Part of the widespread effort to rebuild existing narratives around South Asian art and artistic representation, the new five-storey MAP museum opens this weekend in the heart of Bangalore.
Considered the city’s most significant new cultural destination, the Museum of Art and Photography features painting, woven art, drawing, photography and writing predominantly from the Indian subcontinent, in a building that stresses functionality and openness. The acronym plays on the museum’s devotion to mapping relationships between artistic disciplines. The project also encompasses an auditorium, library and learning facilities.
Photography: Iwan Baan courtesy of MAP Museum of Art and Photography.
Photography: Iwan Baan courtesy of MAP Museum of Art and Photography.
Photography: Iwan Baan courtesy of MAP Museum of Art and Photography.
Photography: Iwan Baan courtesy of MAP Museum of Art and Photography.
Photography: Iwan Baan courtesy of MAP Museum of Art and Photography.
Indian architect Soumitro Ghosh, known for transforming Bangalore’s Central Jail into the vast, public Freedom Park, headed up the design, delivering a highly recognisable form that encourages dialogue and flow with its surroundings. Public areas on the upper and lower levels were designed for visual transparency while the art galleries themselves are enclosed with an opaque cladding of stainless-steel panels embossed with a cross pattern – a nod to post-industrial metal-panel water tanks. The allusion suggests art is increasingly precious and to be treasured, like water.
The building’s small footprint is overshadowed by the wider upper levels, reiterating the silhouette of a water tank. Structural columns shift to the outer shell to create column-free spaces within.
General admission to the museum is free while special exhibits are ticketed. The opening week is dedicated to sharing the rich collection with the wider community with walk-throughs, lectures, workshops and free dance performances.
