Making music at the museum

Bengaluru’s Museum of Art & Photography’s new digital festival merges art, learning and melodies

When I was in college at the Faculty of Fine Arts MSU, Baroda, the museum was a place students went to play hooky. It was never to look at the beautiful replica of the Dancing Girl of the Indus Valley Civilisation, the stunning collection of Chola bronzes, or the giant skeleton of the whale that hung from the ceiling. That was only appealing to nerds like myself.

Fortunately, in the last 20 years, things have changed. Museums are no longer dusty and desolate; they are well lit, multisensorial interactive spaces that are led by an enthusiastic team of curators and collaborators, coming up with new ways of engaging their audience. And it is heartening that the change is happening in both public and private sectors, working across artistic disciplines.

Internationally, the Louvre and Tate are working with augmented reality to allow immersive experiences. Recently, Victoria & Albert in London invited visitors to tumble down the rabbit hole with their Curious Alice exhibit that worked with virtual reality. In India, too, museums such as Bhua Daji Lad (BDL), Kiran Nadar Museum of Art, CSMVS (Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Vastu Sangrahalaya) and the Goa Art Museum have upgraded and updated their approach and programming.