The Museum of Art and Photography (MAP) is a newly constructed 44,000 square feet box-shaped structure in the central district of Bangalore, India, located across from one of the city’s largest green spaces. It is set to become India’s first major art museum dedicated to the full range of contemporary visual culture of the subcontinent, promising to redefine the country’s museum landscape in the process. The museum’s exterior features a monochrome mural by street artist Marco Santini that comprises words submitted by the community, such as meaningful, mirror, and inspiration.
MAP was founded by philanthropist and collector Abhishek Poddar, who hopes to share his transformative experience in the Indian art scene with others. The museum’s main mission is to serve as a catalyst in developing a more regular museum-going culture in India by encouraging the public to engage with art more thoughtfully in their home country. Poddar aims to make the museum as inclusive as possible by incorporating diverse voices and dismantling hierarchies between high and low art, collapsing the divisions between mediums.
The museum’s compact, column-free five floors offer visitors an opportunity to view and engage with the art in well-lit free-flowing spaces. MAP’s collection of 60,000 objects includes paintings, sculptures, and works on paper, which is on equal footing with textiles, memorabilia from the Hindi film industry, and works by Indigenous artists historically excluded from India’s own art history. The museum’s space allows it to reframe the narrative of Indian art history from an Indian perspective, which is clear in its opening displays, ranging from how women are depicted within the permanent collection to preserving the underknown photographic work of a major artist.
MAP launched its online presence in December 2020, becoming one of the first digital museums in the country. The pandemic has radically changed how visitors engage with museums, both physically and digitally, and the timing couldn’t have been better. Apart from virtual exhibitions, artist talks, and VR experiences, the online project also includes MAP Academy, an expansive online resource that makes digitally available South Asian art histories, including online courses and an art history encyclopedia.
MAP’s significant use of technology ultimately aids its mission of helping people understand why museums are still relevant today. The museum has collaborated with global IT services company Accenture for a digital intervention, using AI to create a 3-D hologram of the late artist M.F. Hussain. Visitors can speak with the pioneering artist of Indian modernism, both online and now in the museum’s physical space. Visitors can also access the digital records for all of MAP’s permanent collection, even pieces not on display, in its Sasken Multimedia Gallery.
The Museum of Art and Photography has a robust commissioning program with 20 new works spread across the museum’s grounds. It focuses on artists working with digital technologies, and its solo show of contemporary artist Tallur L.N. features a series of sculptures and a video that draw upon ancient Hindu mythology and contemporary narratives around AI. The exhibition, titled “Chirag-e-AI,” responds to 18- and 19th-century lamps in the museum’s collection. One lamp is based upon the half-man half-animal creature Purushamriga, who moves at the speed of light and is visible only to devotees of Shiva. Tallur sees AI as having “the power to both help and destroy.
