Museums Programme

Kolkata

Situating the Scene

A participatory session with the theatre group Somporko exploring the behind-the-scenes processes of making a site-specific production on the Bengal Famine of 1943, drawing from the DAG collection. 

Charulata Building, Charu Market

December 22, 2024, OR December 23, 6:00pm - 9.00pm

Kolkata

Keyabat Meye

Queer-Feminist collective Samuho navigates the interplay between the interior and exterior lives of women at the cusp of nineteenth century reform movements through a performance-installation inspired by Shreepantha’s Keyabat Meye, memoirs of female authors, and the satirical tradition of Prahasan.

Barrister Babur Bari, Beliaghata

December 08, 2024, 6:30pm - 9.00pm

Kolkata

Keyabat Meye

Queer-Feminist collective Samuho navigates the interplay between the interior and exterior lives of women at the cusp of nineteenth century reform movements through a performance-installation inspired by Shreepantha’s Keyabat Meye, memoirs of female authors, and the satirical tradition of Prahasan.

Barrister Babur Bari, Beliaghata

December 07, 2024, 6:30pm - 9.00pm

Kolkata

Keyabat Meye

Queer-Feminist collective Samuho navigates the interplay between the interior and exterior lives of women at the cusp of nineteenth century reform movements through a performance-installation inspired by Shreepantha’s Keyabat Meye, memoirs of female authors, and the satirical tradition of Prahasan.

Barrister Babur Bari, Beliaghata

December 06, 2024, 6:30pm - 9.00pm

Kolkata

Mehfil-e-Thumri

An evening at Khelat Ghosh’s Residence exploring the interstitial position of thumri in classical music and the stories of baijis and tawaifs, with vocalist Sanjana Roy Chakraborty, Kathak performer Ashimbandhu Bhattacharya and scholar Shantanu Majee, accompanied by Parimal Chakrabarty on the tabla, and Pradip Palit on the harmonium.

Khelat Ghose’s Residence, Pathuriaghata

November 24, 2024, 5.30 pm – 8.30 pm

Kolkata

Reform Screams

Mapping a brief history of reforms and dissent in art pedagogy and practice emerging from within and beyond the walls of Calcutta’s colonial art school by tracing the independent initiatives of art institutions, collectives, and publications at the turn of the 20th century, with art historian and archivist Sampurna Chakraborty.

Government College of Art and Craft

November 23, 2024, 11.00 am – 1.00 pm

Kolkata

E Ek Ashcharja! Kalikata Kalankini; Athaba Chaaper Naksha Prahasan

A production by Birati Samuho Performers Collective that explores the participation and representation of working-class women in 19th century public sphere and print culture, reading between the lines of Battala texts.

Sovabazar Natmandir

November 23, 2024, 5.00pm – 6.00pm OR 7.30 pm – 8.30 pm

Kolkata

E Ek Ashcharja! Kalikata Kalankini; Athaba Chaaper Naksha Prahasan

A production by Birati Samuho Performers Collective that explores the participation and representation of working-class women in 19th century public sphere and print culture, reading between the lines of Battala texts.

Sovabazar Natmandir

November 22, 2024, 5.00pm – 6.00pm OR 7.30 pm – 8.30 pm

Kolkata

Settling in the City

Tracing the rehabilitation efforts of refugees from East Pakistan to Calcutta from 1947 onwards through images, texts and memoirs, focusing on creative responses to ideas of home and settlement, with scholars Anwesha Sengupta, Samata Biswas and filmmaker and photographer Debalina Majumder.

Tetultalar Chhad, Vidyasagar Colony

November 21, 2024, 4.00 pm - 6.30 pm

Kolkata

The White 'Other'

A night on the riverfront exploring the history of the ‘other’ Europeans such as artist F. B. Solvyns who were marginal to the colonial apparatus, with historian and archivist Sarmishta De, followed by a concert by gypsy-jazz band The Big Other.

The Barge Company Bengal Paddle

November 20, 2024, 6.30 pm – 8.30 pm

Kolkata

The Revolutionary Art of Chittaprosad and Somnath Hore

 A talk by Sanjoy Kumar Mallik, Kala Bhavana, Santiniketan, on visual articulations around the famine of 1943-44 and the Tebhaga movement of 1946-47 by Somnath Hore and Chittaprosad, against the backdrop of ‘Adhi nai, tebhag chai’, an installation featuring artworks, photographs, State records and oral narratives from the agrarian revolt. 

Directorate of State Archives, Shakespeare Sarani

November 19, 2024, 5.00 pm – 6.00 pm

Kolkata

Mappa theke Manchitra

A deep dive into 18th and 19th century maps of Calcutta at the 140-year-old publishing house of P. M. Bagchi and Company, juxtaposing colonial and indigenous mapping practices followed by a walk in the neighbourhood with Epsita Halder and Sarbajit Mitra.

P. M. Bagchi and Co., Sovabazar

November 17, 2024, 4.00pm - 7.00pm

Kolkata

Adhi nai, tebhag chai

An installation on the Tebhaga Movement which investigates the layered narratives of agrarian resistance in various districts of Bengal in the 1940s, confronting State-sanctioned surveillance reports from the colonial archives with visual and oral testimonies of artists and activists from the frontlines.

Directorate of State Archives, 43, Shakespeare Sarani Rd, (opp. Kala Mandir Auditorium), Mullick Bazar, Elgin

November 16, 2024, - 24 November 2024, 10.00am - 6.00pm

Kolkata

Tebhaga Women Speak

An interactive session on the Tebhaga Women's Movement with Kavita Panjabi including original recorded oral narratives, songs, and accounts of the Mahila Atmaraksha Samiti & Mahila Samiti activists, in conversation with Mahasweta Ray.

Directorate of State Archives, Shakespeare Sarani

November 16, 2024, 2.00pm - 4.00pm

New Delhi

Qutub through the Viewfinder: A two-day workshop

A walk-through of the exhibition ‘Histories in the Making: Photographing Indian Monuments’ with curator Sudeshna Guha, followed by a guided walk at the Qutub Minar Complex with the DAG team, to explore, through drawing and reading, the ways in which the perception of a monument is shaped through photographs.

DAG, Janpath, New Delhi (Saturday) and Qutub Minar Complex (Sunday)

October 05, 2024, - 6 October, 2024, 4:30 pm - 6:30 pm

Kolkata

Archive Case Files: College Edition

A workshop on using images and ephemera to expand our understanding of significant historical events and how they are represented and memorialised, through a collection of postcards on Indian soldiers in the First World War from the DAG Archives.

Departments of English, History, & Political Science, Loreto College, Kolkata

September 17, 2024, - 25 September, 2024, 1:00 pm - 4:00 pm

Kolkata

Histories in the Making: A Workshop

Unpacking the themes of the exhibition ‘Histories in the Making: Photographing Indian Monuments’ through a creative workshop that explores ways to interpret and annotate photographs as objects, and study their social lives and histories.

Shiv Nadar University, Delhi

September 14, 2024, - 15 September, 2024

Kolkata

Fabric of Freedom

Victoria Memorial Hall and DAG present a pop-up installation of historic artworks from the DAG collection and contemporary textile interpretations by students, unravelling the intertwined stories of fabric, colonialism and freedom. 

Great Indian Reformers Gallery, Victoria Memorial Hall

August 13, 2024, - 18 August, 10:00 am – 6:00 pm

Kolkata

Intersections: Music - The Story of the Sitar

An intimate baithaki exploring the sitar through a film, conversation and concert with sitarist Subhranil Sarkar, accompanied by Pandit Abhijit Banerjee on the tabla at the historic Ramdulal Nibas.

Ramdulal Nibas, Beadon Street, Kolkata

July 06, 2024, 5:30 pm—8:30 pm

Kolkata

Intersections: Music - The Sound of Colour

Delving into the Ragamala paintings at the Indian Museum Painting Gallery with art historian Soumik Nandy Majumdar and scholar Maitreyee Mukherjee, exploring the intersections between visual arts and music.

Exhibition Gallery, Indian Museum, Kolkata

June 29, 2024, 3:00 pm—6:00 pm

Kolkata

PRINT: Histories

Revisiting printed landscapes representing India by European artists of the 18th and 19th centuries with the Dept. of Graphics-Printmaking, Rabindra Bharati University, where Dr. Paula Sengupta, Professor & Head, will lead a studio walkthrough, followed by a participatory reading session with artist-pedagogue Sujay Mukherjee and student Rohan Poddar.

Dept. of Printmaking, Chitra Bhavan, Rabindra Bharati University

June 14, 2024, 2:00 pm—4:30 pm

Kolkata

Viewfinder: Drawing Art History

A two-day drawing-based investigation of 'perspective', and its art historical associations as a tool for seeing, interpreting, and image-making.

Goethe-Institut / Max Mueller Bhavan, Kolkata

May 23, 2024, and 24 May 2024, 4:00 pm—7:00 pm

Kolkata

Board Game Sunday: Museum as a Space for Play

A visit to the Gautam Sen Memorial Board Games Museum, exploring and playing with Souvik Mukherjee’s extensive collection of board games, followed by an adda discussing the museum as a space for play.

Gautam Sen Memorial Board Games Museum, Ballygunge

May 19, 2024, 4:30 pm—7:30 pm

Kolkata

Museum as a Classroom: Presented by Indian Museum and DAG

A capacity building workshop at the Indian Museum for educators on developing engaging and interactive museum visits for students to explore Indian art and history, for International Museum Day.

Indian Museum

May 18, 2024, 10:30 am—2:00 pm

Kolkata

Sculptures through Senses: Museums through movement and sound

Explore the museum at the Birla Academy of Art and Culture through a movement-based trail by Vikram Iyengar, a soundscape by Subhagata Singha and a conversation with curator Uma Ray.

Birla Academy of Art and Culture

May 17, 2024, 6:00 pm—7:30 pm

Kolkata

Ink: Material Matters

Collectors Chawm Ganguly and Apurba K. Panda lead a discussion on early initiatives in making ink in India, followed by a walkthrough of Panda’s collection of ink and rare pens. 

Itikatha, 9/c New Sonali Park, Kolkata 84 (Near, Baishali Park)

March 29, 2024, 5:00 pm – 7:30 pm

Kolkata

Gab-Sur-Kinaar: Of Making and Playing the Tabla 

An exploration of the instrument by tabla artists, Asif Khan and Rohen Bose, which is followed by a concert where they will be joined by Alla Rakha Kalawant on the sarangi at the Jorasanko Thakur Dalan.

Jorasanko Thakurbari

November 26, 2023, 6.00pm—8.00pm

Kolkata

Mis-en-stage 

Tracing the evolution of set design in Bengal through the theatre archive at Natyashodh Sansthan with scholar Trina Nileena Banerjee, with an introductory remark by Director Madhuchchanda Chatterjee.

Natyashodh Sansthan, Saltlake

November 24, 2023, 6:00 pm – 8:00 pm

Kolkata

Museum as a Classroom: Jorasanko Thakurbari

A capacity building workshop for teachers on crafting museum-learning experiences for students at the Rabindra Bharati University Campus with a visit to the historic house museum of the Tagore family. The workshop will focus on tools that can help make school visits to heritage sites more interactive and engaging.

Rabindra Bharati University, Jorasanko Campus

November 21, 2023, 10:30am-1:00pm

Kolkata

Art Lab

Art Lab is travelling pop-up exhibition on Indian modern art, that transforms classrooms into museums and creates an immersive, participatory learning environment for learners.