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Museums without meaning Recent declarations regarding the preservation of India’s heritage leave many questions unanswered the work of skilled hands. At the Bhau Daji Lad Museum in Mumbai, curators are destabilising received narratives by juxtaposing artefacts crafted in the colonial period with site-specific contemporary artworks. Nachiket Chanchani At Amritsar’s Partition Museum, teams are telling many sides of hu- man stories that accompanied the On a visit to Kolkata last month, birth of two nations. At the Jadunath Prime Minister Narendra Modi Bhavan Museum in Kolkata, not only opened an exhibition; inaugurated a has the architectural fabric of a scho- sound and light show at Howrah lar’s residence been preserved but Bridge; and announced that five art space created to house endangered museums in Chennai, Delhi, Kolkata, archives that hold the promise of Hyderabad, and Srinagar will be up- writing histories of the metropolis, graded to international standards. from the ground up. His announcement follows a spate of Finally, a growing number of mon- declarations. Over the next few uments across the country are being years, North and South Block build- illuminated every night. This new de- ings that flank Rashtrapati Bhavan velopment sequesters monuments will be converted into museums, a from surroundings and condenses national experiential archaeology complex architectural fabrics into museum will open at Vadnagar, and a spectacular facades, well-suited for hundred new experiential museums serving as backdrops against which may be built across the country. At the Bhau Daji Lad Museum in Mumbai, curators are destabilising received visitors might pose for selfies. Sanchi These announcements leave ele- narratives by juxtaposing artefacts crafted in the colonial period with Stupa, Rani ki Vav, Red Fort, a temple mentary questions unanswered. site-specific contemporary artworks. * SHASHI ASHIWAL at Hampi, and a few other buildings Where does the government plan to have begun to be printed on our build new museums? How will ob- in struggles for social justice. than bringing existing organisations banknotes. These photographic and jects be sourced to be displayed in Consider, in contrast, experi- under a new umbrella. If the pro- printed images are vicariously bring- them? Who will staff these mu- ments with truth at Rajkot in Gujarat. posed institution is to make a real dif- ing millions into daily contact with a seums? What narratives will be re- As dust settles on artefacts in the ci- ference, then it must partner with few iconic sites. Meanwhile, innum- counted in new institutions and ty’s Watson Museum that hold intri- educational institutions across the erable other places of archaeological those that are to be renovated? All we cate histories of colonial Saurashtra, country to foster a widespread inter- and historical significance standing know from officials is that they will Alfred High School has reopened its est in the historian’s craft. It should across India are slowly slipping away be stunning spaces modelled on the doors as the Mahatma Gandhi Mu- also draw on the expertise of those from our collective consciousness. Acropolis Museum in Athens and seum. In one gallery, visitors encoun- visually attuned humanists and so- Forward-thinking master plans for other world-class museums. ter the “scenario in India when cial scientists who separate scholar- the preservation and interpretation Gandhiji came back from South Afri- ship from spectacle and listen to of numerous sites have not been ar- A striking contrast ca in 1915.” This takes the form of a voices of persons marginalised on ac- ticulated — or at least not been pu- Good art museums worldwide share collage of doctored, uncredited, and count of their race, class, gender, blicly released. Is this because these several characteristics. At their heart untitled images of events that did not ethnicity, or religion. sites hold narratives that the govern- are commitments to serve as ste- occur that year. One image in the col- ment is reluctant to recognise? Or be- wards of cultural common wealth, lage is based on Felice Beato’s photo- The meaning of heritage cause they hold histories that go- ensure that objects in their care are graph of an execution held in Luck- Furthermore, before new museums vernment archaeologists are unable lawfully held, and promote research now during the Revolt of 1857-58, and overhauled galleries open their to unearth? We also need to train an into objects with an aim of deepen- another on Willoughby Hooper’s doors to the public, as Indians we all army of historians to uncover and ing public knowledge of the human photograph of victims of the Madras need to reflect on what heritage write new cultural histories of India experience. They also strive to ac- Famine of 1876-78 at a relief camp, means to us. Is heritage something that demonstrate how every artefact quire and occasionally deaccession and a third on A.G.E. Newland’s pho- that we have somehow received in and architectural ensemble is a re- objects without boosting illegal trade tograph of junior British officers sealed containers? Or is heritage a ceptacle of incredible true stories, in such artefacts. Club Atlético in lounging in Burma around 1892. El- material, or even an intangible trace, or, if you will, histories of resilience Buenos Aires and the Topography of sewhere in this museum, Madame of a past reformed by its contact with and resistance, adaptations and aspi- Terror in Berlin, both located at exca- Tussaud-style sculptures take the manifold individuals who have han- rations of individuals and communi- vated sites of detention and torture, place of archival prints, and florid dled it since its initial creation? If so, ties. When we demand the retrieval, are examples of thoughtful experien- banners replace personal papers. how will placing heritage in vitrines recording, and narration of these his- tial archaeological museums. They From what is publicly known of and vestibules alter identities and va- tories, then we will all be able to crit- use trenches, exhumed artefacts, the government’s deliberations on lues? In probing these questions, we ically appreciate the wonder that was and testimonies to turn visitors va- founding an Indian Institute of Herit- might want to learn from historians India — a museum without walls. riously into witnesses of open age and Conservation it is unclear who have written on the politics of wounds, observers of the meticulous whether such an establishment will exhibition, nationalism, and reli- Nachiket Chanchani is an associate professor evidence-gathering work of archae- remedy the situation. The proposed gious revivalism. at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, ologists, and informed participants institution seems to be little more We may also want to imbibe from U.S. .

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