Have we lost the appetite for Exhibitions? 

                            

Look at the section of the miniature painting above, it shows Hanuman carrying the life-saving herb, Sanjeevani for Lakshman on the orders of Ram. He is brave, focused and determined. Even though he is unable to find the herb, he decides to lift the entire mountain, the Gandhamadahan Parvat and brings it to his master. A daring hero, Hanuman stands for his devotion and tenacity that take him through all hurdles to reach his objective. 

Two days ago I created this blog in a rush and with lots of passion to do something with my museum colleagues and friends. At this instance I realized that engaging people is a difficult task, let alone urging them to participate! I wish to thank everyone who congratulated me for creating this space, but unfortunately none of them have come into the space as yet, perhaps not found time, or not found enough reason, or may be they have not been provoked enough.

So I need to begin again. May be I will have to keep making many beginnings before I can draw some of you into this dialogue. May be I will keep carrying many Gandhamadhan Parvats to you till we find our Sanjeevani. I find many parallels between this experience of mine and our museums. We are all playing very safe, not taking any risks, not daring enough. Are there not many Hanumans is us? Wonder why? 

The image above is from the National Museum Website, a page which announces the recently mounted exhibition- Ram Katha, the story of Ramayan through miniatures. This is an interesting story. The exhibition opened on 14th August 2013 and was inaugurated by the Minister of Culture, Chandresh Kumari Katoch. This set of exquisite miniatures was in the National Museum stores and were about to leave for an exhibition abroad when the officials of NM decided to show it to the public here in India. These miniatures have never been seen in India, I am told. I had the opportunity to see it before the exhibition opened and cannot explain what a fantastic experience it was. The Miniatures left me spellbound- as much as they are a treat to the onlooker seeking  finesse in skill, glimpses of abstraction and expressionism are depicted in many paintings titillating the keen art enthusiast. A must for children too who should see a different Ramayan than a digital cartoonized version.

Exhibitions are opportunities for museums. They don't come around often but when they do they bring with them a bag of challenges and treats. I think one of the best ways to overhaul our museums would be to have exhibitions! to go beyond our structured galleries and play around a bit, pull some things out, put somethings back and create a new space in the old museum.Exhibitions are also big time image changers for museums. If your museum is not visited by anyone and you are looking for a way to make your collections more popular, invite a curator (if you don't have one) and get your collection or part of it curated, let people into the museum and let them explore, imagine and share the collection in a way you would like to share it as museum professionals.

The only way to have more exhibitions is to demand them, be exhibition hungry util every museum puts up one major exhibition once a year at the least... so lets double our appetites! and remain hungry.

The exhibition at NM is on till October and is a must see for all the Delhiwallas and for those of you visiting Delhi. Here is a link http://www.nationalmuseumindia.gov.in/ramkatha-exhibition.asp

My heartfelt congratulations to Dr. Vijay Mathur and Dr. Binoy Sahay, both LTP I participants and of course and Dr, Venu, DG National Museum for giving the public this treat. Those of you who can see the exhibition, please do and send me a review on its design so that we can publish it here.

I hope someone will dare before I do again and use this space!!

Indian Museums need an overhaul....
but where to begin?

The participants of the Leadership Training Programme-II at the British Museum, UK in June 2013.

In 2012 and 2013, the Ministry of Culture, Govt of India initiated a training programme for in-service museum professionals in collaboration with the British Museum, UK which was coordinated by National Culture Fund, the organization that I work for now. This was a museum management and leadership programme which shifted the focus of museum professionals from being introvert organizations to visitor friendly centres of activity and fun.

This blog is an initiative not just on my behalf, but on behalf of nearly 40 museum professionals from all over India who have now decided to come together and make Indian museums exciting and popular for visitors. You can see some of them in the picture above.

Like all new initiatives, even this one should begin with a new idea, a new push and a new passion. I invite readers to come forward and identify some key areas in Indian museums where change is desirable.

I would love to begin with the basics. Do our museums have Adequate Public Amenities? Yes I know, we would love to talk about other mature issues- better design, Better lighting, complete digitization of collections, good captions, interpretation, public programmes etc but can we begin this again?!! can we start imagining museums from the visitor's perspective? what is it that they need?

We now have a powerful army of museum professionals spread all over India, ready to change our museums and this is the time to draw up a priority list on Public Amenities so that we can make them happen!

I am making a list of Ideal Public Amenities that are a must in Indian Museums- please help me make the list so that we can get on cracking!- Toilets? Cafe? Signage? Baby changing rooms? enough seating in galleries?..I know this doesn't sound like a museum but think Visitor Friendly!

Also tell me if your museum has these.. we could learn from each other, post a picture of your visitor friendly corner in your museum on this blog and we will celebrate it!

All views expressed in this space are personal and this blog does not hold copyright to any piece.