BENGALURU: Bengaluru might be receiving a lot of flak for being in the list of the worst traffic in the world but Kamini Sawhney, first director of Museum of Art & Photography (MAP), Kasturba Road, had a clear agenda of putting the city on the creative map at India Art fair, New Delhi. Sawhney attended the India Art Fair recently to be a part of a panel discussion on the future of museums.
The 12th edition of the three-day exhibition in Delhi showcased more than 81 Indian and international galleries. The art fair aimed to celebrate South Asian modern and contemporary art. Recalling her recent experience at the fair, Sawhney emphasised that it is a great attempt to break any kind of myths surrounding the art and its connoisseurs. “Modern contemporary art is considered for the elite, while the people who make it are absolutely humble and down to earth.
The fair helps break that barrier and make art accessible to all,” says Sawhney, adding, “It is up to an individual on how they react to any form of art. There is no right or wrong way to appreciate it.” The intention of art fair was to not just make art available to people but also educate them about several forms of art. For example, the India Art Fair not only displayed different art forms but also conducted various talks to give a better idea about any particular painting or installations.
Speaking to CE, Sawhney says since we live in a world where everything is at your finger tips, museums should be interactive. “One of the ways to make a museum experience more interactive is by adding technology. For example, the MAP museum has a holographic table, which pulls up an object and shown as a 3D image,” says Sawhney, who was a curator with Jehangir Nicholson Art Foundation since 2011, before she joined MAP.
While there has been a lot of debate about museums, which usually belong to public sector and is now taken over by many private institutions, Shawhney says there is no one fixed model, which is an ideal answer, she says. “I feel the best way forward is collaborating and sharing. Each sector has its own strength, so it’s so much better to collaborate,” says Sawhney.