Nimbus

A project by Adira Thekkuveetil, as part of a joint residency with the Horniman Museum and Gardens (UK), produced by Zelda Cheatle.

The Digital Residency at the Museum of Art & Photography (MAP), India, and Horniman Museum and Gardens, UK, produced in partnership with curator Zelda Cheatle, invited one artist selected by each museum to engage with the museum collections for six months to develop a digital response to the collections. At MAP, Adira Thekkuveettil was selected to respond and work with Cumulus, MAP’s online collection database.

Adira’s project, Nimbus, plays with ideas of “suggestions” and “edits” as tools of engagement with the MAP collection. Looking closely through Cumulus, the museum’s Collection Viewing System, Adira looks at details in the entries of artworks and collections beyond the stated information. Drawing connections with other objects and artworks in the museum’s collection, and proposing playful edits, adding both subjective, as well as objective information, Adira examines what forms “enrichment” can take within a museum’s collection, and in what ways close viewing can actually open up an archive to scrutiny.

Meanwhile, the artist-in-residence at the Horniman Museum, Marie Smith, will be documenting her residency and sharing her experiences on her website.

The joint residency, under the guidance of Zelda Cheatle, will encourage the exchange of knowledge and practice between the two museums and the artists. The artists final work will be hosted on the museums and the artists website, along with a culminating talk between the two artists and Zelda Cheatle.

Click here to watch the talk with Zelda, Adira and Marie.