Making of the modern museum: How Mumbai’s halls of history are evolving

Gone are the days when museums were dusty galleries of antiquities and art with dull information plaques. The contemporary museum is a socio-cultural space that creates room for dialogue, and houses multi-media and multi-lingual experiences that are aimed to jog your critical mind, question existing narratives, and even be Instagram friendly. Functioning beyond an archive, museums of today are shaping public opinion. Curators today invite visitors to interrogate the collection, and strive to communicate the nuances behind the narratives, offering visitors an access to different historical contexts enabling a sensitised outlook. To chart the expanse of their activities and evolution, we spoke to those who run the best known among such cultural institutions in Mumbai.

Dr. Bhau Daji Lad Museum

A cultural landmark of Mumbai, Dr. Bhau Daji Lad Museum was founded in 1857. Photo courtesy: Dr. Bhau Daji Lad Museum

Established in 1857, Dr. Bhau Daji Lad Museum (BDL) showcases the city's art and culture through a rare collection of fine and decorative arts that highlight early Modern Art practices as well as the craftsmanship of various communities of the Bombay Presidency. The oldest museum in Mumbai's past exhibits have focussed on contemporary creative practices in design, crafts and textiles, architecture and urbanism, as well as film and video art. Ever since its reopening in 2008, the museum launched robust exhibitions, outreach and education programmes for a varied demographic, targeting different age groups and trilingual audiences.

Outlining major initiatives undertaken to increase engagement, Tasneem Zakaria Mehta, director at Dr. Bhau Daji Lad Museum, shares, "The museum has engaged with contemporary artists and designers across multiple mediums - visual art, photography, film, video art, music and sound design. We offer curated segments including ‘Movies at the Museum', theatre and live classical music and dance, talks and lectures on art, culture, urban histories, cinema and performance art. Of special interest to our patrons are the museum's special talks and seminars by eminent scholars, artist-led workshops, and walkthroughs that are accessible online as well. Additionally, audio guides enabled via QR codes, free weekend tours, and family activities including treasure hunts - both on-ground and online - are aimed at bringing in different audiences."

To enable true democratisation of art and history, access is imperative. "We have made a concerted effort to reach all segments of society through our programing which is not just in English but in Marathi and Hindi as well. We have a special programme called ‘Museum Katta' which takes place every two weeks where we invite well known personalities to speak on different subjects to a Marathi speaking audience. Family groups, young students, senior citizens and even the vendors in the next door Byculla vegetable market are among our regular audiences," explains Mehta. "Our education and outreach programmes are subsidised to keep them accessible to all. The museum's internship and docent programme engages graduate students and young educators who become the ambassadors of the museum into the community."

BDL was among the first few museums in Mumbai to be invited onto the ‘Google Arts and Culture' platform, and has a strong social media presence. Stressing the importance of technology in creating an immersive experience, Mehta observes, "Digital spaces allow for creative engagement and expressions, and have also become a tool to increase visitor footfall in the museum."

BDL is Mumbai's oldest museum housing an extensive collection, and regularly showcases special exhibitions. Photo courtesy: Dr. Bhau Daji Lad Museum

The museum's exhibitions showcase artists' practice with cutting edge technology and some of their challenging installations have utilised sensor movement technology, virtual reality, sound technology, and dramatic digital projections during special exhibitions. "Technology is all-pervasive now and has of course helped us reach out to a wider international audience and people who may not be able to physically visit the museum. We have created customised playlists inspired by our Ragamala miniatures and artworks by prominent artists from the JJ School of Art on Spotify which continue to be popular with our online audiences enabling them to experience the Museum's collection outside the four walls of the physical space. We are currently focusing on and developing more tech-enabled media, and will also have a digital archive of our collection on the website," adds Mehta.

A diverse range of modern museums have cropped up across the nation in the past few years. When asked how a legacy cultural institution like BDL keeps up with the changing preferences of audiences, Mehta answers, "Even though a museum is a historic place, it was always meant to reflect the contemporary design and innovation in the arts. Dr. Bhau Daji Lad Museum has hosted over 85 exhibitions since 2008, showcasing historic and contemporary art that encourage a discourse of the current curatorial and artistic practices, nuances, as well as address the socio-cultural issues, environmental concerns, gender disparity, violence, and inequality of representation that we face today. Therefore these exhibitions hosted at the museum are unique to its context."

While online mediums have seen an unprecedented jump, they cannot replace the in-person experiences, as per Mehta. "Digital mediums certainly helped bring newer audiences and gave people greater flexibility to catch our pre-recorded sessions online on our YouTube channel at their own pace, engage with our online quizzes and playlists," she says. "But people were deprived of safe, creative spaces during the lockdown and are slowly returning. Art institutions and museums are now increasingly working on hybrid models where programmes take place in person for local audiences as well as online. It has given wider access to art to people who did not engage with art and museums before and brought new exposure to the museum."

Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Vastu Sangrahalaya

Housing over 70,000 objects, CSMVS marked its centenary year in 2022. Photo courtesy: Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Vastu Sangrahalaya

Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Vastu Sangrahalaya (CSMVS) opened its doors to the public in 1922. During the past century, the museum has continued to be a cultural landmark of the city, housing an extensive collection of over 70,000 objects right from pre-historic times to the present. "The museum is no longer a storehouse of art and antiquities but an important centre of culture and education that touches all aspects of human life. This is a cultural as well as a social space and also a meeting place for communities to engage in dialogue and exchange of ideas," says Sabyasachi Mukherjee, director general at CSMVS.

The CSMVS Museum's programming has been devised in a hybrid format over the last year since it reopened to the public. "The objective has been to not just to expand engagement but to deepen it. The museum began sharing its garden spaces, reimagined almost all its galleries showcasing art objects, set forth new temporary exhibitions, enhanced visitor facilities, and launched into its centenary year -- 2022 -- with a line-up of programmes for adults, children, families, students, etc," Joyoti Roy, head of strategy and marketing at CSMVS tells us about the initiatives being undertaken by the museum to increase engagement. "Within these offerings, are renewed sensitivities to interpretation and a deep appreciation for collaborative work, which has been undertaken both internally and via longstanding and new partnerships."

Since its inception, education has been at the heart of the Museum's pursuit. In 2019, CSMVS opened Mumbai's first Children's Museum which aims at helping children think critically about the world around them through a wide range of activities and programmes including exhibitions (a new showcase in collaboration with Katkatha Puppets Trust is an experiential exhibition curated for children), workshops, performing arts engagement, storytelling and more. "The whole idea was to create a separate and independent space for children who unfortunately have limited access to informal cultural spaces in the city where they can learn to experience and understand what is unfamiliar to them while acquiring new sets of values and new frames of thought in harmony with their surroundings," explains Mukherjee. The museum's flagship programme, Museum on Wheels, takes exhibitions across Maharashtra and Gujarat to schools and educational institutions in a bus. In 2020, a second bus has been added to the fleet ensuring that the initiative reaches out to nearly 1 million children across India.

It can be said without a doubt that the CSMVS's initiatives are aimed at increasing accessibility for all. "For the young demographic who visit us, the museum has devised long-format modules that are customised to age-groups, education pursuits and objectives of collaboration - the ‘Children's Museum Sustained Enrichment Programme' and the Museum on Wheels' flagship ‘Think Museum programme'. The Museum also offers a bespoke ‘My Caregiver & I' programme, for persons with special needs and their caregivers offering simple tools of incorporating museum collections with leisure time at home," shares Renuka Muthuswami, education lecturer at CSMVS.

Technology has played a key role in establishing the myriad goals of the museum and has aided evolution, according to Roy. "The teams at CSMVS have incorporated various forms of technologies within galleries, and harnessed digital platforms of delivery with an aim to enable and enhance access for people. Technological interventions can be seen at the museum in areas of visitor facilities, interpretation and education. This is done both in-house and via collaborations with other organizations," she says "Just this weekend, CSMVS will be conducting a webquest for children, commemorating this week's National Technology Day."

When asked to share her thoughts on what has changed in the way people interact with and experience museums since the pandemic, Muthuswami concludes, "CSMVS is among the most dynamic cultural spaces where over a million visitors gain an understanding of human history every year. Since the pandemic has been raging since over a year ago, CSMVS has provided many enriching experiences to its audiences online, and played its role in healing society.

National Museum of Indian Cinema

A Satyajit Ray gallery has been set up at the NMIC. Ravinder Bhakar (L) poses with Satyajit Ray's wax statue. Photo courtesy: National Museum of Indian Cinema

The newly-established National Museum of Indian Cinema (NMIC) houses interactive exhibitions that chart the evolution of the cinema from its advent in India to the New Wave. "The National Museum of Indian Cinema is one such dedicated and unique museum in our country for cinema. We are constantly upgrading it with innovative ideas. It is our endeavour and constant attempt to keep it as contemporary as possible without changing its historic value," says Ravinder Bhakar, managing director at the National Film Development Corporation of India.

The museum currently offers audio tours and utilises audio-visual media for its immersive exhibits, which attract new visitors. Museum representatives are also present to guide visitors. Elaborating upon current activities, Bhakar adds, "The museum is open for all, and in recent times we have seen young people showing more interest in knowing the legacy of cinema. We are constantly in the process of upgrading, more recently we have set up a dedicated Satyajit Ray gallery that celebrates his legacy. Recently, a selfie point has been inaugurated which has boosted the walk-ins, and people are loving it."

Sharing his future plans for the museum, Bhakar concludes, "NMIC further plans to conduct film festivals and events on a timely basis, including organising plays as well as cultural events. Through digitised ticket sales, a robust social media presence, and partnering with travel companies, we aim to reach wider audiences. We are also in talks with various colleges, schools, and various private tour operators to schedule curated workshops and tours."