Gallery of vision: Attend this session in Mumbai to understand the relevance of museums in modern age

Alex Proimos’ Through the Holes at The Museum of Modern Arts, New York City. Pic Courtesy/Wikimedia Commons

Museums are important in chronicling a city's history and shaping its culture. Avid Learning, in collaboration with the National Gallery of Modern Art and Kala Ghoda Association, will be organising a panel discussion titled What Makes a Museum: Reimagining Spaces and
Redefining collections.

Aparna Andhare is an independent art historian, curator and writer, who is one of the speakers at the session. She speaks about the core topic of discussion, "This session promises to bring diverse viewpoints, and across practices shaping museums today. We are going to talk about making and running museums, the ways in which various narratives are collected and retold, how museums build communities. We will also discuss the future of museums, and how the mandate of museums continues to evolve from repositories of the past to institutions that look into the future."

Aanchal Malhotra, Svabhu Kohli and Aparna Andhare

Museums need to stay relevant to the current times and constantly evolve. Speaker Svabhu Kohli, a multidisciplinary artist and visual researcher, feels that museum spaces need to adapt to modernisation. They say, "It's not just important - it's imperative. For museums to remain relevant and reflective of contemporary society, they must embrace inclusivity not as a performative gesture, but as a core value embedded in their structure."

Aanchal Malhotra, oral historian and co-founder of the Museum of Material Memory echoes Kohli's thoughts. "For a museum to remain relevant and meaningful, it must attempt to be more inclusive in representation and methodology - this requires listening to communities that populate and visit the museum and giving space to oral testimony and alternative storytelling."

ON May 15; 6.30 pm to 8 pm
AT National Gallery of Modern Art, Sir Cowasji Jehangir Public Hall, Fort.
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FREE