National Museum head’s transfer riles art fraternity

An online petition protesting his transfer has now sprung up. And on it are names of culture big guns such as former Lalit Kala Akademi chairperson Ashok Vajpeyi, historian Romila Thapar, art critic Ranjit Hoskote, poet-filmmaker Gulzar and playwright Girish Karnad. The petition, which has collected thousands of signatures till date, lists the many contributions Venu is believed to have made to the institution during his brief tenure. The petitioners intend to take the matter to President Pranab Mukherjee.

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“It was a most unfortunate mistake to transfer Venu out of his position at the National Museum because he transformed the long-moribund institution into an active site for exhibition, discussion and publication, and brought it back to life as an important public cultural institution,” Hoskote said.

Jawhar Sircar, CEO of Prasar Bharati and former secretary of the culture ministry, said, “Venu is perhaps the best DG that the National Museum has had after Dr L P Sihare left some 25-30 years ago.”

Hoskote said Venu showed “deep passion” for the arts and culture and “substantial knowledge” of the official system.

During Venu’s tenure, four dead galleries of the museum came back to life, a new garden cafe was started, the Outreach department was strengthened, the museum was opened up to scholars and students, and recalibrated in consonance with international standards. Many landmark exhibitions were also held, such as “Nauras” and “The Body of Indian Art”.

Within a year of his joining, the museum saw a 30 per cent increase in visitors and a 112 per cent increase in merchandise sales. Several big exhibitions are already planned for this year, and a museum app is on the way.

Before he came in the picture, a 2010 Unesco report had panned the museum, “The building and facilities visibly lack maintenance. The lift is not operational, spotlights have no bulbs, wall paint has peeled off and the auditorium has tattered seats.”

After Venu joined, washrooms became operational, there was drinking water and exhibition galleries got LED bulbs. In the last two years, it organised about 12 exhibitions, which is more than what had been done in the past 10 years. Outside of the museum, Venu also played a key role in rolling out the Incredible India campaign and organising the Kochi Biennale. He had once remarked, “I am a nutcase for museums… Every time I visit the Met (New York) and the British Museum, I come back with things to do for the National Museum.”
Even now, sitting in his cabin at the sports ministry, he talks about the museum.

“You can’t take the National Museum out of me. I will go there every other week in the capacity of a visitor,” Venu said.

Tasneem Zakaria Mehta, honorary director of Mumbai’s Bhau Daji Lad museum, also on the National Museum’s advisory board, said, “Dr Venu’s departure sends a very wrong message to the arts community in India.” She said the paradigm for managing museums in India has to change. “It is not just the National Museum, the Indian Museum in Kolkata and several other museums in India are struggling without directors and proper leadership.”