Museum Influencers 2021
2020-21 has been a challenging time for museums. There are hundreds of museums in India, and all have been impacted by COVID-19. The pandemic and lockdown restrictions have forced museums to close temporarily, and some might not reopen. There has been a drastic impact on museums economically as well as culturally.
On the occasion of International Museum Day, we want to acknowledge the present situation. As museums reopen globally, the experience delivered will be different. People are now looking for new initiatives and innovations to revitalise museums.
In our first Museum Influencers List, we recognise the achievements of 10 people whose works in this domain have helped museums grow and transform to fit the ever growing needs and demands of visitors. We celebrate the people who are enabling and encouraging this change in the world of museums.
Abhishek Poddar
Founder, Museum of Art & Photography
Abhishek Poddar is the founder of Museum of Art & Photography (MAP), in Bengaluru, virtually launched in December 2020, with a goal to be “the museum of the future” with a focus on the confluence of art and technology. Recently in collaboration with Accenture Labs, MAP used artificial intelligence software to create a conversational digital persona of one of the most revered Indian artists, MF Husain. The 3D hologram has the capability to respond to questions in real time, and can discuss topics related to his life. This carries the potential to bring a new level of technological innovation to the museum space, and change the viewing experience altogether.
A unique part of MAP is Museum Without Borders, a collaboration with 50 international museums including the likes of Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, and The Morgan Library and Museum, New York. Here they will be displaying two objects, one from their collection and other from MAP’s collection to depict the connection depending on the theme, medium and period.
Aditya Arya
Founding Director, Museo Camera
A multi-talented photographer working professionally since 1980, Aditya Arya has a diverse commercial and traveling portfolio along with having his work published in books and travel magazines globally. He has also set up India’s largest non-profit photography museum called Museo Camera, Centre for the Photographic Arts. It is a one of a kind collaboration between India Photo Archive Foundation and The Municipal Corporation of Gurugram. The museum includes 3000 rare and legendary cameras that help in showcasing the history of photography from the 1870s to the present era.
Aditya Arya’s Museo Camera is a major highlight in Gurugram and beloved among the residents who aided in launching this first ever crowdfunded museum. He created the plans for the museum himself with the help from two designers and got the museum ready within 16 months despite various hurdles along the way. They now conduct various workshops and programmes that help highlight its collection while also promoting up and coming work in the world of photography.
Alka Pande
Curator, Art Historian & Art Curator
Dr. Alka Pande has been teaching Indian Arts and Aesthetics at the Punjab University for over a decade. She is also an author and a museum curator who also works as an art consultant India Habitat Centre, New Delhi.
One of her most notable projects is the Bihar Museum Biennale 2021 which portrays the art, history, heritage and culture of the state of Bihar. It promotes the new Bihar Museum which is probably the largest public museum of South Asia in size as well as collection. The biennale included virtual walk-throughs of 20 museums in total that spanned across Jaipur, Assam, Poland, Florence and various other places. This helped bring various underrated museums to the public eye. Alka Pande also helped bring up relevant conversations during this biennale by conducting master classes that helped the smaller and unconventional museums to engage with a larger audience.
Gita Wolf
Founder, Tara Books
Gita Wolf is a renowned author, curator and founder of the publishing house, Tara books. She has contributed to various collections of Indian folk art such as an exhibition of art and books for the Itabashi Museum in Tokyo. Recently, along with her son, Arun Wolf, she edited and contributed towards a unique and important book, Between Memory and Museum. This book was a mode of creating dialogue between the folk and tribal artists and the museums and exhibitions that take place.
This book serves as an attempt to bring to the fore the perspectives of minority tribal communities and folk artists. These artists deliver their accounts of museums and institutions as a means of preserving, curating and spreading knowledge. They also deliberate on their own methods and practices of keeping tradition alive. The dialogue ends on the discussion about who is the decision maker about the subjects of the museum. The book is a necessary addition to the discourse on museums and raises pertinent points on the dissemination of knowledge.
Kiran Nadar
Founder, Kiran Nadar Museum of Art
Kiran Nadar is a philanthropist, art collector, and founder of the Kiran Nadar Museum of Art. She is an international council member of Museum of Modern Arts in New York which helps her in representing Indian culture on a vast international scale.
KNMA launched #chaloMuseum, a public initiative in 2019, which sought to generate interest in Indian museums. When asked about the initiative, a member of the team at KNMA said, “KNMA is focused on encouraging the public to look at art as a natural part of life. With our #chalomuseum video, we hope to raise awareness of the incredible art heritage of India and it’s accessibility that is often overlooked”. The initiative brings attention to the status of museums in India, juxtaposing it with the museums of the west. In doing so, it encourages people to visit museums.
KNMA has been working towards amplifying art appreciation among locals. KNMA works towards exploring the relation between art and culture, and getting people back into museums.
Medhavi Gandhi
Founder, The Heritage Lab
Founder of The Heritage Lab, Medhavi Gandhi has a keen interest in museums and culture. Her initiative is a one of a kind digital platform that consults museums to help them grow digitally while also connecting them to citizens through engaging content and resources. It also aids in heritage and art related school programs along with brand collaborations that bring together art, culture and museums. She works towards encouraging people to visit museums and museum related events while also inspiring schools to incorporate museum learning to instigate the youth of India to understand the importance of museums and cultural history. Medhavi has also helped increase people’s interactions with museums through digital campaigns like UNESCO Museum Week and Wikipedia’s Art and Feminism that collaborated with multiple museums across India.
She is also on the Advisory Board Member for Europeana, a web portal created by the European Union and the Board Member for Commonwealth Association of Museums.
Parmesh Shahani
Vice President, Godrej Industries Ltd
The VP at Godrej Industries Ltd., Parmesh Shahani, is a writer and curator who has aided the LGBTQ+ community hugely through his books about inclusion and belonging in India.
He also contributed to the unique initiative called Museum of Memories by the Godrej India Culture Lab. The museum revolved around remembering Partition and incorporated a lot of objects from the Partition Museum in Amritsar as well as artefacts and heirlooms related to partition that were sent in by willing participants. This was a means of storytelling where seemingly normal objects brought deep history connected to them. It included objects like small urns used to bring in gold during the partition to a shawl worn by a lady on this monumental day. It was a one day event with fashion shows, alternate reality games,food, theatre and numerous other interesting aspects. It also had a user-created museum of memories laid out in the empty Godrej warehouse that was demolished the next day.
Paul Abraham
Chief Operating Officer, Indusland Bank
In 2015, Paul Abraham, IndusInd Bank COO, established the Sarmaya Arts Foundation, a Mumbai based non-profit digital repository of art and artefacts of Indian subcontinent. It is India’s first ever virtual archive of modern art, rare books, photography, engravings and many more culturally essential items. This museum without boundaries makes its collection of rare and historical artefacts available for everyone to view online and open for all who are interested at any point of time. It aims to reach even the most remote communities and create a deep experience for everyone.
Paul Abraham has helped increase audience engagement for museums immensely by removing any possible hurdles for access. This self-funded museum has a tremendous outreach program– it constantly collaborates with various schools and universities for workshops. Sarmaya also conducts virtual exhibitions, lectures and readings about Indian art and its traditions to instill interest among the general public.
Siddhant Shah
Founder, Access For All
Siddhant Shah, founder of Access for All, is a Heritage Architect and access consultant who aims to bridge the gap between cultural heritage and disability.
Siddhant has created india's first museum Braille book and worked with several cultural organisations and arts festivals to make them more accessible to the differently abled. in this effort, he also developed India's first sign language guide for Mehrangarh Museum in Jodhpur.
Via creative, indigenous design and advocacy, Access for All seeks to push the limits of physical, and social access while fostering an inclusive experiential environment. While working on providing accessibility to people with physical disabilities, the focus on intellectual access attempts to make museums more approachable to a community often not accommodated in cultural institutions.
His work with policymakers, museums, corporations, hotels etc aims to sensitise people, and help make spaces and heritage accessible to people with disabilities.
Vaibhav Chauhan
Head, Special Collections, Jio Institute
The founding member of several cultural and heritage initiatives like Cultre, Sahapedia.org, the Heritage Olympiad and India Heritage Walks, Vaibhav Chauhan has contributed immensely in revolutionizing the horizon of heritage in India.
As the head of Museums of India, he aids in reconnecting the local communities with their roots and helps them take pride in their rich culture. Museums of India is a detailed digital directory of museums that helps visitors to collect, contribute and collate information about more than 300 museums that span across 34 cities in India. It brings out the diversity of Indian museums and helps the local communities feel pride in their deep-rooted heritage.
Vaibhav also developed the Museums in Delhi app in 2014 that highlights Delhi’s extensive heritage and increases museum accessibility for enthusiasts. The app provided all the nitty gritty details about the museums from its open timings, entry prices, accessibility and localities.