India's first major private museum of modern and contemporary art, the Kiran Nadar Museum of Art, New Delhi reopens on 5 January 2021 after a period of closure in the wake of the novel coronavirus pandemic. I speak to Akansha Rastogi, Senior Curator (Exhibitions & Programs), KNMA about a decade of institutional programming, her own curatorial practice within the museum space and of course the stakes and possibilities of the museum as a political and social site in 2020, now 2021, against the backdrop of movements for racial and caste justice and the COVID-19 crisis. 

Click here to access the image guide: 

https://sites.google.com/view/artalaap-podcast-resources/episode-1.    

Credits: 

Producer: Tunak Teas 

Design & artwork: Mohini Mukherjee 

Marketing: Dipalie Mehta 

Musical arrangement: Jayant Parashar 

Audio courtesy: Vernouillet by Blue Dot Sessions [CC BY-NC 4.0] 

Images: Kiran Nadar Museum of Art 

Additional support: Kanishka Sharma, Amy Goldstone-Sharma, Raghav Sagar, Shalmoli Halder, Arunima Nair 

References: 

Saloni Mathur, India by Design: Colonial History and Cultural Display, University of California Press, 2007. 

Nancy Adajania, ‘New Media Overtures before New Media Practice in India’, in Gayatri Sinha (ed.), Art and Visual Culture in India 1857-2007 (Mumbai: Marg Publications, 2009).

Delve into the discourse around the aesthetics, politics, and infrastructure of visual art. Artalaap is a podcast on visual culture focusing on modern & contemporary art from the South Asian subcontinent. Art critic Kamayani Sharma interviews artists, curators, writers, researchers, arts organisation professionals, and culture workers. Come for the images, stay for the insights!