Art is all around us, and whether we acknowledge it or not, art plays an integral role in all our lives. At MAP, we believe that adults can benefit greatly from the lifelong learning opportunities that arts and culture activities provide. Sensitising adults to India’s rich cultural and artistic heritage is an equally important aspect of MAP’s mission. Besides encouraging creativity and broadening perspective, an arts education can help build important life skills for adults to navigate the visually saturated world of the 21st century. In short, arts can enrich lives.
We design programmes and resources that are suitable for audiences of all age groups. MAP regularly curates workshops for adult audiences, as well as a range of talks and lectures that are delivered by leading cultural figures and practitioners. Through these public conversations, we hope to build awareness and generate interest in art and culture. At MAP, we believe everyone can and should experience and enjoy art.
As part of its ongoing theme, ‘Art (is) Life’ MAP is pleased to present a richly illustrated talk by Ganesh Shivaswamy.
Traditions & Transitions: The Kalamkari Through Time
MAP launches its theme of Creative Connections, with textile artist Renuka Reddy in conversation with researcher, curator and collector Peter Lee. The duo explore the material histories of kalamkari in the subcontinent, through select works from the MAP Collection, providing insights into techniques, motifs and markets that shaped the evolution of this textile art across different cultures.
V R Ferose and Vicky Roy in conversation
How can art help empower marginalised individuals and communities? What role can it play in awareness and exposure? What are the economic advantages it can offer?
What does it take to make a museum inclusive?
Do you feel welcome in a museum? Is it a place that appeals to you and makes you feel like you belong?
No matter who you are, the answer should be YES!
In continuation of its #InclusionAndDiversity theme, MAP presents a conversation between transgender rights activist, artist and entrepreneur, Kalki Subramaniam and Parmesh Shahani, author of "Queeristan: LGBTQ Inclusion in the Indian Workplace".
MAP launches its theme of Inclusion & Diversity with a conversation between vocalist, writer and activist T M Krishna and leading scholar and author Suraj Yengde.
The session explores the patterns of privilege and exclusion that shape access to cultural art forms and pursuits, raising questions of the ethical and representational issues implicit in art that reflects a hierarchical society.
Museums have played a significant role in preserving, promoting and displaying the arts, but they also have a very important role in supporting the arts and artists especially within their local environment.
This panel discussion explores how museums, especially in India, can work closely with the art community including the performing arts. How can museums assist in cultural rejuvenation, become hubs of creativity and use their collections to rejuvenate arts that are disappearing? And finally what should be the role of museums in preserving and supporting collections outside their spaces.
In its last feature under the Creative Connections theme, MAP presents fashion designer David Abraham (of the fashion house Abraham & Thakore) in conversation with textiles designer and educator Aditi Ranjan, co-editor of Handmade in India, an encyclopaedic record of craft traditions across the length and breadth of the country.
Jonathan Gil Harris in conversation with Shilpa Vijayakrishnan
As part of its ongoing theme of Creative Connections, MAP is pleased to present acclaimed author, Jonathan Gil Harris, in conversation with MAP’s Education & Outreach Department lead, Shilpa Vijayakrishnan.
Alexander Gorlizki & Riyaz Uddin in conversation with Kamini Sawhney
As part of its ongoing theme ‘Creative Connections’, MAP presents artists, Alexander Gorlizki and Riyaz Uddin who have been working together for over two decades in a unique partnership that brings together influences and traditions from the East and West. The session, moderated by MAP Director Kamini Sawhney, explores their collaboration that is built not only upon the cross-cultural exchange of artistic thought and practice, but also an evolving personal friendship over time.
Redefining the Indian Museum: An Online Panel Discussion
ICOM defines a museum as a non-profit, permanent institution in the service of society and its development, open to the public, which acquires, conserves, researches, communicates and exhibits the tangible and intangible heritage of humanity and its environment for the purposes of education, study and enjoyment.
The ‘godmother of performance art’, Marina Abramović burst onto the '70s art scene with cathartic performances that pushed the envelope on spectator participation and personal safety in unexpected and unprecedented ways.
Naman. P. Ahuja spoke about his latest book Art and Archaeology of Ancient India: Earliest Times to the Sixth Century, Ashmolean Museum (Oxford, 2018).
Keeping in line with the month’s theme 'Art as Witness', MAP in association with the Bangalore International Centre (BIC), brought together two exemplary photographers of social action and change, Sebastião Salgado and Shahidul Alam, in a webinar hosted on 27 June. Moderated by Nathaniel Gaskell, the discussion centred on the photographic journeys of the acclaimed Brazilian and Bangladeshi photographers, and elaborated on the power of photography to catalyse social change. Through an unveiling of their personal journeys and experiences, the discussion also highlighted the positive influence of activism and the use of one’s voice against oppression.
Keeping in line with the month’s theme 'Art as Witness', MAP in association with the Bangalore International Centre (BIC), is happy to share the first talk we hosted as part of the series: The Camera As Witness: The Truth of our Times.
Photographers Prashant Panjiar and Fawzan Husain in conversation with columnist Akar Patel, explored the role of photojournalism, the nature of documentary photography and its significance in recording history as well as shaping the historical narrative.
As part of MAP's Art & Culture Lecture Series - member of our advisory panel - Professor B N Goswamy gave an illustrated talk from his latest book:
A CANOPY OF ARROWS; A MOUNTAIN OF FIRE
Great Images from a Bhagavata Purana of the Mysore Court
Prominent actor and filmmaker, Nandita Das in conversation with journalist Kaveree Bamzai, spoke from her personal experiences on what it meant to be a ‘woman director’, while exploring the idea of a female gaze, the realities of sexism, and more.
Celebrated author, Anita Nair, shared about what compelled her to write stories and what made writing about women – their lives, inner worlds, as well as their relationships with men and other women – special.
Famed Bharatanatyam exponent, Malavika Sarukkai, in conversation with author and scientist Indira Brunner Chandrasekhar as part of our 'Women in Art & Culture Lecture' series
Max Pinckers uses improvisation to create images that are lively, unexpected, and simultaneously poetic belying the extensive preparation and rigour he brings to his craft. His approach to documentary photography emphasises the subjectivity of the artist. From tales of the serendipitous to the theatricality of the everyday encounters on the street, his talk will explore the stories that lie within photographs, and behind their making.
In this, the centenary year of one of Urdu literature’s brightest stars, Kaifi Azmi, a shayar, a rebel, a writer and a lyricist who has given the Hindi film industry some of its most iconic songs, BIC in collaboration with MAP, celebrates Kaifisaab with his daughter Shabana Azmi, in an evening of poetry, storytelling and guftagu.
