Every year, we close the gallery during summer months chiefly from May to June to re-assess our programming but this time we are forced to shut it early, to avoid spreading of the disease to the visitors,” Tunty Chauhan, Founder, Threshold Art, told The Morning Standard over a telephonic conversation. Chauhan, however, is open to one-on-one meetings to discuss logistics about an exhibition or a new curatorial project, if initiated by an email request.
Threshold Art recently joined a list of Delhi galleries in announcing the temporally shutting down of their exhibition space amid concerns over COVID-19. Major government art centres such as National Gallery of Modern Art and Indira Gandhi National Centre for the Arts have also stalled operations till March end.Art Alive Gallery discontinued the public viewing of its show, Night Forest, by Chandra Bhattacharjee. You can access the artworks on artalivegallery.com.
Explaining its stance in a press statement, the gallery stated that its team will work from home to address all queries and sales enquires to ensure minimum delay in addressing the same. Additionally, an e-catalogue can be mailed on request. Kiran Nadar Museum of Art (KNMA) has also temporarily shut its operations at its Delhi and Noida centres as per the government directives of avoiding social gatherings. According to Akansha Rastogi, Senior Curator, Exhibitions and Programs, KNMA, the museum is actively working on its online programmes.
She said, “The museum already has a fairly good social media presence and now we will be more actively engaged in the format, given the uncertain times.” Tariq Allana, Associate Director, Art Heritage, also echoed Rastogi’s views on maintaining a strong online presence. About the close down of the Mandi House gallery for a limited period of time, Allana says the gallery will continue to engage their audiences in holistic manner, as it always has through in-house exhibitions, participation at art fairs, curated walks/educational events, robust social media presence, website, email outreach, catalogues and other publications. “Temporarily closing the gallery space means we have to shift our focus in the short term to a virtual experience for our viewers and collectors – be it in the form of e-catalogs rather than physical ones, virtual exhibitions, a larger social media presence or more frequent mailers. In time, as the health crisis subsides, we look forward to opening our next show at the gallery,” added Allana.
COVID-19 shuts down art galleries
Threshold Art recently joined a list of Delhi galleries in announcing the temporally shutting down of their exhibition space amid concerns over COVID-19.