Subrata Nath, Additional Director General, National Museum, Ministry of Culture, Government of India, New Delhi
Shri Subrata Nath is currently assigned as Additional Director General, National Museum, Ministry of Culture, Government of India, New Delhi. He did Bachelor Degree in Mechanical Engineering and Post-Graduation in Public Policy & Management. Before joining National Museum, he was serving Indian Railways as Executive Director (Heritage) (2016-19) looking after conservation and preservation of 150+ years old Railway Industrial heritage in India that include four World Heritage Sites, 150+ heritage buildings and bridges, 400+ preserved rolling stocks and 34 rail museums. Shri Nath has been instrumental in digitization and cultural mapping of Railway heritage in India with M/s Google Art & Culture and bringing them online for public viewing. He has also prepared an inventory of Railway heritage and posted online for easy access. Under his leadership, Indian Railways have developed digital museums in 100 Railway stations to disseminate India’s rich culture through digital media.
Shri Nath also served as first full time Director of Darjeeling Himalayan Railway (2007-2009), and the first Industrial site to be designated as World Heritage Site by UNESCO. He has participated in various national and international workshops and seminars related to preservation and conservation of Cultural and Industrial Heritage in India.
Beside cultural domain, Shri Subrata Nath also served in various positions in Indian Railways and Ministry of Agriculture working in the domain of railway operations & maintenance, agricultural development, climate change etc. He also had several tenures overseas with United Nations Organizations in the capacity of International Advisor. He is currently a professional member of ICOMOS, India.
Ms Rachel Freeman , Associate Conservator, Nelson Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, United States
Rachel Freeman is a paper conservator at The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art in Kansas City, MO. Prior to moving to Missouri, she worked for The Art Institute of Chicago and the Balboa Art Conservation Center, San Diego, CA. Rachel’s previous publications and research interests include South and South East Asian palm leaf manuscripts, the papers and a printing matrix by Jose Guadalupe Posada, Edouard Manet’s prints, drawings and pastels, and Chinese New Year’s prints. She is currently part of a team of conservators and curators writing for an online catalogue of the French paintings and pastels at The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, and she is looking into the materiality of the museum’s pages from the Great Ilkhanid Shahnameh. Rachel graduated in 2004 with a Master of Arts degree from the State University of New York at Buffalo’s training program in art conservation (internships included the Balboa Art Conservation Center, Museums of New Mexico, and Heugh-Edmonson Conservation Services). There was a long hiatus between entering graduate school and earing her BA at Randolph-Macon Woman’s College. During those years she worked in Japan; studied in Florence, Italy; and enjoyed a fabulous introduction to paper conservation and preservation of all manner of things as a technician at the Harry Ransom Humanities Research Center at the University of Texas, Austin.
Rachel is a professional associate in the American Institute for Conservation and has served as co-chair for Art on Paper Discussion Group and the Book and Paper Group Wiki.
Dr. Darielle Mason, The Stella Kramrisch Curator of Indian and Himalayan Art and Head of the Department of South Asian Art, Philadelphia Museum of Art
Darielle Mason has been The Stella Kramrisch Curator of Indian and Himalayan Art and Head of the Department of South Asian Art at the Philadelphia Museum of Art for more than two decades. She is also adjunct Professor in the History of Art Department at the University of Pennsylvania from where she holds a PhD focused on the architecture and sculpture of 9th-11th century Gujarat, Rajasthan, and Madhya Pradesh (research supported by an AIIS Fellowship). Prior to returning to Philadelphia, Mason was Assistant Curator at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston where was responsibile for the South and Southeast Asian, ‘Islamic,’ and Tibetan collections. Her exhibitions, lectures, and publications span South Asia’s arts from ancient to contemporary. Among more than fifty museum exhibitions are Gods, Guardians, and Lovers: Temple Sculpture from Northern India, A.D. 700-1200 (1993, Asia Society Museum), Intimate Worlds: Indian Paintings from the Alvin O. Bellak Collection (Philadelphia Museum of Art, 2001), and Kantha: The Embroidered Quilts of Bengal(2009, winner of the College Art Association’s Alfred H. Barr Jr. Award for outstanding museum scholarship). She lead the transformation of Philadelphia’s South Asian Art galleries (opened 2016), breaking traditional museum boundaries of time and geography to explore regionally and universally relevant themes. Recently she was a member of the curatorial team that reinvented the Seattle Asian Art Museum along similar, but pan-Asian lines (opened 2020). Current projects include a publication on the complicated history and historiography of the “Madurai Mandapam,” an ensemble of architectural carvings that has stood in the Philadelphia Museum of Art for over a century.
Dr. Vishakha N. Desai, Senior Advisor for Global Affairs to the President of Columbia University, Formerly President and CEO, Asia Society, New York
Dr. Vishakha N. Desai is Senior Advisor for Global Affairs to the President of Columbia University, Senior Research Scholar at its School of International and Public Affairs, and Chair of the Committee on Global Thought at Columbia University.
From 1990 through 2012, Dr. Desai served in various capacities at the Asia Society, ranging from being Director if its museum, to being the President and CEO of the organization from 2004. She is widely credited with introducing contemporary Asian arts through major exhibitions and publications. A noted scholar of South Asian Art and history, Dr. Desai is well known for her leadership in presenting contemporary Asian art to American audiences and in developing innovative approaches to the relationship between culture and foreign policy in India, China and other Asian countries. In 2012, in recognition of Dr. Desai’s leadership in the museum field, President Barack Obama appointed her to serve on the National Museum and Library Services Board.
In addition to several publications, Dr. Desai is also a frequent contributor to newspapers and magazines in both the US and Asia, and her forthcoming memoir, “World as Family: A story of Multi-rooted Belonging,” will be published by Columbia University press in early 2021.
Dr. Desai is the recipient of five honorary degrees and holds a B.A. in Political Science from Bombay University and an M.A. and Ph.D. in Asian Art History from the University of Michigan.
Dr. Waman Anandrao Wankhede, Assistant Curator Allahabad Museum, Prayagraj, Uttar Pradesh
Dr. Waman Anandrao Wankhede is Assistant Curator at the Allahabad Museum, Prayagraj. He has sixteen years of experience as a Guide Lecturer and seven years of experience in museum curation. At the Allahabad Museum, he is responsible for stone sculptures, decorative art and archival collections. He has curated exhibitions such as News Clippings and Photographs of Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru (2005-2006) and Shiva in Indian Art (2015-16). He coordinates outreach programs for school children. He has authored Madhya Ganga Ghati Me Prapt Kolhuo Me Samajik Aivam Prakritik Chitran (2002).
Waman has a PhD on Buddhist Terracotta in Middle-Ganga Valley (4th century CE to 6th century CE) and a MA Archaeology from Nagpur University, Maharashtra.
Dr. Jyoti Tokas, Curator, National Gallery of Modern Art, New Delhi
Dr. Jyoti Tokas is Curator (In-charge exhibitions) at the National Gallery of Modern Art, New Delhi. She has more than ten years of experience in curation. Her recent exhibitions include ITIHAAS (2017), Dandi Yatra (2018) and Songs of the Un-caged Bird (2018). She was also a part of the curatorial team for the permanent exhibition, In the Seeds of Time at NGMA, Delhi (2009) and the opening of NGMA Bengaluru in 2009. She has also held curatorial roles at the IGNCA, Delhi and the National Museum and was a Research Scholar at the Lalit Kala Akademi. She has a deep interest in cultural heritage.
Jyoti has a PhD in Museology from the National Museum Institute, New Delhi, a Masters in Conservation Preservation and Heritage Management from I.P. University, Delhi and a BA, History from the University of Delhi.
Neeraj Thakur, Assistant Curator, Himachal State Museum, Shimla, Himachal Pradesh
Neeraj Thakur is Assistant Curator at the Himachal State Museum, Shimla. He is responsible for documentation, cataloging, accessioning and preventive care of antiquities. Prior to joining the museum, he was an Assistant Professor (Guest Faculty) at the Himachal Pradesh University Regional Centre, Dharamshala. He was a Curator for the All India Art Exhibition and the Arts & Crafts Fair in March 2020 at the Himachal State Museum Shimla (2019-2020). He has a keen interest in the Himalayan region’s art, archaeology and culture.
Neeraj has a MPhil in History (Archaeological Study of Nirmand) and a MA in Ancient Indian History and Archaeology from Himachal Pradesh University. He has BA, History from the Centre of Excellence College, Shimla.
Pema Kesang Sherpa, Branch Inspector, Directorate of Handicrafts and Handloom, Government of Sikkim, Namchi, Sikkim
Pema Kesang is Associate Curator at the upcoming museum in the Directorate of Handicrafts and Handloom, Sikkim. She has over eight years of experience in museum curation. She curated the exhibition Ehsaas: Senses and Images(2002). Prior to joining the state government, she worked at the Mehrangarh Museum Trust (2004-2005) and was in-charge of The Namgyal Institute of Tibetology (NIT) Museum in Sikkim (2014-2020). At NIT, she documented and digitized the NIT collection and incorporated it into the North-East Heritage portal through JATAN.
Pema has a MA in Museology from the National Museum Institute, New Delhi and BA, English from the University of North Bengal, West Bengal.
Krishna Shekhawat, Assistant Curator Mehrangarh Museum Trust, Jodhpur, Rajasthan
Krishna Shekhawat is Assistant Curator at Mehrangarh Museum Trust, Jodhpur. She is developing the narrative for its museum redesign project. Prior to this, she was a Teaching Fellow for History at Ashoka University, Haryana. With over five years of experience, she provides curation advice and expertise to eminent collections such as Mahmudabad, Gyan Museum, Bhadrajun and Karauli. Her exhibition Karbala: Beyond Religious Boundaries (2018) won the Outstanding Project Award at Ashoka University. She authored a chapter in Waters of Western Rajasthan: Myths, Tradition, Life and Livelihood (2020).
Krishna has a BA in History from Miranda House, University of Delhi and was Young India Fellow at Ashoka University.
Chelsea Santos, Assistant Curator The City Palace Museum, Udaipur, Rajasthan
Chelsea Santos is Assistant Curator at The City Palace Museum, Udaipur, with over two years of experience in the field. She has been a part of several curatorial projects at her museum, including exhibitions and research on photographs. She is actively involved in the curation of the social media, digital events and outreach programs of the museum and is currently working on publishing a series of child-friendly books.
Chelsea has a MA and a BA in Ancient Indian History, Culture, and Archaeology from St. Xavier’s College, Mumbai and a PG Diploma in Museology and Conservation from CSMVS, Mumbai.
Dr. Kishore Raghubans, Assistant Archaeologist (Museum In-charge) with additional charge of Underwater Archaeology Wing, Archaeological Museum, Velha Goa, Goa
Dr. Kishore Raghubans is the Museum in-charge at the Archaeological Museum, Velha Goa, with additional charge of the Underwater Archaeology Wing, Goa. He has over four years of experience in museum curation. His area of specialization is Ancient Mines and Metallurgy, Geo-Archaeological Studies, Pre and Proto History of India, Ethnographic and Experimental studies, Deccan Sultanate Water System and Museum Curation. He has authored a book, Dynamics of Settlement Patterns in the Shekhawati Region of Rajasthan (2014).
Kishore has a PhD and Masters in Ancient Indian History, Culture and Archaeology (with specialization in Anthropology) from MSU, Baroda, a PG Diploma in Archaeology from the Institute of Archaeology, New Delhi and Graduation in Chemistry from the University of Bombay.
Shubhasree Purkayastha, Education Officer Museum of Art and Photography (MAP), Bengaluru, Karnataka
Shubhasree Purkayastha is Education Officer at the Museum of Art and Photography (MAP), Bengaluru. Prior to joining MAP, Shubhasree was a Curatorial Assistant at the Sarmaya Arts Foundation, Mumbai and was a part of the Outreach team at the National Museum, New Delhi. She was awarded the Archival and Museum Research Fellowship by the India Foundation for the Arts to curate an exhibition around the Pre-Ahom collection of the State Museum, Guwahati (2016-17).
Shubhasree has a MPhil in Arts and Aesthetics from JNU, New Delhi and a MA in Art History from the National Museum Institute, New Delhi.
Pavithra Muddaya, Managing Trustee and Chief Curator, Vimor Museum of Living Textiles–Vimor Handloom Foundation, Bengaluru, Karnataka
Pavithra is the Managing Trustee of the Vimor Handloom Foundation established in 2004 and the Chief Curator of the Vimor Museum of Living Textiles in Bengaluru. She has helped weavers grow financially for 45 years and has worked with the Ministry of Textiles as a freelance designer and to implement the Tantavi project (2019) to document traditional handloom textiles. She has been cited by Ashoka: Innovators for the Public Awards for creating new avenues for the weaving communities of India through design and market intervention (2002-03). Pavithra curated handloom textiles for the India–South Africa Shared History exhibition in Johannesburg (2008). In 2019 she was one of the participants at the Sustainable Indian Fashion symposium at The Museum of Islamic Art in Doha.
Pavithra graduated in Law from Bangalore University, Bengaluru.
Ritwika Misra, Project Manager, Weavers Studio, Kolkata, West Bengal
Ritwika Misra is Project Manager at the Weavers Studio, Kolkata for a multi-year project on the textiles of undivided Bengal. She is responsible for research, exhibition development and stakeholder management for the project. Previously, she worked as Assistant Archivist at the visual archives of Centre for Studies in Social Sciences, Calcutta (CSSSC) for four years. She was a part of the curatorial team for the exhibitions Accessing the Archive (2016) and City in the Archive (2017). She was also a Research Assistant for Objects, Media Practices, Aesthetics and Politics: Material Histories and Cultural Imaginaries, India 1940-1960, a project of the Max Weber Stiftung.
Ritwika has a MPhil in Social Sciences from CSSSC, and MA & BA in History from Jadavpur University, Kolkata.
Moumita Ghosh, Curator (Collection), Bihar Museum, Patna, Bihar
Moumita Ghosh is Curator at Bihar Museum, under Art, Culture and Youth Department, Bihar Government. She has over a decade of experience in Collection Management, Curation and other museum related works. Before joining the Bihar Museum, she worked at the Indian Museum, Allahabad Museum and Lord Cultural Resources in different curatorial capacities. She was awarded the Small Study and Research Grant (India) 2013 for ‘Ivory Carving Tradition from Murshidabad’ from the Nehru Trust for the Indian Collections at the Victoria and Albert Museum.
Moumita has a MA in Museology and BA (Hons.) in History from the University of Calcutta.
Avijna Bhattacharya, Associate Curator, Kiran Nadar Museum of Art, New Delhi
| Avijna Bhattacharya is Associate Curator at the Kiran Nadar Museum of Art (KNMA), New Delhi. For over a decade, she has been involved in various curatorial and writing projects on modern and contemporary art. She was part of the curatorial team for the online exhibition City Tales: Crisis. Care. Catharsis for KNMA (2020). Her recent publications include Outbound and Seeking the Untranslatable (2020) and Soliloquy of an Irrational Deportee (2017) published in Hakara Journal. Avijna has a MA in Art Criticism from the Faculty of Fine Arts, MSU, Baroda and BFA in Art History from Kala Bhavana, Visva-Bharati University, Santiniketan. |
Dr. Baishali Ghosh, Curator Museum, Academy of Fine Arts, Kolkata, West Bengal
| Baishali Ghosh is Curator of the Museum at the Academy of Fine Arts, Kolkata. She has over six years of experience in curating and has worked in the museum field for over a decade. She has authored several articles in national and international journals and is the author of two books. Under her supervision, the painting restoration project, funded by the Central Government, was executed by NRLC, Lucknow. Baishali has a PhD in Museology from Calcutta University with a specialization in museum management and was awarded Gold Medal for first rank in MS Museology. She also has a Diploma in Fine Arts. |
Moumita Dhar, Assistant Curator, Section Head (Pre-Historic Archaeology), National Museum, New Delhi
| Moumita Dhar is Assistant Curator, Section head of Pre-Historic Archaeology section and collection in-charge of the Indus Valley Civilization and Pre-Historic Stone tools at the National Museum, New Delhi, since 2016. At the National Museum she has had curatorial responsibilities and also arranges educational and outreach program. In 2019, she participated in a training program on ‘Sharing stories on Contested Histories’ in Amsterdam, organized by the Cultural Heritage agency of Netherlands. Moumita has a PG Diploma in Museology, a MPhil in Archaeology from Jiwaji University, Gwalior and BE from The University of Kalyani, West Bengal.
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Ruta Waghmare Baptista, Assistant Curator–Education & Collections, Dr. Bhau Daji Lad Museum, Mumbai, Maharashtra
Ruta Waghmare Baptista is Assistant Curator heading the Dr. Bhau Daji Lad Museum’s education activities, collections research, and management. She is in charge of the Docent program at the Museum. Ruta joined the Museum in 2013 and has assisted with the Museum’s historic and contemporary art exhibitions. She manages and strategizes content for audience engagement on the museum’s social media platforms.
Ruta has a MA in Ancient Indian History and Archaeology from Deccan College, Pune, a MA in World Heritage and Cultural Projects for Development from the University of Turin, ITC-ILO, Italy, and a BA in History from the University of Mumbai.
Dr. Madhuvanti Ghose, Alsdorf Associate Curator of Indian, Southeast Asian, and Himalayan Art, The Art Institute of Chicago
Madhuvanti Ghose is the Alsdorf Associate Curator of Indian, Southeast Asian, and Himalayan Art at the Art Institute of Chicago where she is responsible for the exhibition, collection, preservation and research of the museum’s permanent collections in these areas. She has curated and organized a series of exhibitions including the site-specific Public Notice 3 by Jitish Kallat (2010–11); The Last Harvest: The Art of Rabindranath Tagore (2012); Zarina: Paper Like Skin (2013); Nilima Sheikh: Each Night Put Kashmir in Your Dreams (2014); Gates of the Lord: The Tradition of Krishna Paintings (2015–2016); Vanishing Beauty: Asian Jewelry and Ritual Objects from the Barbara and David Kipper Collection (2016); India Modern: The Paintings of M.F. Husain (2017–18) and Ornamental Traditions: Jewelry from Bukhara (2018–2019). Her latest exhibit is Adornment: Jewelry of South Asia’s Nomadic Cultures (2019–20).
Between 2012–16 Ghose led the Vivekananda Memorial Program for Museum Excellence with the Government of India that was designed to foster professional exchanges between the Art Institute and various museums in India. It resulted in the introduction of the JATAN program across ten museums of India and the creation of the Museums of India web portal. Ghose serves on the executive committee of the board of trustees of the American Association of Art Museum Curators and is Vice President of its Governance and Nominating Committee. She is currently the recipient of the Center for Curatorial Leadership (CCL) fellowship (Class of 2020).
Ghose has a Ph.D. from London University and was previously Lecturer in South Asian Art and Archaeology at the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS), London.
Purnima Mehta, Director General, American Institute of Indian Studies (AIIS)
Purnima Mehta, who has served as AIIS Director-General for the past fifteen years, oversees all AIIS operations in India, including: the management of its intensive language programs, located at multiple sites in India; the two AIIS research centers–the Center for Art and Archaeology and the Archives and Research Center for Ethnomusicology; support of AIIS research and performing and creative arts fellows; and overall responsibility for the relationship of the Institute with the Government of India, the educational network in India and the U.S. Embassy. Under the direction of Mrs. Mehta, the AIIS language programs have expanded exponentially in the previous decade, providing instruction in up to sixteen Indian languages to nearly 300 students each year. She has been pivotal in the AIIS effort to provide enhanced services to U.S. study abroad programs in India and to expand opportunities for a diverse range of students in the U.S. to engage in service learning projects with Indian NGOs.
Mrs. Mehta has been distinguished by inclusion in The Economist’s list of Top 50 Diversity Figures in Public Life in 2015.
Anjali Bharthari, Independent Heritage Interpreter & Consultant, Dehradun, Uttarakhand
Anjali Bharthari is an independent Heritage Interpreter & Consultant. Over the last 25 years, she has worked on conservation of nature and culture by creating dialogues between communities in environment conservation and cultural heritage. She brings the two together by curating exhibitions for museums, running outreach and training programs and writing books. Her research work, documentation projects and publications cover topics such as Jim Corbett, Forest Rest Houses of Uttarakhand and national parks. She specializes in interpretation and has worked on various natural and cultural heritage projects including the World Heritage site of Nalanda, Bihar.
Anjali has a MA Political Science from Jamia Millia Islamia University and MSc Environment & Ecology from Institute of Environment & Ecology, New Delhi.
Dr. Susan S. Bean, Chair AIIS, Center for Art and Archaeology, former Senior Curator, South Asian Art, Peabody Essex Museum
Susan S. Bean, Ph.D. is an independent scholar and curator specializing in the visual arts of modern South Asia. She is currently chair of the Art & Archaeology Center of the American Institute of Indian Studies in Gurugram, India, and an Associate of the Peabody Museum at Harvard University. She was senior curator for South Asian and Korean art at the Peabody Essex Museum until her retirement in 2012. Previously she was associate professor of anthropology at Yale University, and held visiting positions at Columbia University, Brown University and Wellesley College. At the Peabody Essex Museum she acquired the Herwitz Collection of Modern & Contemporary Indian Art and reconceived the South Asian collection as the first in the U.S. to focus on art from colonial times to the present. Dr. Bean has a Ph.D. from Columbia University. More at www.susanbean.com
Dr. Sumathi Ramaswamy, James B Duke Professor of History, and International Comparative Studies Chair, Department of History, Duke University, Durham, U.S.A.
Sumathi Ramaswamy is James B Duke Professor of History at Duke University and Co-Director of Duke’s India Initiative. She has published extensively on language politics, gender studies, spatial studies and the history of cartography, visual studies and the modern history of art, and more recently, digital humanities and the history of philanthropy. Her most recent monograph is titled Terrestrial Lessons: The Conquest of the World as Globe (University of Chicago, Press, 2017). She is the winner of numerous scholarly awards including from the John Simon Guggenheim Foundation and the American Council of Learned Societies, and the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation in Germany. She is currently working on a book on the shifting contours of educational philanthropy in colonial and modern India, and on a collaborative digital humanities project titled “No Parallel? The Fatherly Bodies of Gandhi and Mao.”
Dr. Debra Diamond, Curator of South and Southeast Asian Art, Arthur M. Sackler Gallery and Freer Gallery of Art, Smithsonian’s National Museum of Asian Art
A specialist in Indian court painting and the visual culture of yoga, Debra Diamond received her PhD in South Asian Art History from Columbia University in 2000. At the Smithsonian, her exhibitions have included Encountering the Buddha: Art and Practice Across Asia (ongoing); Yoga: The Art of Transformation (2013), which received two First Place Awards of Excellence from the Association of Art Museum curators, Garden and Cosmos: The Royal Paintings of Jodhpur; the exhibition catalog for which won the 2010 Alfred H. Barr, Jr. award for best museum scholarship.
Dr. Vidya Dehejia, Barbara Stoler Miller Professor of Indian Art, Columbia University, New York
Vidya Dehejia is Barbara Stoler Miller Professor of Indian Art at Columbia University in New York, and author of a range of books on the history of Indian art that connect the literary and visual arts in meaningful ways. Her recent publications include The Unfinished. Indian Stone Carvers at Work (2016), The Body Adorned (2012), The Sensuous & the Sacred: Chola Bronzes from South India (2002), Discourse in Early Buddhist Art (1997). Between 1994-2002, she served as Chief Curator & Deputy Director of the Freer & Sackler Galleries of the Smithsonian in Washington DC, and as Acting Director in 2001-2002. In 2016, she presented the 65th annual A.W. Mellon lectures in the Fine Arts at the National Gallery in Washington DC, a series in which the art of India was featured for the very first time in its 65-year history. The set of six lectures was titled “Thief Who Stole my Heart: The Material Life of Sacred Bronzes from Chola India, 855-1280,” and is currently under publication with Princeton University Press. In 2012, the President of India awarded her a Padma Bhushan for “Outstanding Contribution to Art & Education.”
David Kennedy, Minister Counselor for Public Affairs, The Embassy of the United States of America in New Delhi
David Kennedy, career member of the Senior Foreign Service, has served in a wide range of public diplomacy positions. He joined USIA as an exhibit guide for the “Information USA” exhibit that toured the USSR from 1987-89, then joined USIA as a career foreign service officer in 1990. He served in Islamabad and Moscow before taking a leave of absence to remain working in Moscow before rejoining the Foreign Service in 2002. He has since served in India as Information Officer, Geneva with the U.S. Delegation to the Conference on Disarmament, as the Regional Director for Public Diplomacy in Baghdad, the Public Affairs Officer for all four Ambassadors at the U.S. Mission to the UN in Geneva, the Public Affairs Officer at the U.S. Consulate in Mazar-e Sharif, and most recently as Public Affairs Officer in Addis Ababa. David has an AB from Harvard College in Russian History and Language, an MA in Russian and East European Studies from The George Washington University, and an Executive MBA from the Isenberg School of Management at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst. He is married to Kristen Easter who is currently working with USAID in New Delhi. They have three sons. Two have graduated from college and one is a sophomore at Tufts University.
Raghvendra Singh, Secretary and CEO, Development of Museums and Cultural Spaces, Government of India
Raghvendra Singh is currently Secretary and Chief Executive Officer, Development of Museums and Cultural Spaces, Government of India. He is also the Director of Nehru Memorial Museum and Library (New Delhi). He has, in the past, been the Director General of the National Archives of India, New Delhi and of the National Library, Kolkata.
Raghvendra Singh served in the sector of Tourism and Culture for over a decade providing fillip specifically to conservation and museology. Over twenty iconic buildings were restored directly under his supervision. National Gallery of Modern Art, British Barracks at Red Fort and the Old Currency Building (Kolkata) are just a few cases in point. He curated over 25 permanent exhibitions, museums and galleries, of which some examples are that of Maan Mahal (Varanasi), Metcalfe Hall (Kolkata), National Museum of Indian Cinema (Mumbai) and the Victoria Memorial Hall (Kolkata).
His passion to refurbish old structures and thereafter create museums and permanent exhibitions in them has encouraged the movement of Museology, as yet nascent in India. He plans to extend this initiative to cities like Gwalior, Bhopal, Lucknow, Jammu, Bengaluru, Hyderabad and many such others.
His book “India’s Lost Frontier”, on the North West Frontier Province was released in August 2019. Three more book projects are on the anvil: on Gilgit-Baltistan (Jammu & Kashmir); on Baluchistan Kalat and on Syama Prasad Mukherjee.
Dr. Keka Banerjee Adhikari, Curator, Museum, The Asiatic Society, Kolkata, West Bengal
Keka Banerjee Adhikari is Curator of the Museum at the Asiatic Society, Kolkata, under the Ministry of Culture, Government of India. She has worked in different State and Central Government museums, has presented papers at various national and international seminars and conferences and published articles in leading journals on subjects of archaeology, art history and museum curation.
Keka has a Ph.D. in Archaeology from the University of Calcutta on Sculptural Art of Chhattisgarh: Historical, Cultural & Stylistic Analysis and was awarded the University Gold Medal for first rank with First Class in MSc Archaeology.
Dr. Vishi Upadhyay, Curatorial Associate, Collection Unit (Art, Culture and Youth Department), Bihar Museum, Patna, Bihar
Vishi Upadhyay is Curatorial Associate at the Bihar Museum, Patna, Department of Art, Culture and Youth, Government of Bihar. She is engaged with collection care, exhibitions, publications and public learning programs. She has published seventeen research papers, two books and presented research papers at several national and international conferences. She is interested in landscape archaeology, museology, art and architecture and numismatics. In 2019, Vishi was selected by the British Museum, London for international training programmes and was also selected by ICOM and Palace museum for International training course in Yixing, China.
Vishi has a MA and a Ph.D. in Ancient Indian History, Culture and Archaeology from RTM Nagpur University.
Dr. Aprajita Sharma, Archaeologist, Archaeological Survey of India (ASI), New Delhi
Aprajita Sharma works at the Museum Division of the Archaeological Survey of India, New Delhi. She was involved with several ASI projects and exhibitions including the Gallery of Confiscated and Retrieved Antiquities in Purana Qilain Delhi; the Museum on Mahatma Gandhi at the Aga Khan Palace in Pune; Hoard of Chinese Porcelain – A Rare Discovery from Firoz Shah Kotla; Kesavinyasa – Hairstyles in Ancient Indian Art and Treasures of Ancient China. She is interested in archaeology, museums, Chinese porcelain and maritime trade.
Aprajita has a Ph.D. from Assam University, Silchar on Chinese Porcelain in India: Archaeology, Maritime Trade and Historical Significance.
Darshan Mekani Shah, Director & Founder Trustee, Weavers Studio, Kolkata & Weavers Studio Resource Center, Kolkata, West Bengal
Darshan Shah established the Weavers Studio in 1993 in Kolkata with the mission statement “use as many hands as possible”. Her journey with handcrafted textiles traces the success story organically and her textile revival efforts were presented through the book and exhibition titled Baluchars: The Woven Narrative Silks of Bengal. She is in the process of developing an international exhibition and publication on Textiles of Undivided Bengal. She is keen to upgrade her expertise in textiles and learn about good curatorial practices.
Darshan completed a Diploma at IIM, Ahmedabad and started her career with Hindustan Lever Limited followed by a job with Apple Computer Inc.
Shruti Ramlingaiah, Independent Curator and Writer, Mumbai, Maharashtra
Shruti Ramlingaiah is an independent curator and art writer based in Mumbai. In the past five years, she has worked at the Mehrangarh Museum, Jodhpur and the National Gallery of Modern Art, Mumbai. She was a co-curator for the third edition of the Students’ Biennale, an initiative of the Kochi Biennale Foundation, in 2018. She was a recipient of the Getty Foundation travel grant to Stockholm in 2018 and EYES Project fellow awarded by the Japan Foundation Asia Center, Tokyo in 2019.
Shruti has a MA Museology from The Maharaja Sayajirao University of Baroda, Gujarat and MFA Art History and Visual Studies from SN School of Communication and Arts, University of Hyderabad.
Sayali Mundye, Outreach and Programming, Piramal Museum of Art, Mumbai, Maharashtra
Sayali Mundye handles Outreach and Programming at the Piramal Museum of Art, Mumbai. She began her journey with museums with an internship at the Dr. Bhau Daji Lad Museum in 2013. Sayali is a trained artist, a museum professional and an ardent lover of all things culture. She has successfully led projects like The Public Art Programme and Spotlighters. She has a keen interest in discovering ideas, exploring new facets of art and developing those into programs. Her research areas include exploring the relationship between art and mental health, art and society, and the role of cultural institutions in building art awareness.
Sayali has a BFA from Rachana Sansad Academy of Fine Art, Mumbai and a certificate in Critical Thinking & Indian Aesthetics from KR Cama Institute, Mumbai.
Dr. Munmun Mondal, Curator, H.H. Maharaja Sir Jiwajirao Scindia Museum, Jai Vilas Palace, Gwalior, Madhya Pradesh
Munmun Mondal is Curator at the H.H. Maharaja Sir Jiwajirao Scindia Museum, Jai Vilas Palace, Gwalior. She has over ten years of experience in research, publication, and outreach activities across India. She researched on Bengal paintings at the British Museum, Victoria & Albert Museum and the Bodleian Library at Oxford as a Charles Wallace Fellow. She is interested in museums, heritage, archaeology, photography and traveling.
Munmun has a Ph.D. in Archaeology from the University of Calcutta and has done two years of Post-Doctoral research with fellowships from the Indian Council of Historical Research and the Indian Council of Social Science Research.
Manoj Kumar, Curator, Archaeological Museum, Gurukul Kangri Vishwavidyalaya, Haridwar, Uttarakhand
Manoj Kumar is Curator at the Archaeological Museum, Gurukul Kangri Vishwavidyalaya, Haridwar, which is the oldest and largest university museum in India. He was the site and antiquities in-charge of Rakhigarhi, an archaeological site in Haryana. He also directed and documented excavations at Garhi Shyampur, Rishikesh. He was one of the curators of the exhibition on Kurkihar Bronzes for the National Museum.
Manoj has a Master’s degree with specialization in Archaeology from Patna University, Bihar and was awarded PGDA from the Institute of Archaeology, ASI, New Delhi in 1999.
Vaishnavi Kambadur, Curatorial Assistant, Museum of Art and Photography, Bengaluru, Karnataka
Vaishnavi Kambadur is the Curatorial Assistant at the Museum of Art & Photography (MAP), Bengaluru and researches on textile and craft collections, as well as permanent and special exhibitions. Her most recent project includes a virtual exhibition, No Two Motifs are Alike, on Google Arts & Culture. Previously, she held internships at Christie’s New York, and teaching and research positions at The New School in New York. Her recent research interests include the connections between the materiality of cloth, class and culture and the history of Indian trade textiles.
Vaishnavi is a graduate of Parsons School of Design, New York and received a MA in Fashion Studies from The New School.
Dr. Tara Nath Dowarah, Curator, Anthropological Museum of Indigenous Peoples, Department of Anthropology, Dibrugarh University. Dibrugarh, Assam
Tara Nath Dowarah is Curator at the Anthropological Museum of Indigenous Peoples, Dibrugarh University, Assam. He has participated in several regional, national and international seminars, workshops and has authored various research papers. He is the author of the book, Ethnic Resurgence among the Tai Ahoms of Assam (2016). His research interest is in the material culture of the indigenous communities of North East India. He is a part of a research project, Bamboo Culture in North East India, under the Ministry of Culture, Government of India.
Tara Nath has a MSc and a Ph.D. in Anthropology from Dibrugarh University, Assam. He has also trained at NRLC, Lucknow.
Dr. Suruchika Chawla, Supervisor of Projects, Promotion and Execution, Department of Archaeology and Museums, Chandigarh, Haryana
Suruchika Chawla is the Supervisor of Projects at the Archaeology and Museums Department, Haryana. For over a decade, she has worked in the field as a teacher, curator and museum professional. She developed downloadable teaching aids for the National Museum website and conducts workshops for children on archaeological learning. In 2018, she participated in the International Training Program sponsored by the British Museum, and in 2019, she took part in the ITP+ Course on Museums and Education held at CSMVS Mumbai. She is a member of ICOM and Museum Association of India. She is interested in promotion, display, and exhibition planning.
Suruchika has a Ph.D. in Archaeology and Ancient History from The Maharaja Sayajirao University of Baroda, Gujarat.
Zahid Ali Ansari, Deputy Curator (Arms & Armours) and In-charge of Decorative Arts, National Museum, New Delhi
Zahid Ali Ansari is the Deputy Curator of the Arms and Armours gallery at the National Museum, New Delhi. He was previously a Museum Curator at Maulana Azad National Urdu University, Hyderabad (2007-14), and Assistant Curator in Decorative Arts (2014-18). He had curatorial responsibilities in different exhibitions at the National Museum such as The Art of Calligraphy and Beyond – Arabic and Persian Inscriptions on Decorative Arts Object. He is also a member of INC-ICOM and a life member of the Museum Association of India.
Zahid has a MA Museology and History and a Certificate of Proficiency in Arabic Language.
Samira Bose, Programmes Coordinator, Asia Art Archive in India, New Delhi
Samira Bose is the Programmes Coordinator at the Asia Art Archive in India, an independent non-profit dedicated to documenting and making accessible recent histories of art from across Asia. Previously, she was Programmer and in-house Critic at Dharti Arts Residency 2019 (Serendipity Arts Foundation), and on the core team for Kochi-Muziris Biennale 2018. She is currently thinking about the interstices and excess in archives, collections and libraries, and the forms in which these can be circulated and exhibited.
Samira completed her MA Arts & Aesthetics from Jawaharlal Nehru University and has a BA History from St. Stephen’s College, University of Delhi.
Deepak Bharathan Alathur, Assistant Curator and In-charge of Paintings Section, Bharat Kala Bhavan, Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh
Deepak Bharathan Alathur is Assistant Curator at Bharat Kala Bhavan, Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi, where he is in-charge of the Paintings section. He has over ten years of work experience in the museum field. He was previously a Research Scholar at the Alkazi Foundation for the Arts, New Delhi, and a Curator at the Sir Jiwajirao Scindia Palace Museum, Gwalior. He also interned at the British Library, United Kingdom, in 2012. He is interested in miniature paintings, museum display and participative visitor experiences.
Deepak has a MA Museology from National Museum Institute, New Delhi and MLIS from TISS, Mumbai.
Nataraja
Roobina Karode is the Director & Chief Curator at the Kiran Nadar Museum of Art, New Delhi, India. As an art educator, writer and curator, Karode has contributed to the field for over twenty five years. She has curated and co-curated exhibitions on Indian artists in USA, Japan, Paris, Madrid and Italy. Recently, she was appointed the curator for the national pavilion of India at the ongoing Venice Biennale. As the director and chief curator of the Kiran Nadar Museum of Art since its inception, her broad vision for the Museum is focused on bridging the disconnect between art and the larger public through curated exhibitions, a well-researched and documented KNMA Collection to further research, develop new perspectives and to diversify educational and public engagement. Steering a rigorous program at KNMA, Karode is focused on collaborations and partnering with other significant institutions to consolidate the global presence and relevance of contemporary Indian/South Asian art. In 2016, Karode was the recipient of the INDIA TODAY, best curator award for the year.
Roobina Karode, Director & Chief Curator, Kiran Nadar Museum of Art, New Delhi
Roobina Karode is the Director & Chief Curator at the Kiran Nadar Museum of Art, New Delhi, India. As an art educator, writer and curator, Karode has contributed to the field for over twenty five years. She has curated and co-curated exhibitions on Indian artists in USA, Japan, Paris, Madrid and Italy. Recently, she was appointed the curator for the national pavilion of India at the ongoing Venice Biennale. As the director and chief curator of the Kiran Nadar Museum of Art since its inception, her broad vision for the Museum is focused on bridging the disconnect between art and the larger public through curated exhibitions, a well-researched and documented KNMA Collection to further research, develop new perspectives and to diversify educational and public engagement. Steering a rigorous program at KNMA, Karode is focused on collaborations and partnering with other significant institutions to consolidate the global presence and relevance of contemporary Indian/South Asian art. In 2016, Karode was the recipient of the INDIA TODAY, best curator award for the year.
Jagdip Jagpal, Fair Director at India Art Fair
Jagdip Jagpal is the Director of India Art Fair, where she is responsible for the strategic and curatorial enhancement of the fair, as well as expanding activities in India and internationally. She has successfully delivered two editions of the fair which is internationally acknowledged as the leading arts event in the region. Prior to moving to India she worked for major UK not-for-profits institutions on South Asia and Africa art projects. A former trustee of the Wallace Collection in London, her museum experience also includes managing international partnerships and programmes at Tate. She is currently a governor of the London School of Economics and lives in New Delhi.
Venu Vasudevan, Principal Secretary, Departments of Archaeology, Museums and Archives, Government of Kerala
In his current position, Dr. Vasudevan is in charge of Kerala’s Museums, Archaeology and Archives. He has played a key role in their improvement and up-gradation and was instrumental in setting up and curating a new museum, ‘Keralam’. Under his leadership, Kerala transformed its market positioning and built up a strong private-public partnership. He also contributed to formulation of the ‘Incredible India’ campaign. As Director General of the National Museum (2013 – 2015), he spearheaded the revival of the museum. He was invited to be a participant in the Global Museum Leaders Colloquium of the Met. He has won international awards instituted by Pacific Asia Travel Association (PATA) for his projects, Utsavam and A Day with the Masters.
Community Museums – Creating new partnerships, Encouraging micro-narratives
The old idea of museums as embodiments of power to ‘show and tell’ about the past that fails to enthuse and attract people is undergoing a paradigm shift. The accent now is on what would make museums interactive, tactile and interesting for the people rather than the forbidding showpieces isolated from people by glass and signboards telling ‘do not touch’, ‘do not cross’, ‘keep silence’… The thinking now is how local communities can be represented and made to participate and interact with museums and turn them into community centres. The endeavour in Kerala is to create museums as centres that present intimate stories of social history of a local area or a local ethnic group (micro-narratives) rather than the present forbidding meta-narratives that attract only scholars. The paper focuses on emerging community museums in Kerala in which the community takes full ownership and pride.
Mallika Ahluwalia
Mallika Ahluwalia is the CEO, Curator, and co-founder of the world’s first Partition Museum, which opened at Town Hall, Amritsar in August 2017. She was recently awarded an Excellence Award by Conde Nast Traveller and an ASEAN-India Youth Achiever Award for her work in honouring this history. She is also the author of the book “Divided by Partition, United by Resilience: 21 Inspirational Stories from 1947”, published in 2018 by Rupa Publications. Prior to this, Mallika worked in the field of health and education with some of the leading international development organizations, focusing on social policy that impacted the most marginalized households in India. She holds an MBA from Harvard Business School, an MPA/ID from Harvard Kennedy School and an A.B. cum laude from Princeton University in public policy. She lives in New Delhi.
Creating a People’s Museum
While all new Museums face challenges from fundraising to outreach to setting up systems, the Partition Museum had the additional challenge of needing to build a collection. Most Museums in the world start when the government or a philanthropist/collector who have already spent decades building up a collection decide to open this collection to the public through establishing a museum; however, that was not how the Partition Museum started. It started with a vision and dream to have a Museum remembering the millions affected by the Partition, and from the start, a founding value was that it would be a People’s Museum. It then had to translate that vision to reality by building its collection from scratch through outreach to people. In this paper, I talk about our experience in building a collection for an event that is ~70 years in the past.
Turner, Conrad, Head – The Cultural Affairs Section at U.S. Embassy New Delhi
Conrad Turner heads the Cultural Affairs Section at U.S. Embassy New Delhi. His most recent assignment was to Los Angeles as Senior Visiting Fellow and U.S. Public Diplomat-in-Residence for USC Annenberg’s Master of Public Diplomacy program. Prior to that he headed the public affairs sections at the U.S. embassies in Ukraine and Iraq. As Deputy Director, Public Diplomacy in the State Department’s Bureau of Western Hemisphere Affairs, he controlled resources for PD programs in the Americas. Other Foreign Service assignments have taken him to Serbia, Croatia, Kyrgyzstan, Pakistan, Austria, Russia and Belarus.
Conrad’s entrée to PD was as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Sierra Leone, where he worked with village rice farmers. Later, as Exhibit Guide with the U.S. Information Agency in the early days of glasnost, he debated current events and American society with hundreds of thousands of Soviet citizens.
Conrad is a Career Member of the Senior Foreign Service with the rank of Minister Counselor. He has attained fluency in Russian, Serbian/Croatian, French and Sierra Leone Krio. He is the recipient of five individual Superior and Meritorious Honor Awards, a Meritorious Step Increase and the ICASS Outstanding Leadership Award for interagency management.
Conrad earned a master’s degree in Russian from Bryn Mawr College and is an alumnus of Haverford College.
Kenneth I. Juster, United States Ambassador to the Republic of India
Kenneth I. Juster was unanimously confirmed by the U.S. Senate on November 2, 2017 and appointed by the President on November 3, 2017 to be the 25th United States Ambassador to the Republic of India. He presented his credentials to the President of India on November 23, 2017. Mr. Juster has almost 40 years of experience as a senior business executive, senior law partner, and senior government official.
Mr. Juster previously served from January to June 2017 as the Deputy Assistant to the President for International Economic Affairs and Deputy Director of the National Economic Council. He was a senior member of both the National Security Council staff and the National Economic Council staff. In this role, Mr. Juster coordinated the Administration’s international economic policy and integrated it with national security and foreign policy. He also served as the lead U.S. negotiator (“Sherpa”) in the run-up to the G7 Summit in Taormina, Italy.
Prior to that, Mr. Juster was a Partner and Managing Director, from 2010-2017, at the global investment firm Warburg Pincus, where he focused on a broad range of issues, including geopolitical risk, global public policy, and regulatory matters relating to the Firm’s investment activities and portfolio companies. From 2005-2010, Mr. Juster was Executive Vice President of Law, Policy, and Corporate Strategy at salesforce.com, a software company that pioneered cloud computing for business enterprises
Mr. Juster served as U.S. Under Secretary of Commerce from 2001-2005, in charge of the Bureau of Industry and Security. In that capacity, he oversaw issues at the intersection of business and national security, including strategic trade controls, imports and foreign investments that affect U.S. security, enforcement of anti-boycott laws, and industry compliance with international arms control agreements. Mr. Juster co-founded and served as the U.S. Chair of the U.S.-India High Technology Cooperation Group, and was one of the key architects of the Next Steps in Strategic Partnership initiative between the United States and India. That initiative helped provide the foundation for the historic civil nuclear agreement between the two countries. Upon completion of his term at the Commerce Department, Mr. Juster received the William C. Redfield Award, the Department’s highest honor.
From 1992-1993, Mr. Juster served as the Counselor (Acting) of the U.S. Department of State, and from 1989-1992 as the Deputy and Senior Adviser to Deputy Secretary of State Lawrence S. Eagleburger. Mr. Juster was one of the key officials involved in establishing and managing U.S. assistance programs to Central and Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union, including setting up the initial Enterprise Funds for the region. He also was part of the five-man team, led by Deputy Secretary Eagleburger, that traveled to Israel prior to and during the first Gulf War to coordinate with the Israelis regarding their posture during the war. Upon completion of his term at the State Department, Mr. Juster received the Distinguished Service Award, the Department’s highest honor.
From 1981-1989 and 1993-2001, Mr. Juster practiced law at the firm Arnold & Porter, where he became a senior partner and his work involved international arbitration and litigation, corporate counseling, regulatory matters, and international trade and transactions. Among his noteworthy cases was the representation of the Government of Panama-in-exile against the Noriega regime. The President of Panama subsequently awarded him the Vasco Núñez de Balboa en el Grado de Gran Cruz Decoration and Medal.
Mr. Juster also has served as a Visiting Fellow at Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government in 2010, a Member of the President’s Advisory Committee for Trade Policy and Negotiations from 2007- 2010, a Visiting Fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations in 1993, a law clerk in 1980-1981 to Judge James L. Oakes of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, and at the National Security Council in 1978. In addition, he has served as the Chairman of the Advisory Committee of Harvard’s Weatherhead Center for International Affairs, the Chairman of Freedom House, and the Vice Chairman of the Asia Foundation. He is currently a member of the Council on Foreign Relations and the American Academy of Diplomacy.
Mr. Juster holds a law degree from the Harvard Law School, a Master’s degree in Public Policy from the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard, and a Bachelor of Arts degree in Government (Phi Beta Kappa) from Harvard College.
Arun Goel, Secretary, Ministry of Culture, Government of India
Arun Goel is currently the Secretary in the Ministry of Culture, Government of India. He holds a Master’s degree in Development Economics from University of Cambridge, England. At Cambridge, he was awarded Chancellor’s Medal of Excellence for being First Class First & Record-Breaker in the University examinations and won four Gold Medals and three ‘Rolls of Honour’. He has also undergone training at JFK School of Government, Harvard University and University of California, Berkeley. He has previously held posts of Vice Chairman, Delhi Development Authority; Joint Secretary to Govt. of India, Deptt. of Revenue, Ministry of Finance; Principal Secretary to Punjab Govt., Department of Irrigation & Power; Secretary to Punjab Govt., Deptt. of Housing and Urban Development; Managing Director, Punjab State Industries & Export Corporation and Deputy Commissioner, Ludhiana.
Nirupama Kotru, Joint Secretary, Ministry of Culture, Government of India
Nirupama Kotru is an officer of the Indian Revenue Service (Income Tax) of the 1992 batch, and has worked in the Income Tax Department at Delhi, Mumbai ,Chennai and Pune. She was on deputation to Central Government from Oct.2009 to Jan.,2012 in Ministry of Corporate Affairs, where she was responsible for various e-governance initiatives of the Corporate Affairs Ministry . From Feb.2012 to Jan.2015, she was posted as Director(Films) in the Ministry of Information & Broadcasting, Government of India, where she looked after the administration of media units of the Ministry of Information & Broadcasting in the field of films, including the NFDC, Films Division of India, National Film Archive of India and the Directorate of Film Festivals and all policy matters relating to films. She is currently posted as Joint Secretary in the Ministry of Culture, Govt of India, where she looks after iconic museums such as National Museum, Delhi, Victoria Memorial Hall and Museum, Kolkata, Salar Jung Museum, Hyderabad and National Gallery of Modern Art at Delhi, Mumbai and Bangalore, as well as prestigious akademies such as Sahitya Akademi, National School of Drama,Indira Gandhi National Centre for the Arts, Sangeet Natak Akademi and Lalit Kala Akademi.
Ashok Mishra
Ashok Mishra has been a part of the “Adivasi Lok Kala Evam Boli Vikas Academy’, an establishment of Culture Department of Madhya Pradesh since 1987. He was closely associated with the founding Tribal Museum and Triveni Museum for Arts. He is also associated with the establishment of ‘Sarwang’ Gallery in Sandipani Ashram in Ujjain. He has independently and collaboratively worked on editing numerous texts documenting the traditions of communities in MP. He is an editor for ‘Choumasa’, a quarterly magazine based on integrated folk and tribal heritage. He is currently working towards establishing Resource Centers and Museums for the protection of tribal cultural heritage of Baiga, Bhil, Sahariya and Bhariya tribes of MP.
Madhya Pradesh Tribal Museum
Museum For Living Aspects of Tribal Life, Indigenous Knowledge System and Aesthetics of Tribals Living in Madhya Pradesh is an ode to tribal art and culture. The museum’s thoughtfully themed galleries represent the tribal lifestyle. The first of the six galleries showcases the house building techniques and everyday objects. The second gallery showcases aesthetics of tribal life and myths and legends. The third gallery is of tribal spiritual world. The fourth gallery is dedicated to Chhattisgarh’s art and culture. The fifth gallery is based on different traditional games and the sixth gallery is based on cultural diversity of tribal lives. This presentation will focus on creation of Madhya Pradesh Tribal Museum by Ashok Mishra and his colleague Harchandan Singh Bhatti, Artist.
Harchandan Singh Bhatty
Harchandan Singh Bhatty is a talented artist who has a deep understanding of contemporary folk and tribal art-forms and designed the Tribal Art Museum in Bhopal. He was also closely associated with J. Swaminathan during the formation of Roopankar art museum. He has done designs for many plays, festivals and exhibitions and his experiments have brought him into the category of finest designers of our times. He also designed museum, art-galleries and murals during ‘Simhasth’, Ujjain in 2016. He has been a recipient of many prestigious fellowships and awards including the International Shanker award, Camelin National award and National Kalidas Art exhibition award. In 1992, he was invited to exhibit his work in ‘An Encounter with Others’ in Germany.
Madhya Pradesh Tribal Museum
Museum For Living Aspects of Tribal Life, Indigenous Knowledge System and Aesthetics of Tribals Living in Madhya Pradesh is an ode to tribal art and culture. The museum’s thoughtfully themed galleries represent the tribal lifestyle. The first of the six galleries showcases the house building techniques and everyday objects. The second gallery showcases aesthetics of tribal life and myths and legends. The third gallery is of tribal spiritual world. The fourth gallery is dedicated to Chhattisgarh’s art and culture. The fifth gallery is based on different traditional games and the sixth gallery is based on cultural diversity of tribal lives. This presentation will focus on creation of Madhya Pradesh Tribal Museum by Bhatty and his colleague Ashok Mishra, Curator of the Museum.
Madhuvanti Ghose
Madhuvanti is the first Alsdorf associate curator of Indian, Southeast Asian, Himalayan and Islamic art at the Art Institute of Chicago. She is responsible for the exhibition, collection, preservation and research of the museum’s permanent collection in these areas. She has been a lecturer in South Asian art and Archeology at the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London. she led the Vivekananda Memorial Program for Museum Excellence with the Government of India that was designed to foster professional exchanges between the Art Institute and various museums in India. It resulted in the introduction of the JATAN program across ten museums of India and the creation of the Museums of India web portal. Ghose serves on the executive committee of the board of trustees of the American Association of Art Museum Curators and is Vice President of its Governance and Nominating Committee.
Title – Unleashing India’s Soft Power – Developing More International Loan Exhibitions
Indian museums have yet to unleash the full potential of their permanent collections and to see the many benefits that lie in developing international collaborations with museums across the world through the development of more international loan exhibitions. While it has been encouraging to observe the recent international collaborations by the CSMVS and KNMA, most Indian museums are still organizing exhibits following the dictates of cultural exchange treaties under the auspices of the Ministry of Culture. This paper will examine the role played by government agencies in managing international loan exhibitions and suggest ways in which these processes can be further streamlined as well as consider the many reasons why such collaborations could be mutually beneficial to the institutions themselves.
Professor Amareswar Galla, International Technical Adviser and Chief Curator for Amaravathi Heritage Town
Amar is an advisor to the Andhra Pradesh government on various projects such as HRIDAY, PRASAD, Smart Cities. He is also a Visiting Professor at the School of Planning and Architecture, Vijayawada, advising on the establishment of the first ever Department for Heritage Conservation at SPAV, Ministry of Human Resource Development, India. He is founding Executive Director of the International Institute for the Inclusive Museum, USA/India/Denmark/Australia. He is a champion of cultural democracy, cultural rights, gender mainstreaming, inclusive and deep ecology demonstration projects, arts policy development, Intangible Heritage, World Heritage, indigenous peoples, intercultural dialogue, and now the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs 2015-2030).
Co-curating Amaravathi Heritage Town
How does one curate the essence of a historical cultural landscape? What are the methods to bring in the unheard voices of the primary stakeholders? Are there ways of engaging dialogical methods in making exhibits? To what extent could the participation of women (UN SDG 5) be embedded? Could we rethink the museum as a cultural hub in responsible heritage tourism? These are some of the questions that confronted us in the gradual transformation of the Amaravathi Heritage Centre and Museum. We inherited it in 2016 as a much-neglected building. In 2019, it is the coordinating centre for the 300 acres of the Amaravathi Heritage Town, a historically significant cultural landscape. This presentation will focus on one of the opening exhibits in the revamped building entitled Maa Vuuru Maa Kodallu, ‘our village and our daughters-in-law’.
S.Girikumar, Art Conservator in Private Practice, Pune
As a Conservator in Private Practice, for nearly 30 years, Girikumar has worked with several cultural institutes in areas related to documentation, condition assessment, conservation & restoration, exhibition and storage of art collections of various nature and material compositions. He has worked with prominent institutes such as IGNCA, H.E.H Nizam’s Museum, the Alkazi Foundation for the Arts, Tata Consultancy Services, Tata Central Archives, The City Palace Museum and INTACH. He regularly lectures on theoretical and practical aspects of conservation of a variety of materials to students at institutions across the country. He has published prolifically on conservation related topics.
Jugaad in the Museums: Some Sustainable Ideas for Preventive Care of the Collections
The international conservation community recommends stringent standards regarding climatic conditions and quality of material in storage and display for preventive conservation in the museums. These standards are impossible to be met in countries like India where the climatic conditions are varied and extreme and resources such as uninterrupted power supply are limited. As a result, collections often perish. This presentation will discuss sustainable, innovative and cost effective approaches and case studies that show application of these successful methodologies.
Vinod Daniel, Chairman & CEO, AusHeritage & India Vision Institute
Vinod is an internationally renowned museum specialist with over 20 years in collection-related roles with the Australian Museum and the J Paul Getty Trust. His work has covered a range of specialised areas, including museum planning, conservation, management, acquisition, repatriation, capacity-building and risk assessment. As Chairman of the Board for AusHeritage and CEO at IndHeritage Pty Ltd, he provides leadership to key heritage related projects. He is Board Member of the International Council of Museums and President of the Board for the Australian operations of Centre for Environment Education (CEE). He has delivered over 100 workshops on museum-related aspects and published over 80 technical papers.
Conservation in India: Present and Future
This presentation will provide an overview on where the conservation profession is at now in India and benchmark it against the profession globally. It will highlight strategies for the profession to grow and be recognised as a critical component for Indian Museums. The presentation will also highlight the importance of Preventive Conservation for minimising deterioration of the cultural wealth of India including contemporary approaches being practiced globally.
Susan S. Bean, Chair AIIS, Center for Art and Archaeology, former Senior Curator, South Asian Art, Peabody Essex Museum
Susan S. Bean, Ph.D. is an independent scholar and curator specializing in the visual arts of modern South Asia. She is currently chair of the Art & Archaeology Center of the American Institute of Indian Studies in Gurugram, India, and an Associate of the Peabody Museum at Harvard University. She was senior curator for South Asian and Korean art at the Peabody Essex Museum until her retirement in 2012. Previously she was associate professor of anthropology at Yale University, and held visiting positions at Columbia University, Brown University and Wellesley College. At the Peabody Essex Museum she acquired the Herwitz Collection of Modern & Contemporary Indian Art and reconceived the South Asian collection as the first in the U.S. to focus on art from colonial times to the present. Dr. Bean has a Ph.D. from Columbia University. More at www.susanbean.com
Manvi Seth
Manvi is Dean and HOD Museology at National Museum Institute. She is a recipient of two prestigious grants jointly with the School of Museum Studies, University of Leicester from the British Academy and UGC-UKIERI. She is also a recipient of prestigious Nehru Trust UK Visiting Fellowship. She has spearheaded many research projects, outreach programmes and in-service training programmes. She has curated many exhibitions including ‘First Frames – In the Footsteps of Early Explorers’,’Ehasas: Senses and Images’ and ‘Astitav-a search for our identity’. She was recently awarded the “Best Professor’ award by the Dewang Mehta National Education Awards. She is also the Chair, Intangible Cultural Heritage Working Group, CIDOC.
Abstract
Title – National Museum Institute – Priorities and Programmes
The talk aims to deliberate on the role and challenges of Museology discipline and teaching in India. Giving an overview of the academic and research activities of the department of Museology, National Museum Institute the talk will examine various Action Research Projects conceptualized and organized by the author. Most of these projects are devised as training models for the students and research scholars pursuing Museology degree and as prototypes & template programmes for museums in India. The talk will analyze the role of these research projects in exploring the feasibility and adaptability of various Museology theories in the Indian context for the Indian audience.
Binoy Kumar Sahay
Mr Sahay is the Nodal Officer of Digitization of National Museum Collection. He has curated exhibitions like ‘Nizam’s Jewellery, ‘Alchi’, ‘Alamkara’, ‘Supreme Court of India’, ‘Tejas’, Jewellery Exhibition (at Milan & Rome), Nalanda Trail, Exhibition from SAARC countries and Bhutan etc. He has been awarded visiting fellowships in 2003 & 2009 by the Nehru Trust for the Indian collection at the Victoria & Albert Museum. He is a prolific writer and editor of texts in areas of Indian art and archaeology. His main areas of interests are in the Material Cultures of Central Asia, Ancient Indian Numismatics and Buddhist Philosophy. He is an adjunct faculty of National Museum Institute.
Jatan Digitization Program at National Museum
JATAN Virtual Museum Builder Software was designed to enable museums to digitize collections and curate online galleries. The software is approved by the Ministry of Culture and is presently installed in ten major museums across the country including the National Museum to digitize their collection. Information at each level passes through scrutiny and editing before being approved for final online viewing. Therefore, this process of digitization has presented an opportunity for relooking at the history of antiquities, their upkeep and photography. Once further developed, the result will be an example of technological excellence and how Indian museums can promote research and sharing of the heritage with the world.
Naman P. Ahuja, Professor School of Arts & Aesthetics, Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU)
Naman P. Ahuja is a curator of Indian art, Professor at Jawaharlal Nehru University and Co-Editor of Marg Publications. His studies on ancient terracottas and other small finds have drawn attention to the foundations of Indian visual culture and led to various publications and curatorial projects that explore the aesthetics of Indian iconography, transculturalism in antiquity, as well as the historiography of the Arts and Crafts Movement. His latest book, Art and Archaeology of Ancient India: Earliest Times to the Sixth Century presents a comprehensive catalogue of the collections of the Ashmolean Museum, Oxford.
Karni Singh Jasol, Director Mehrangarh Museum Trust
Karni Singh Jasol is the Director of the Mehrangarh Museum Trust, Jodhpur. Jasol is alumni of Maharaja Sayaji Rao University, Baroda where he pursued Art History and Archaeology. He is a Fulbright and Charles Wallace Fellow. He co-curated the much acclaimed ‘Garden and Cosmos – The Royal Paintings of Jodhpur’ exhibition, which was exhibited at the Smithsonian and the British Museum. He is currently working on a Jodhpur exhibition for an American Museum and spreading a new master-plan for the Mehrangarh Museum.
Advancing Heritage Institutions through International Partnerships
The Mehrangarh Museum was based on museology practices popular 4 to 5 decades ago. The emphasis was on taxonomy of objects, quite often eliding context. But new ideas and strategies were introduced to make the Fort a more inclusive destination and for the museum to expand its scope and build international partnerships. The presentation will share Mehrangarh’s experiences in building and sustaining cultural alliances, how they widen the reach of the museum brand, increase access to collections and assist in sharing major works of national importance with international organizations and how contribution to knowledge sharing can help build strong alliances of trust, professionalism and credibility.
Anjani Kumar Singh, Nodal Officer, Bihar Museum
Anjani Kumar Singh is the nodal officer for Bihar Museum and has been associated from beginning of this project. Currently he is the Chairperson of the Advisory council of Bihar Museum. As an IAS officer, he has worked in departments like Education, Health, Finance, Art culture, Tourism etc. and has been District Magistrate in Vaishali and Dumka districts of then Bihar. He was also the Chief Secretary for the state of Bihar for 4 years.
The Bihar Museum: A Case Study
Set up in 2015 by the renowned Japanese architect, Maki, The Bihar Museum is an emblem of the cultural diversity and plurality of the land. Inclusive and immersive, the museum disseminates the richness of Bihar’s culture and tradition through space, artifacts, collections and its educational outreach program. This presentation will give a glimpse of the wonder that was and is India through a strong historical narrative encompassing the four prominent religious orders, i.e. Buddhism, Jainism, Hinduism, Islam and the vast Bihari diaspora. With its innovative approach and contemporary language of communication, The Bihar Museum is attempting to map new footprints in the role and importance of state museums, within a national and international framework.
Pramod Kumar KG, Managing Director Eka Archiving Services Pvt. Ltd.
Pramod Kumar KG is the co-founder of Eka Archiving Services, (www.ekaresources.com) India’s first museum advisory firm that provides its services to a range of institutions, collectors and collections. He has worked with a vast range of artefacts that vary greatly in their materiality besides helping with nuanced aspects of cultural and heritage management. Pramod is the founder director of the Anokhi Museum of Hand Printing at Jaipur and instituted the Jaipur Literature Festival and is currently the co-director of Mountain Echoes, the Bhutan Literature Festival. He has curated shows and lectured extensively across India and internationally. He is a published author and has made contributions to several edited volumes besides journals, magazines and other publications.
Sabyasachi Mukherjee, Director General Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Vastu Sangrahalaya (CSMVS)
Mr. Sabyasachi Mukherjee is Director General of CSMVS, Mumbai and also Director of the Postgraduate (Diploma) Program in Museology and Art Conservation at the CSMVS Institute, University of Mumbai. Under his leadership from 2007, CSMVS has undergone extensive modernisation, including refurbishment of the museum’s main building and the establishment of a conservation centre, new galleries and educational initiatives. In 2010, in recognition of his initiatives, UNESCO awarded the museum the 2010 Asia-Pacific Heritage Award for Cultural Heritage Conservation. Mr. Mukherjee has organized numerous art exhibitions and international shows and has overseen publications, conservation projects, exchange programmes and archive projects in partnership with museums worldwide. A frequent lecturer and active member of many professional committees, more particularly, the Bizot Group (a distinguished group of American and European museum directors), Mr. Mukherjee has also been a fellow of the Nehru Trust and the Salzburg Global Seminar. He holds an MA in Museology and MA in Ancient Indian History, Culture and Archaeology from Maharaja Sayajirao University, Baroda, India. The Bombay Management Association has conferred ‘Special Jury Mention Award 2016–17’ on Mr. Mukherjee in recognition of his outstanding contribution towards the preservation of Indian culture and enhancing the glory of Mumbai’s prestigious museum.
Mr. Mukherjee was conferred the Degree of Doctor Honoris Causa by the University of Edinburgh in 2018 in recognition of his transformation of the CSMVS museum to a vibrant, engaged, cultural catalyst in Mumbai.
Tasneem Zakaria Mehta, Managing Trustee And Honorary Director, Bhau Daji Lad Museum, Mumbai, Former Vice Chairman And Mumbai Convenor, Indian National Trust For Art And Cultural Heritage.
Tasneem can be credited for the revival of several cultural sites in Mumbai. She spearheaded the restoration of the Bhau Daji Lad Museum that won UNESCO’s Asia Pacific ‘Award of Excellence’, 2005. She is a member of International Council of the Museum of Modern Art, New York and has served on several Indian museum boards and government committees for art and culture. She was the CII Chair for Culture in 2011 and presented an exhibition of Indian Art at Davos (2011). Harvard University included her in a list of 25 women who have made an outstanding public contribution in India.
Formulating Modes of Perception and Participation:- Museum Audiences and Beyond
Indian audiences have viewed the institution of the ‘museum’ through an inherited colonial lens, as something alien – the ajaib ghar – where strange relics and objects that have no particular relevance to their lives are displayed. How does one overcome this prejudice and this reluctance to engage? What are the strategies museums must employ to bring in these audiences and create a constellation of constituencies. How do these strategies impact the definition of the museum and change its locus in the socio-political context?
My lecture will examine the various efforts of the Dr Bhau Daji Lad Museum to change audience perceptions of a ‘museum’ and to break out of traditional modes of exhibition practice and enable new meanings and interpretations. The BDL Museum’s education and outreach programmes have also evolved unconventional forms of engagement to challenge audiences from a huge cross section of society, including young children to their grand parents, children and adults from disadvantaged and disabled backgrounds to students, young professionals and the affluent. There is something for everyone but at the core of our philosophy is the intention to provoke, to inspire, to connect and to create enduring memories.
The Museum’s Diploma in Modern and Contemporary Art History is in its 8th year with a batch of 24 students. The course has enabled new readings of existing and traditional artistic practices encouraging students to explore new areas of research and contribute meaningfully to the public discourse on art practice. In all of the above the Museum has attempted to redefine its identity and realign it within a contemporary context to make it more relevant to the community today.
Dr. Vishakha Desai, Senior Advisor for Global Affairs, Columbia University, former President, Asia Society
Vishakha served as the President and CEO of the Asia Society, a global organization dedicated to strengthening partnerships between Asia and the U.S. (2004 -2012). She was at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston as a Curator for Indian and Southeast Asian art and as the Head of Public Programs and Academic Affairs. For her leadership in the arts, she was selected by Crain’s New York as one of the “100 most powerful women leaders” in New York. In 2012, in recognition of her leadership in the museum field, President Barack Obama appointed her to serve on the National Museums and Library Services Board.
Leapfrogging Museums into the 21st Century: Bringing Past into the Present for the Future
Vishakha N. Desai, Senior Advisor for Global Affairs to the President, and Vice Chair of Committee on Global thought, Columbia University; President Emerita, Asia Society
Products of the colonial legacy, major museums in India have separated the country’s ancient past and its “great traditions” from its vernacular heritage and vibrant present. Now, more than seventy years after independence, it is time to redefine the very concept of a museum and redevelop its mandate for the future generations of the country. This illustrated lecture will briefly outline the problematics of museum creation in colonized and early independent India to highlight the need for reimagining this potentially important cultural institution for the 21st century. With specific examples, the lecture will raise the following questions: Not just as mausoleums of the past, can we create museums as cultural centers where the past can comingle with the present? How might we create installations of diverse art forms—classical, vernacular and contemporary—to tell the inclusive, dynamic narrative of the culture? How might we make the rich heritage of the subcontinent more relevant and dynamic for the present? How can we make museums as safe places to debate current issues that have direct relation to our heritage? The goal of the talk is to go beyond incremental changes and to truly transform the museums as lively centers for debate and reflection about what it means to have a rich past that can lead to brighter future.
Diane M. Zorich , Director, Digitization Program Office, Smithsonian Institution
As Director of the Smithsonian’s Digitization Program Office (DPO), Diane Zorich leads an expert team in digitizing Smithsonian collections to maximize their impact for the public. She oversees mass digitization, 3D digitization, and digitization assessment activities that develop and improve digitization processes across the Institution. Through partnerships and collaborations, she and her team ensure that digitized Smithsonian collections can be used with existing and emerging technologies to enable creativity, learning, insight, and innovation.
Reaching a Billion People Through a Digital Strategy: The Smithsonian Institution’s Quest
The Smithsonian Institution is the world’s largest museum, research, and educational complex. Despite its reach, the Institution is limited by its physical space. It can only display about 1% of its collections at one time. Visitation numbers exceed the capacity of the museums. Given these limitations, the only way the Institution can extend its reach further is through digital means. In 2009, the Institution created a Digitization Program Office (DPO) to increase the quantity, quality, and impact of its digitized collections. This office implements mass digitization workflows, exploring and scaling up 3D imaging, and develops metrics and policies that align digitization across the Institution’s many museums and research institutions. This presentation will discuss how the DPO’s efforts to digitize Smithsonian collections at scale are now helping create the digital building blocks that will enable greater creativity, learning, insight, and innovation worldwide.
Abhishek Poddar, Founder-Trustee, Museum of Art and Photography (MAP)
Abhishek is an enthusiastic collector and patron of the arts. His collection’s significance has been acknowledged by the auction house, Christie’s. He is the Founder-Trustee at the Museum of Art & Photography, a unit of the Art & Photography Foundation. Abhishek serves on the advisory committees of several cultural institutions including the National Gallery of Modern Art (NGMA), Bengaluru, Deccan Heritage Foundation and Foundation Inde-Europe de Nouveaux Dialogues (FIND) and is a Trustee of the Art & Photography Foundation, Bengaluru.
MAPPING challenges and opportunities for a new Indian museum
Indian museums can benefit from striking a balance between conflicting roles, for instance, confirming to international best practices and local realities; existing as a recreational space and an education centre; and safeguarding independent scholarship from patrons’ priorities. Although, some challenges such as apathy towards museums loom large in the Indian context, there remains the larger universal question of making museum operations and representation equitable while being culturally relevant. This presentation will explore these ideas by analysing the roadmap for the Museum of Art & Photography (MAP), a privately-funded yet publicly-minded museum operating within dynamic conditions.
Madhura Wairkar, Independent Museums Professional and Research Consultant
Madhura oversees the collection at the Piramal Museum of Art and its six gallery spaces across Mumbai. Before joining the department, she worked for several years at the Dr. Bhau Daji Lad Museum where she was instrumental in setting up and leading the collections department. She has been trained at the Victoria and Albert Museum, London and the National Museum of Scotland, Edinburgh. She spent a year doing extensive research on nineteenth century prints for the Godrej collection. She is a guest faculty at various institutions for art appreciation and textile conservation.
Challenging the Dynamic: Managing Art Collections in “Hybrid” Museums
The intellect and aesthetic pleasure from art drives not only institutes but also individuals to collect artifacts; however, management of independent collection poses challenges like spatial limitations and devising appropriate documentation approaches. While in a museum, collections’ management primarily focuses on maintenance and documentation; in a private set-up, although the primary goal is similar, the decisions are influenced by the preferences of the collectors/family. Today, many families are opening up their personal collections to the public. This presentation intends to bridge the gap in collections’ management in both public and private domains by exploring best practices in such “hybrid” organizations.
Sanjay Dhar, Freelance Conservator Former Head of Art Conservation INTACH
Sanjay Dhar was instrumental in establishing the INTACH Art Conservation Center in Delhi as a center for excellence with focus on developing a region-specific approach to conservation and training. He has contributed significantly to the conservation of wall paintings, establishing region specific methodology, with focus on developing human resources.
Trained in India and Italy, he has served as a consultant to UNESCO, WMF (World Monument Fund) and several private foundations in China and India. With several research papers to his credit he is currently pursuing research at the Courtauld Institute of Art, London. He has also received several international awards and grants.
A Critical Review of Resources for Management and Conservation of Material Cultural Expressions* in India
India has had a long tradition of managing cultural material despite adverse climatic conditions and the colonial enterprise that disrupted survival of these traditions. Scientific conservation arrived in India with the foundation of ASI (1861) and field archaeology but it wasn’t until 1990 that conservation was taught as a professional degree. However, a careful examination of the curriculum reveals methodological obsolescence especially for new media art that leads to ineffective sustaining of artefacts. This presentation will examine pre-requisites for successful conservation in light of poor stakeholder awareness and limited resources while acknowledging exceptions and an optimistic cultural management in India.
*UNESCO Convention on the protection and promotion of the diversity of cultural expressions/ Article IV Definitions / 3
Shobita Punja
Shobita has professionally consulted on up-gradation of various museums and historical sites. She was the Chief Consultant for INTACH’s Khajuraho conservation project and set up the Heritage Education and Communication Service for INTACH, Delhi. She was appointed as CEO of the National Culture Fund, Ministry of Culture (2011-13) and is a member of the Governing Council of the Centre for Environment Education, Ahmedabad and the Sanskriti Foundation and a Trustee of the Mehrangarh Museum Trust, Jodhpur. She has authored over 15 books and frequently lectures on Indian Art at various national and global institutes.
Making Indian Museums Matter
The presentation briefly examines the historical role of Indian museums and reasons for a tenuous relationship between museums and education in India today. Globally, an intimate link between academic institutes and museums is being established, and the understanding of the role of art in the cognitive and creative growth of an individual, is being appreciated owing to advances in Educational Theory, Pedagogy and the understanding of age-related processes of cognitive development. This presentation will discuss impediments in and solutions for transformation of museums into a space for meaningful educational experience for the Indian audience.
Deepika Sorabjee, Head- Arts & Culture, Tata Trusts
Deepika Sorabjee has been a prolific writer of contemporary art and architecture. She worked in art conservation at the CSMVS Conservation Lab (2011-2013). Until 2015, she remained the Founder Trustee at the Mumbai Art Room, a not-for-profit space in contemporary art. Currently, Deepika heads the Arts & Culture portfolio at Tata Trusts where her work focuses on community and sector impact in conservation, art education and the performing arts. She also served as the Trusts’ representative on the Board of Trustees at the Chhatrapati Shivaji Maha Vastru Sanghralaya since 2015.
Particularities, Processes, Platforms: Ways of Instituting the Arts at the Tata Trusts
In a rapidly changing context, culture needs to be embedded in new communities that are marked by compromised processes, space and time. This seemingly quasi connectivity that envelops the world has alienated the local – the very quotidian of our daily culture. Over the decades, the Trust has successfully deployed ways to address the community, the gaps and the emergent in an environment of thriving multiplicity, scarce resources and nascent infrastructure. Through the particular, either individual or art-form, and common ground, the support aims to foreground processes and platforms that establish rigour in practice and provide an outreach for conventional museums.
Jayanta Sengupta, Secretary & Curator, Victoria Memorial Hall, Kolkata
Jayanta has extensive teaching experience at prominent national and international universities. He has been a Fellow at the Universities of Cambridge, Pennsylvania, Heidelberg, Utah, Exeter, and Calcutta. In 2015-16, he was the Getty Foundation International Fellow of the American Alliance of Museums and a representative of the GOI on the UNESCO Intergovernmental Expert Committee on the Protection and Promotion of Museums and Collections. His research focuses on the interrelationship between colonialism, nationalism, and democracy and authoritarianism in modern South Asia, cultural practices in modern India, and transnational and comparative intellectual history. He has authored ‘At the Margins: Discourses of Development, Democracy and Regionalism in Orissa’ (2015).
A Park for All Seasons: the Victoria Memorial Hall in Kolkata’s Urban Democratic Public Culture
The Victoria Memorial Hall, Kolkata (VMH), is not only India’s most-visited museum but has also been rated as the most-loved museum in India by TripAdvisor. This evinces a remarkable turnaround in the public perception of a museum that since the colonial era until recently appeared as distancing and disconcerting in its fortress-like impenetrability. So, how did the VMH transform itself from an imperial repository to an open-ended cultural space for the public? This presentation will seek answers to this question by unravelling the process that leveraged an eclectic public programming and a culture of open dialogue around critical contemporary issues.
Akansha Rastogi, Senior Curator, Exhibitions and Programming, Kiran Nadar Museum of Art, New Delhi
Akansha’s focus is on exhibition histories of modern and contemporary Indian art, and she is working towards a series of essays and a book of interviews. She has been an active member of several short-lived artists-led initiatives, forums and collectives in Delhi. She is the Associate Curator of India Pavilion at the 58th Venice Biennale (2019). She has participated in a curatorial residency at ISCP, New York (2014) supported by Inlaks, Getty Foundation Travel Grant to Brazil (2013), IFA-Khoj curatorial residency (2011) and Asian Curators’ Program in Japan (2013), and was a recipient of IFA Research Grant (2014-15), and FICA Public Art Grant (2011-12; as WALA).
Exhibition Making/Hangar for the Passerby: Research Possibilities in Dead Ends and Detours
This presentation will make a case for exhibitions as active sites for re-thinking the researched and archived object, the institution, discipline, nomenclatures and the museum collection and its relationships with the parts unrepresented, missing or unfound. It takes into account exhibition as an event distributed across several components, a recurrence that happens alongside every viewing and engagement. It will present examples from a recent exhibition ‘Hangar for the Passerby’ on collectives, collectivity and collaborative practices, that drew upon an independent vocabulary and field, to address the contemporary art museum space it inhabited and re-purposed and the intersections it highlighted.
Dr. Ambika Bipin Patel, Professor & Head, Department of Museology, Faculty of Fine Arts, The Maharaja Sayajirao University of Baroda
Ambika has received many international fellowships, recognitions and travel grant awards. She has published two books and numerous journal articles; presented at conferences and has been invited as a speaker/ resource person; conducted research projects at national level and an International Scholarship pilot research project at State Musuem Berlin in 2016. Along with being an academic leader, she has also successfully managed responsibilities such as being a board member of studies, admission committee, secretary, ICOM India and secretary, Museums Association of Gujarat; member of many national and international professional bodies such as ICOM, ICOMOS, SOSSA, ISPQS, IAS, IHC, ISBS; MAI and IASC.
Museology: Discipline and Dissemination
Museology as an academic discipline was introduced in India for the first time by MSU in 1952. This discipline needs to balance theory and practical application of professional standards, collection management, public programing and research. MSU incorporates supervised internships, museum projects and volunteering opportunities in its taught program that equips students with skills on museum administration and leadership and management of the public dimensions of museums. This presentation will discuss the introduction of Museology at MSU, its growth and the present scenario. It will also look into current museology training programs in India and their possible and prospective future directions.
Bilwa Kulkarni, Education Officer at Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Vastu Sangrahalaya, Mumbai
Bilwa leads the planning and organising of educational programmes at the Museum. She leads the Museum on Wheels, a museum outreach initiative that reaches out to schools, NGOs and other institutions. She has spearheaded educational initiatives for several international exhibitions displayed at CSMVS. Her most recent successful initiative was the educational programme for the landmark exhibition ‘India and the World: A History in Nine Stories’ organised in collaboration with British Museum and National Museum. She leads CSMVS’s Children’s Museum which she also helped develop. Bilwa also teaches Museum Communication for the Post-Graduate Diploma in Museology and Conservation at the Museum.
Making Museums Work for Children
CSMVS recently launched Mumbai’s first Children’s Museum that is a ‘creative cultural lab’ for children that allows them to experiment with culture in a hands-on manner. In the process of creating enriching and practical experiences for children, the museum realises the importance of involving the larger community involved with children, including parents, educators, childhood experts and development professionals. The presentation will explore the process of the development of the Children’s Museum and examine the impact of interaction with affiliated communities and the space design on the philosophy of Children’s Museum programming as well as the challenges posed.
Jawhar Sircar, Chairperson of the Centre for Studies in Social Sciences, Calcutta
Sircar has been India’s longest serving Culture Secretary and reported directly to the Prime Minister (2008-12). He was awarded the Dr Biman Behari Memorial Lectureship (2017) by The Asiatic Society “for his outstanding contribution to history and political thought”. In 2006, eminent historian, Tapan Raichudhuri commended Sircar for his “exceptional analytical power and depth of knowledge in diverse fields” for his research work. In 2011, the British Museum conferred a medal on Sircar “for his outstanding contribution to cultural cooperation between the Republic of India and the United Kingdom”. The Indian government’s ‘14 point policy on museum reforms” was drafted by him in 2009 and is being followed since.
Abstract
The presentation will highlight the critical factors that impede superior exhibitions and public communication in the five Central museums under the Ministry of Culture. The root cause of the relative backwardness of museums in India will be traced to the separation of ‘culture’ from the Ministry of Education in the 1990s and the consequent downslide in professions in museology, libraries and archives, exacerbated by the Ministry’s inability to appreciate the problem as a whole. This presentation will also discuss ancillary issues such as the legal system not seeing beyond an anachronistic Antiquities Act that and inadequate growth of public museums.
Sudhanva Hari Ranade, Director and Member-Secretary, Board of Management & Executive Committee, Raja Dinkar Kelkar Museum, Pune
Sudhanve Ranade has been intimately associated with the Raja Dinkar Kelkar Museum since 1995. He has extensive hands-on experience in culture management and effective museum operations that spans across India and Europe. Sudhanva believes that technology and culture go hand-in-hand and he is quite keen to advance techniques in museum display designing, conservation, preservation and presentation. Sudhanva has been focusing on delivering a state-of-the-art “Museum City”, which would offer fine cultural, educational, research and recreational facilities under one roof.
Reaching Audiences: Ways and Means
Museums are not only cultural organisations but are also business entities that need to thrive. Museums, not fully reliant on governmental support, secure revenue through admission fee, philanthropic support and using appropriate techniques and technology to attract and retain audiences. Consequently, museums are now becoming digital savvy destinations. Social Media platforms allow museums to break free of the confines of their academic ivory tower image and engage with communities through interactive challenges or crowd-sourcing information that helps is maximising a diverse audience following. This presentation will discuss these issues and share tips and tricks on how to effectively reach audiences.
Suman Gopinath, Programme Officer, Archive and Museum Programme, India Foundation for the Arts, Bangalore
Suman manages the Archival & Museum Fellowships for IFA and plays a significant role in supporting research, curatorial and artistic interventions that activate museum collections and archives in India. As an independent curator, she has worked closely with museums on several prestigious projects including the Singapore Biennale – An Atlas of Mirrors (2016-17); Nasreen Mohamedi, Tate Liverpool, UK (2014); the Biennale Jogja -Equator #1Shadowlines: Indonesia meets India (2011-12). Suman also co-founded CoLab Art & Architecture, Bangalore (2005 – 2008) that worked closely with artists, architects, curators and academics to present contemporary Indian work within the context of international practice.
Old Routes, New Journeys
‘Old Routes, New Journeys’ captures the essence of the Archival and Museum Fellowship initiative of IFA that aims to make museum collections and archives come alive and become accessible to the public through research, artistic and curatorial intervention. This presentation will focus on four projects to address these questions: How does one build meaningful histories through everyday objects? How to make ‘national treasures’ accessible and critically enquire into the notion of ‘national treasures’ through personal histories? Are there ways of linking the sciences and the arts? How can ethnographic museums become relevant in times of globalization and mass migration?
Sharath Nambiar, Deputy Director, Dakshinachitra Museum, Chennai
Sharath directs the largest open air museum in India and is a significant contributor to the preservation and promotion of the rich cultural heritage. He has represented the museum in national and international forums, museum and tourism conferences in India and overseas. He has extensively studied Open Air Museums in Europe and is a guest lecturer at the University of Bonn, Pondicherry University and a Visiting Fellow at the Department of Museology, University of Calcutta. He is a member, ICOM, Museum Association of India, TTM and is on the Advisory Committee of Madras Craft Foundation.
Abstract
The DakshinaChitra Museum faced huge challenges in attracting visitors in the initial years after opening up in 1996. Visitors gradually trickled into the museum after outreach programs. Visitor surveys were analyzed and the consensus was that visitors desired engagement in an interactive center – a Living Museum was the key. The transformation of the Museum slowly began with welcoming spaces and historic buildings, exhibitions, programs and activities, festivals, craftspeople, folk performers, artists, art galleries and traditional cuisine. Today, the Museum is an important cultural landmark in India, relevant in all its programs and involved with the community being served.
Kristine Michael, Curriculum Leader Visual and Performing Arts, The British School, New Delhi
Kritine is a ceramic artist whose ceramics are in international collections. She has held over 26 solo shows and is a recipient of many prestigious awards. She was a research scholar under the Nehru Trust at the V&A Museum for study of its 19th cent Indian ceramics collection and subsequently curated the Ceramics Gallery at the renovated Albert Hall Museum. She publishes and curates regularly about Indian contemporary ceramic artists and traditional ceramics. Her recent publications include ‘Indian Ceramics- History and Practice’ and ‘The Art of Kripal Singh Shekhawat’. She has been at residencies and taught ceramics at various institutes.
Abstract
The presentation will discuss the curatorial research and intervention of the pottery galleries at the Albert Hall Museum. The latter section will pose a provocation of the ways in which understanding the past is relevant to post-modern contemporary artists either bringing light on their own practice or working with craftsmen to develop new markets. The Albert Hall pottery collection illustrates the pottery craft tradition of the sub-continent and also documents through hybrid, stylistic and functional intervention, the effects of colonialism’s economic policies and the European style art school training that forever changed the trajectory of the craft by introducing souvenir and travel aide-memoire market.
Dr. Annapurna Garimella, Managing Director, Jackfruit Research & Design and Managing Trustee, A.R.T. Trust
Annapurna is a designer and an art historian. Her research focuses on late medieval Indic architecture and the history and practices of vernacular art forms in India after Independence. She heads Jackfruit Research and Design, an organization with a specialized portfolio of design, research and curation. Her upcoming book is an edited Marg volume titled ‘The Contemporary Hindu Temple: Fragments for a History’. In 2017, she was awarded the India Today Emerging Curator of the Year Award. She is also the Founder and Managing Trustee of Art of a not-for-profit organization, Resources and Teaching Trust.
R Chandran Pillai, Executive Director, Interactive Museum of Cultural History of Kerala
Mr Pillai is a pioneer in implementing scientific display in museums and is the current Executive director of Keralam Museum – Interactive Museum of Cultural History of Kerala. He has extensive experience in archaeological excavations and surveys in Kerala and has represented heritage of Kerala in national as well as international exhibitions. Mr. Pillai has made a noteworthy contribution to creation and refurbishment of several museums. He has also written profusely and lead workshops on topics of museology and conservation of cultural heritage.
Joyoti Roy, Head of Marketing and Strategy, CSMVS, Mumbai
Joyoti Roy has been working in the field of museums and culture for fifteen years and joined CSMVS in 2018. She is interested in the social role of museums and believes that arts institutions have the key responsibility to shape and reflect people’s futures. She was heading the Outreach Department at National Museum, New Delhi until recently. Joyoti has been a Charles Wallace India Trust Awardee for the year 2008 in conservation of contemporary art at the Tate Gallery, London. She was the Clore Leadership Fellow for Culture representing India to the UK in 2017–18 and worked with the Victoria and Albert Museum, London for their upcoming museum and collection research facility in East London.
Anupam Sah, Head of Art Conservation, Research, and Training, CSMVS Museum Art Conservation Centre
Anupam is currently the head of art conservation, research and training at the CSMVS Museum Art Conservation Centre. He is a recipient of the Sanskriti Award for Social and Cultural Achievement for his outstanding work in heritage conservation and has received two commendations from the UNESCO Asia-Pacific office. The President of Italy recently conferred on him the title of Knight of the Order of the Star of Italy for excellence in the field of art conservation-restoration. His current focus is on strengthening the art conservation profession and its training and developing a series of art conservation centers in India.