Talks
Director’s Cut: Dr Tristram Hunt in conversation with Kamini Sawhney
Tristram Hunt, Kamini Sawhney
This episode of MAP’s series Director’s Cut features Dr Tristram Hunt, Director of the Victoria & Albert Museum in London.
Dr Tristram Hunt was appointed the Director of the V&A in February 2017. Under his leadership, Dr Hunt has championed design education in UK schools, encouraged debate around the history of the museum’s global collections and overseen the transition to a multi-site museum, with the opening of V&A Dundee, the redesign of the Museum of Childhood, and the development of a new museum and open access collections centre in Stratford, East London. V&A East will include a collection and storage centre, as well as a waterfront museum with large galleries, one of which will be co-curated with the Smithsonian Institution.
The Director’s Cut series, anchored by Kamini Sawhney, offers a glimpse into how the institution of the museum is being reimagined and reinvented today and presents a unique opportunity to hear from reputed practitioners in museums around the world as they reflect on their institutional experiences, behind-the-scenes challenges, unique initiatives, and more.
Dr. Tristram Hunt
Director, Victoria and Albert Museum, London
Tristram Hunt is the Director of the Victoria and Albert Museum– the world’s leading museum of art, design, and performance.
Prior to joining the V&A, Dr Hunt was MP for Stoke-on-Trent Central. He has a doctorate in Victorian history from Cambridge University, has worked as a Senior Lecturer in History at Queen Mary University of London, and is a Fellow of the Royal Historical Society.
Dr Hunt is the author of several books, including Ten Cities That Made an Empire (2014), The Lives of the Objects (2019) telling the story of the V&A collection, and most recently The Radical Potter: Josiah Wedgwood and the Transformation of Britain (2021).
Kamini Sawhney
Director, Museum of Art & Photography (MAP), Bengaluru
Kamini Sawhney is the first Director of the Museum of Art & Photography (MAP), Bengaluru. She has brought together a young, inspired team that is focused on creating a new museum experience for audiences in India.
In her earlier role, Kamini was the head of the Jehangir Nicholson Art Foundation. Bringing institutions together in collaborative projects has been one of her special skills enabling audiences in India the opportunity to enjoy several exhibitions in collaboration with Tate, London, Foam, Amsterdam, the Duke University, Durham, the KNMA, New Delhi, and more. Sawhney was selected as one of the first candidates for the Brooks fellowship at Tate Modern, London in 2014 in collaboration with the Delfina Foundation.
In a previous avatar as journalist and television anchor, Kamini was the Bureau Chief of NDTV, Mumbai, one of India’s leading news channels where she reported on a whole range of events, both political and cultural.
