Shanghumugham Art Museum at Thiruvananthapuram - A Museum with a View

KERALA TOURISM NEWSLETTER

ISSUE: 307

MARCH 2019

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A Museum with a View

A long walk on a calm beach always work wonders on people. The soothing effect of a warm beach remains unparalleled in human experiences, presents you with rare moments of tranquility and helps you get through the stress of daily life. The next best substitute is perhaps the prospect of enjoying an artistic replica of it in a museum, more so a contemporary art museum, where the experience is enhanced by the possibility of sharing aesthetic joy with a cross-section of sahridayas. Visual engagement with art becomes an added bonus in a sea face scenario as seen in the newly-opened Shanghumugham Art Museum at Thiruvananthapuram.

The ongoing show ‘Body / Shareeram’ curated by the renowned senior art curator, critic, and writer, Mr Johny M.L. has brought about a massive change in the perception of art. The show displays the works of 55 artists from different parts of Kerala and India, brought together with thoughtful conceptualisation and curation. The different meanings of the human body, physical, mental, assumed, actual, projected and abused are explored by the artists,and are likely to deepen the spectators’ appreciation of a subject/object that is usually taken for granted.

Nationally-acclaimed artists like Mr Sudhir Patwardhan, Mr Ravinder Reddy, Mr T.K. Harindran, Mr B.D. Dethan, Mr Ajayakumar, Mr K.S. Radhakrishnan, Mr K.T. Mathai, Mr Waswo X. Waswo, Ms Shilpa Nikam and many senior and upcoming artists are part of this show.

This show has generated overwhelming responses from different types of spectators, right from the locals of Thiruvananthapuram, artists, students and the general public to visiting tourists and globetrotters with a backpack full of curiosity. One can see enthusiasm writ large on the faces of children/adults. They are possibly nursing dreams of exhibiting their own works there someday. It is indeed heartening to see national/global spectators queueing up to see the treasures on display in the new Contemporary Art Museum located on the beach.