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No degree required: How this Bengaluru initiative is making complex art history accessible to public
The Art and Photography Foundation has unveiled IMPART, a revamped digital platform formerly known as the MAP Academy. Led by director Varun Nayar, the initiative features a 2,500-entry Encyclopedia of Art and interactive timelines.
The Paper Gardens exhibit (Express photo).
An online platform-based initiative, IMPART, launched a new iteration this March to build public engagement with art, among other purposes. Like the Museum of Art and Photography in Bengaluru, it operates under the aegis of the Art and Photography Foundation, and was formerly known as the MAP Academy.
The platform, accessible at imp-art.org, contains various resources such as an Encyclopaedia of Art with over 2,500 entries, various learning resources and educational programmes, write-ups on various topics by experts (via the digital magazine Perspective), and collaborative efforts – such as the recent exhibit at the Museum of Art and Photography, highlighting historical botanical art and diagrams.
Speaking to the Indian Express, IMPART director Varun Nayar said, “We started as MAP Academy in 2022….originally the idea was to be a home for an Encyclopaedia of Art and art courses. Since then, we have grown considerably in audience and ambitions.”
He added, “All of the work we do – we want to ensure that we create a space for people in a way where they don’t feel intimidated, or think that they need an advanced degree in the arts or humanities to access these stories. A conversation we have with all of our collaborators, some of whom are scholars, is how we can bring these ideas to the general public.”
Nayar noted that a major focus for IMPART in its new incarnation was to bring on more collaborators, as it operates with a staff of around 25. He added, “We also have a Special Projects incubator to work with other institutions on all sorts of projects that have different manifestations…the Paper Gardens exhibit at MAP, for example, started out as a research project on botanical history and the endpoint was the exhibition and a publication that we worked on.”
Among the new features of the online platform are several “timelines” that shed light on different aspects of art history, from Hindi cinema to the Chola dynasty.
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