South Asia

On Craft, Community, and Resilience: A View from the Living and Learning Design Centre

The concept of establishing a museum in a remote region of India—one that is not only geographically isolated but also prone to natural disasters such as earthquakes and cyclones—presents a complex set of challenges. Yet, it also offers a rare opportunity to engage deeply with the traditional knowledge systems of local communities. Located in Ajrakhpur,…

post Presents: Assemblies in Uncertain Times

This public program brought together Nancy Adajania, May Adadol Ingawanij, and Frida Muenala from Mullu for an evening of inquiry into forms and practices of gathering. The speakers, who represent diverse practices in the cultural fields—from art making to curation to institutional leadership—and operate across vast geographies, unpacked their different approaches to assemblies. Among the…

From Loot to Legacy: Rethinking “Tibetan Art” in Western Museums

Debates around the ownership of cultural heritage and decolonizing museums have become increasingly visible and polarizing in the public domain, leading to attempts to redefine the term “museum” itself.1The International Council of Museums (ICOM) Extraordinary General Assembly approved the following new definition of “museum” at the 26th ICOM General Conference held in Prague in August…

A Vision of Modern India: Social Messages and Commodity Culture in New Bollywood

Since the 1990s, the Hindi film industry has undergone several transformations in response to socioeconomic and political changes in India. This is particularly a result of how the Indian nation-state and its film industries have entered into the global market. Though popular Hindi cinema has always circulated internationally through informal, ad hoc networks, during most…

post Presents: Unsettled Dust—Archives, Epistemologies, Images

These presentations and panel discussion at MoMA brought together four filmmakers and artists who work in expanded documentary modes, using existing footage, archival research, interviews, and scripted narratives to produce imaginative accounts of transnational struggles, solidarities, and interventions. Using moving images, some of these practitioners interrogate the anti-colonial and anti-imperialist movements of the mid-late 20th…

In Memoriam: Kavita Singh (1964-2023)

Kavita Singh was a distinguished and beloved art historian, curator, and pedagogue. She passed away in New Delhi on July 30, 2023, following a brave battle with cancer. In this 5 Questions interview, conducted when she visited The Museum of Modern Art as a C-MAP Asia speaker in 2016, Singh shared her critical insights into questions of canonicity, location, representation, and translation in the era of globalization.

In Memoriam: Balkrishna V. Doshi (1927- 2023)

Balkrishna Vithaldas Doshi (1927-2023) was a pioneer of architectural modernism in India, and the first architect from the region to be awarded the Pritzker Prize in 2018. His work was prominently featured in the 2022 MoMA exhibition, The Project of Independence: Architectures of Decolonization in South Asia, 1947–1985, during which he participated in an online conversation with Martino Stierli, The Philip Johnson Chief Curator of Architecture and Design. Following Doshi’s passing at the age of 95, in January 2023, we are publishing this wide-ranging conversation accompanied by Stierli’s reflection on the architect’s life and legacy.

post Presents: Photographer Dayanita Singh in Conversation with Curator Sean Anderson

The ongoing COVID crisis in India has affected every aspect of daily life and every segment of Indian society. From her vantage point in Delhi, world-renowned photographer Dayanita Singh provides a first-person account of the realities of the current situation, her knowledge of its effects on her colleagues in arts communities, and indicates what and where help is most urgently needed.