Pandemic shrinking Bengaluru's cultural space

The tourism department also suffered heavy losses due to the closure of many institutions

Bengaluru’s art galleries and museums, the windows to its rich history and cultural heritage, are reeling under the impact of the pandemic.

Most of these centres have been shuttered for a year now and there’s little hope that visitors will return in the near future. With no ticket collections, venue bookings and on-spot art and cultural activities, they are staring at deep financial trouble.

Nevertheless, curators and staff at these institutions are trying their best to keep their patrons engaged through virtual means.

Visvesvaraya Industrial and Technological Museum, one of the premier science museums in the country, had a daily footfall of 6,000 to 10,000 before the pandemic. But since November, when it gradually reopened to the public, the numbers didn’t go beyond 500 on weekdays and 2,000 during weekends. “Unlike art galleries, our museum can’t provide a visual experience,” says K A Sadhana, the director of the museum. “Children need to touch and feel the exhibits to experience them.”

The museum was planning to reopen fully with all the Covid protocols when the government imposed the 14-day “close-down”, Sadhana adds.

Still, the museum is hosting webinars and online exhibitions and contests. “We are considering conducting live virtual tours where a guide will take people through the exhibits. Online is the only way forward for us until Covid-19 comes under control. We are looking at innovative ways of visitor engagement,” the director says.

The Jawaharlal Nehru Planetarium has been running with minimal activities. The sky theatre with its projection of celestial bodies at night is a big attraction for students. Planetarium director Pramod G Galagali feels the experience cannot be recreated online.

Still, it’s conducting a lot of lectures, workshops and other activities online. Last week, the museum collaborated with planetariums across the country on ‘Zero Shadow Day’ whereby children calculated the circumference of the earth from the comfort of their homes. “That was great but kids are definitely missing the hands-on experience,” Galagali explains.

Both the organisations acknowledge that the pandemic has left a deep impact on their finances and they may not sustain themselves on government grants alone. “We are trying our best to generate some revenue through online programmes but that won’t be enough,” says an official.

The tourism department also suffered heavy losses due to the closure of these institutions.

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“People prefer natural tourist attractions to city sightseeing,” says Vijay Sharma, Managing Director, Karnataka State Tourism Development Corporation. “This shift in people’s tastes has hit the city’s museums, galleries and cultural centres.”

The Karnataka Chitrakala Parishath, a centre of art activities and exhibitions, is now largely deserted. Its secretary K S Appajaiah says that more than an art gallery, the CKP is a cultural experience centre. “Earlier, people would drop in if they were not feeling good or wanted some peace. It’s difficult to deliver that atmosphere virtually. There is a big difference between seeing an artwork physically and seeing it on a screen,” he explains.

While the online edition of Chitra Santhe, the annual art fair, was a success, it may not work for either the CKP or artists.

The National Gallery of Modern Arts (NGMA), known for its serene ambiance, was busy with an in-house curation of a retrospective exhibition of veteran artist Upendra Maharathi’s artworks when the lockdown restrictions were announced. It’s unclear when the gallery will fully reopen again. Subarna Patro, the curator of the gallery, says the footfall had drastically reduced since November when they started a phased reopening.

The pandemic has also upended summer camps, theatre and musical activities, drawing classes and cartooning workshops that are usually during this part of the year. The online experience has had few takers.

While artists and curators are hopeful of conducting cultural and scientific activities for children soon, things depend a great deal on how the second wave plays out. Any failure to contain the pandemic will deprive the new generation of the chance to see these chroniclers of the city’s art, history and culture.