BENGALURU : This year has been full of heartbreaking news but here’s a small slice of something good for art lovers. The Museum of Art and Photography (MAP) is planning to have a digital launch of the museum with its virtual festival: Art (is) Life, from Dec 5-11, to celebrate various art forms.
The opening of the physical museum, which was set to take place in December this year, has been pushed to next year due to a delay in work caused by the pandemic. MAP, which has a collection of over 18,000 artworks, dating from the 10th century to the present, is trying to reach out to a global audience with its curated experiences and audience interactions, through the digital programme.
According to founder-trustee Abhishek Poddar, their vision has always been to make the collection available to the world. “Launching digitally is the next step for MAP to achieve its agenda of inclusion and accessibility. In challenging times such as these, museums and cultural institutions need to rethink and reinvent themselves to be relevant,” says Poddar, adding that MAP’s digital launch is the birth of a new-era museum.
Echoing similar thoughts, museum director Kamini Sawhney says they are working on creative ways to bring art to everyone. “The programme will showcase how the arts are interconnected, and each enriches the other. This is reflective of the museum’s vision to draw connections across the collection, creating unique narratives,” says Sawhney, adding that the commissioned performances and collaborations with international institutions offers a glimpse of what is to come with the museum.
The digital programme will also showcase performances in music, dance, poetry, and technology, by prominent artists like art historian Dr B N Goswamy; actors Nandita Das and Arundhati Nag; poet-lyricist Javed Akhtar, dance Malvika Sarukkai, and painter Jitish Kallat. The event will also see the launch of their initiative, Museums Without Borders.
This is a collaboration with 50 international institutions that will juxtapose a pair of objects from their collections and MAP’s to discover the differences and connections between two objects. Some of the participating institutions are the British Museum; Museum of Fine Arts, Boston; Detroit Institute of Arts, and Rhode School of Design.