A new age for open museums

The quite amazing retrospective on S H Raza — the first following his demise in 2016 — is worth viewing for the spectrum of art the Piramal Art Foundation has been able to acquire and collate for the purpose. The paintings are mostly spectacular, the curation well thought through, and the display by a Singapore-based design shop worthy of the assignment. It is an admirable celebration of one of India’s favourite poster boys for modern art and shows the reasons why he won accolades for his popular collectivity. The value of the works on display is staggering.

If there is a caveat, it is this: visitors don’t quite know how to react to the venue. The Piramal Art Foundation’s mandate is to create a number of museum pop-ups in public spaces, mostly commercial buildings, across Mumbai, and this is a perfect example of how to go about it. Yet, it is, for all intents and purposes, an exhibit that sits squarely (actually “roundly”) in the middle of the lobby of a commercial building. Is this appropriate space for a “museum”? The jury’s going to be out a long time on this one. 

The Piramals aren’t the only ones with a museum in a public space. Kiran Nadar’s eponymously named museum in the Delhi NCR is housed at two venues, one at her husband’s corporate premises at HCL’s office in Noida, the other in a mall in Saket. Old-fashioned art aficionados may have reservations about such locations. Museums are serious stuff, they cannot be frivolously housed in such public domains. What of the Jaya He museum then, at Mumbai’s international airport? The collection is without parallel, but does it not merely reduce it to a decorative backdrop for hastening passengers who waste a few precious seconds posing in front of the art for selfies? 

S H Raza’s Still Life (1949) Courtesy: Piramal Museum of Art

Actually, these venues serve two important criteria. They have moved art into the public domain. It has been a general lament that the Indian public does not freely visit museums, so here is a case of the museum coming to the people. Does it sensitise them to art? Without a doubt, even though there are no studies to indicate whether such visitors will head next to an NGMA or a gallery for a viewing. But at least they have taken to dawdling in front of some of the finest curated art in the country, and return to see favourites, or changes of exhibits. That should count for something.

The other is a matter of fiscal prudence. Most real estate in the country is prohibitive. A number of collectors I know have talked of setting up museums but the cost of land for such projects makes the project unviable. The act of sharing one’s art with the public at large is a selfless one. Must one be penalised for such a step by having to pay top dollar prices for a space where it ought to be housed? The culture ministry needs to take steps to understand how this can be leveraged and incentivised. 

The times they are a-changin’. Why must museums be housed in moribund structures? I am enthralled that walking into a mall, or a corporate office, one might be drawn to an irresistible Raza, an unmissable Subodh Gupta, a panoply of rich art. Such easy access creates a familiarity with artists who deserve to be recognised as household names and now have the potential to be. Art may be different from, say, fashion, or food, but it is the same people who consume both, and for them to be able to recognise and discuss the merits of an artist’s work may be the greatest service we can do them.

Kishore Singh is a Delhi-based writer and art critic. These views are personal and do not reflect those of the organisation with which he is associated