaluru. And we see both of them equally dynamic places for people to observe and participate in fine art and culture.
For MAP's physical infinite, our aim is to provide enriching experiences. Many components come together to build memorable museum experiences: from research, artefacts and display, to interactive programmes and exposure to different perspectives. Technology also plays a significant role at the physical space of the museum, through which we promise to depict in younger audiences and brand the museum a infinite that is interesting rather than a storage of dusty, one-time relics. We have a holographic installation that will showcase several 3D works from the collection, let for virtual curated exhibitions, also every bit highlight artworks in the collection. We have already scanned around 200 objects in the collection and aim to do about forty each month. With MAP being in Bengaluru, often called the Silicon Valley of Republic of india, nosotros are surrounded by some of the brightest tech-minds in the country and a number of these companies have come frontward and as part of their CSR worked with u.s. on developing cutting-edge tech innovations for the fine art and culture space.
RK: The collection includes a very vast range of works from pre-modernistic, contemporary to pop art at ane hand, and tribal and crafts on the other. It comprises objects from the 10th century to what was created yesterday! How does the museum intend to bring about a cohesive presentation of this?
AP: MAP's collection is perhaps ane of the most various collections in India currently. The museum's holdings take been categorised into six key areas: Modern & Contemporary, Photography, Folk & Tribal, Popular Culture, Textiles, Craft & Design and Pre-Modern Fine art. However, at the heart of MAP'southward identity is the idea of tracing and mapping relationships between these artistic disciplines – breaking away from older schools of categorisation, and striving instead towards a newer thought of narrative building.
So, in our curation of the collection, we hope to dissolve the borders between different categories or genres of fine art, and mistiness the demarcation between 'high and low' art. For instance, Indian fine art forms that emerged from tribal areas have not been recognised as truthful art forms and sometimes dismissed equally 'lesser' or 'outsider'. At MAP we certainly feel the need to give Tribal & Folk its due infinite and recognition and not just that but as well challenge the binaries between 'tribal', 'outsider' and 'contemporary' art. The idea is also to exist able to reach out to every section of our audition either in terms of their interests or in terms of a cultural connect. People should exist able to enter the museum and experience that some part of their life is reflected here - the engagement is then enhanced. We hope to build a sense of belonging and ownership with the local customs.
In my opinion, what too actually makes a museum come up live is good storytelling. Unlocking the rich histories and narratives of the artefacts for the viewer in a style that surprises and delights is what gives them life. This is why at MAP, nosotros are very keen for audiences to commence on a journey of discovery through our collections, finding unexpected connections, fresh voices and new ideas to engage with.
RK: Did you consider other formats to reach the objectives that are core to MAP, why in your opinion a museum format was necessary for this?
AP: Around fifteen years or so agone, I began existence approached by museums in the West who wanted to borrow artworks for exhibitions, or who were looking for donations for their collections. And while this was exciting for me, as information technology showed institutions abroad were looking more seriously at India, it too slightly bothered me. I felt uncomfortable that then much seemed to exist happening outside the state, while so few museums shows were happening at home. It also bothered me that even while many Indian museums had smashing collections they were largely underutilised and sadly mismanaged—mostly due to a lack of funds—and I found myself about looking forward to going to museums, even exhibitions of Indian art, on trips abroad.
I realised I had the opportunity to change things, and it was with this idea in mind, that the idea of MAP was born. I wanted to create a museum to provide a space where people could engage with art in a new and interesting fashion; where they could choose to spend an unabridged solar day with their families, rather than going to the mall or the cinema. Indians who line upwardly to get to museums abroad shy abroad in Republic of india every bit museums in the country have unfortunately earned the reputation of being either dry and dull when associated with historical objects or elitist and intimidating when associated with modern and contemporary fine art. I wanted to modify this perception of museums from elitist, repositories of objects, to an inclusive institution and a space of cultural learning and exchange. The but fashion to practice that was to create a new museum.
A museum format was imperative to generate awareness amongst the public nigh India'south rich artistic and cultural heritage. I too believe strongly in the capacity for art to change the way in which we view the world and the relevance of museums every bit agents of positive change.
In 2011, I helped establish the Art & Photography Foundation, my very starting time step in what has been a long, interesting journey – nine years down the line–culminating finally in the opening of the Museum of Art & Photography (MAP) in Bengaluru.
RK: In continuation, while in that location is extensive online and digital presence, does a physical museum limit access?
AP: I don't call up that a concrete museum limits access, and MAP's physical space will not exist very different from our Digital Museum. In fact, I come across the digital and the concrete museum every bit two parts of a whole, each complementing the other. The pandemic may have changed things irrevocably in certain ways but it has been an incredible learning curve and also facilitated new opportunities of engagement. We take discovered how innovation and flexibility are invaluable to an system if we are to stay relevant. Since the virtual space is where the conversation has shifted, MAP has focused its attention on this space for the moment, to connect with its audiences and share its vast collection. The digital platform provides united states of america the opportunity to provide new art experiences taking advantage of its reach and access.
Only nosotros practice believe that people volition always enjoy the warmth of human being interaction, the invaluable experience of engaging with an artwork in the flesh and connecting with the museum equally a physical experience – and we volition be ready for this, when they are.
Much like the Digital Museum, visitors in an offline or physical museum are also drawn in via the programming; nevertheless, the concrete museum can likewise attract visitors who are passers-by and may not know nigh the museum beforehand. There is mayhap no comparing to viewing, engaging with and experiencing an artwork in person, every bit opposed to viewing information technology digitally. Add together to that the feel of walking through a peculiarly designed architectural infinite that tin can provide the visitor quietude, a space for reflection, and solace from the hustle and bustle of the city. In my opinion, the difference between digital and physical museums lies not in access, merely in the experience and with both of MAP'due south spaces - physical and digital - we aim to curate new and innovative experiences that will proceed our audiences engaged and inspired.
RK: Please share with united states the public-private partnership experience of setting up MAP. What aspects are supported by the local authorities?
AP: One of the primary motivations behind the founding of MAP was the recognition of a existent need for private citizens and enterprises to work proactively towards bettering the cultural landscape, instead of waiting for the authorities to do something. Currently, we are non supported past the government.
RK: Lastly, how has the global IT giant, Accenture, helped with the technology for an enhanced company experience?
AP: By collaborating with Accenture nosotros have been able to create a unique digital experience to keep our visitors engaged. Through its Tech4Good initiative, Accenture Labs has created a conversational digital persona, the beginning in the country, past using advanced technologies such as bogus intelligence (AI) with human-centred design such as face up superimposition and speech synthesis. This volition let visitors at the museum to actually accept a lifelike conversation with the digital persona on display.
Tongue understanding, natural language processing, and emotion detection technologies assistance ensure the conversation between the user and the persona. It besides enables the digital persona to be as responsive, expressive, proactive, and adaptive as a real person would be.
One of our objectives is to create a museum-going culture that engages younger generations, equally we have much to learn from our shared histories. I strongly believe that a smashing way for museums to reach this is to harness engineering to create engaging interactions that enable the user to learn something new and have fun in the procedure.
Museum of Fine art & Photography launched digitally in December 2020 alongside an extensive virtual programming. The conversations included the likes of Nandita Das, TM Krishna, BN Goswamy, Shahidul Alam, Peter Lee, and more. Video recording of virtual tours and conversations tin can be viewed here.
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Source: https://www.stirworld.com/inspire-people-museum-of-art-photography-opens-to-encourage-a-museum-going-culture
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