In 2014, 700 European institutions participated in an online cultural festival on Twitter titled Museum Week (MW). It comprised a series of seven hashtags that participants had to take on and offer a glimpse of their collections. The initiative has now expanded across the globe and social media. Here’s what’s in store for you.
Archive angle
Sanghamitra Chatterjee
Beyond museums and galleries, city-based heritage management agency Past Perfect that provides archival services to institutions, organisations and private families, is participating in #MuseumWeek for the first time. One of their first and most interesting posts, themed on celebrating the heroes in a crisis, is about doctor Nirmala Sellappan, who discovered India’s first HIV case. Founder Sanghamitra Chatterjee says MW is helping them rethink their future projects. “At this moment, I’m constantly thinking of projects in the pipeline and seeing if it will work as per the original plan in the post-COVID world. Since archiving isn’t as big in India yet, it is important to be a part of such international campaigns to showcase the work happening here right now.”
Reliving Pompeii
Pic/pompeii_parco_archeologico on Instagram
Pompeii Archaeological Park in Italy marked the first day of MW by celebrating their staff who continued to work during quarantine. And they were recognised along with Hercules, the founder and protective figure of Pompeii, the ancient Roman city that once thrived before the eruption of Mount Vesuvius.
City of culture
Group of Dancers, Bronze, Chhattisgarh, India, CSMVS Accession No Dis Acc 436. Pic/CSMVSMUMBAI on Instagram
Mumbai museums Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Vastu Sangrahalya (CSMVS) and Dr Bhau Daji Lad (BDL) Museum have been actively participating in the initiative. CSMVS put up its delightful display of a bronze artefact depicting a group of dancers for the MW theme of togetherness, while BDL Museum will be hosting a webinar on Sunday on The Future of Art Exhibitions in Public Spaces. It will be moderated by honorary director and managing trustee Tasneem Zakaria Mehta, with Nikhil Chopra, Shuddhabrata Sengupta, and Gayatri Sinha as the panellists. “We are at the threshold of change. What is the future of art exhibitions? Will the virtual experience change the way exhibitions are conceptualised? These are some of the issues we will address in the webinar,” Mehta says.
Tasneem Zakaria Mehta
Art and the world
Richard Bergh, Nordisk sommarkväll/Nordic Summer Evening, 1899-1900, Oil on canvas. Pic/Göteborgs Konstmuseum
Sweden’s Gothenburg Museum of Art, which boasts of a stunning collection of works by Rembrandt, Picasso and Van Gogh, put out the fine painting Nordic Summer Evening by the Swedish artist Richard Bergh that shows a couple contemplating the restful silence of nature — most apt in today’s scenario of social distancing.
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