Art in a Covid-19 pandemic: Openings delayed, museums embrace technology

The first of a four-part series turns the gaze to some of India's leading art institutions to see how they are keeping the show going

The “we’re shut” signs are everywhere. You can’t make a pitstop at museums even online without being rebuffed by notices of closure. Special shows and exhibitions have run past their close-by dates without being seen by visitors and have been extended by default — because loaned works cannot be returned. Ironically, when they do open, the exhibitions will probably have to shut.

Museums haven’t been favourite haunts for most visitors in India — even tourists are rarely taken there. Their temporary closure, therefore, shouldn’t have taken a toll, yet it has. Staff have been exhausted into a state of ennui