Museum and Site Visit Report

Museums are powerful spaces that unfold curated narratives of the past, shaping our understanding of specific aspects of the present and future. This essay explores the spaces encountered during recent visits to four prominent sites in New Delhi: the National Gallery of Modern Art (NGMA), the National Museum of India, and the National Handloom and Handicrafts Museum (Crafts Museum). Drawing from the readings by Kavita Singh, Vidya Shivdas, and Jyotindra Jain, this essay examines the ways in which these sites construct narratives and influence our perception of history, culture, and identity.

The NGMA, with its contemporary art collection, presents a dynamic space that engages viewers with modern artistic expressions. The spatial arrangement of the galleries within NGMA facilitates immersive encounters with artworks. For instance, the placement of abstract paintings alongside sculptures creates a dialogue between form and space, challenging conventional notions of representation. This arrangement encourages visitors to question established artistic boundaries and contemplate the evolving nature of art in the context of modern India (Shivdas).


The National Museum of India houses a diverse range of artifacts that represent the rich cultural heritage of the country. The galleries within the museum are carefully curated to tell a comprehensive story of India's history, spanning from ancient civilizations to colonial periods. The spatial arrangement, characterized by chronological and thematic sections, guides visitors through a narrative that emphasizes the continuity and diversity of Indian culture. Objects such as ancient sculptures, historical artifacts, and intricately crafted textiles invoke a sense of pride and collective memory, fostering a national identity (Singh).


The Crafts Museum provides a unique perspective on India's traditional arts and crafts. The spatial arrangement of the museum reflects an immersive experience, reminiscent of a village setting. Visitors traverse through replicated rural environments, encountering artisans engaged in various craft practices. The museum's collection of handlooms, pottery, and folk art objects serves as a testament to the country's rich artisanal traditions. By situating these crafts within a spatially designed environment, the museum promotes cultural preservation, highlights the skill of artisans, and reinforces the significance of craftsmanship in India's cultural fabric (Jain).


All of the above sites are national museal spaces which caters to the public at large, and invites public participation in the form of tourism and the dissemination of arts and culture intrinsically tied to a certain understanding of Indian national identity. This characterisation changes drastically when we compare the above three spaces to DAG in Janpath.


DAG, which stands for the Delhi Art Gallery, is a prominent art institution located in New Delhi, India. It was established in 1993 by Ashish Anand and has since become one of the leading galleries in the country, specializing in modern and contemporary Indian art. DAG is known for its extensive collection of artworks, exhibitions, art research, and publishing initiatives.

On our visit to DAG, I began cataloguing the various differences between the three national museal, public entities and the private entity that is DAG. A great divide can be seen in curatorial choices, exhibition design, lighting and curation of artworks. 


In the three national museums, each space attempted to provide a holistic overview of the subject it attempted to cover. For the National Museum, it took the form of chronological galleries detailing the historico-cultural development from the Indus Valley Civilization up until Medieval Indian History. For the NGMA, its multiple floors depicted a shift in gaze from a primarily colonial to a native gaze in terms of the progression of art styles, art works, and artists as we climbed from floor to floor. The Crafts Museum showcases traditional and historical artisan practices from all over the Indian sub-continent. All three of these spaces make the curatorial choice to create a white-cube-like space, with poor, general lighting. With an open floor plan and partitions erected to divide rooms, these three spaces were made for a public that walks, discusses, and examines the artwork as a part of their shared history and national identity. 


DAG however, uses black curtains specially designed for “ICONIC: MASTERPIECES OF INDIAN MODERN ART EDITION 02” as is evident by the protruding and partitioning curtains, creating the sense of a singular space for each work of art. We notice the shift from the public to the private and commercial. One of the biggest differences is that in the three national sites, all artworks were displayed side by side without individual partitions, allowing viewers to consider each work as part of a larger, national whole. DAG, in contrast, chooses to make each artwork stand on their own, as they are singularly iconic, according to the curator and exhibition designer. 


Another big difference is accessibility. At the three museal sites, we as a class group encountered the public in their considerations of the artwork on display. DAG, while being open to the public, had no one but us present, despite having works relevant to the progression of a national artistic identity present. The key factor being that private galleries such as DAG cater to a certain clientele. I use the word clientele specifically as this is the moment of transformation for DAG, where it becomes not just a space for the viewing of art, but also its commercial and mercantile contexts and relationships. This then gives a dual aspect to the purpose of a visit to DAG as compared to museal spaces: in the former, it is as both viewer and potential buyer, whereas in the latter, it is simply as a viewer -  a collective feeling the ownership of a part of their national history.


The National Gallery of Modern Art, the National Museum of India, and the National Handloom and Handicrafts Museum in New Delhi exemplify the power of museums to shape narratives and influence our understanding of history, culture, and national identity. Through their spatial arrangements and curation of objects and images, these museums construct controlled narratives that engage visitors and offer unique perspectives on the past and present. Each museum's approach to storytelling, whether through modern art, historical artifacts, or traditional crafts, contributes to a broader understanding of India's diverse cultural heritage. In contrast, spaces like DAG provide us a space to view, examine, and understand the nature of art in a commercial market, when it is taken out of its historical context, and appreciated for its monetary, sale, and resale value.


By critically examining these museums and their exhibits, we gain insights into the ways in which curated spaces can shape our understanding of the past and present, and influence our collective consciousness. These institutions play a crucial role in preserving and promoting cultural heritage, fostering dialogue, and stimulating critical thinking about the complex and multifaceted nature of India's cultural landscape.



Works Cited


Kavita Singh, “The Museum is National” in Saloni Mathur and Kavita Singh eds. No Touching, No Spitting, No Praying: The Museum in South Asia. New Delhi: Routledge, 2015, 107-131


Vidya Shivdas, “Museuming Modern Art NGMA: The Indian Case-Study”, Take on Art. 3, Modern, Vol. 1, 142-146


Jyotindra Jain, “The Crafts Museum, New Delhi”, Museum, No. 157 (Vol. XL, 1988), special issue, Museums and Crafts, 48-51

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