The MAP Academy

In north Kashmir’s Aragam village in Bandipora district, a quiet experiment by one woman, which began in December 2022, has taken root.

Rewind to Paris, 1925. It is the Roaring Twenties with folks determined to put the horrors of World War I behind them. Out with the old is the new motto as “modernism” shapes fashion, art and architecture. France, ever stylish, seeks to re-establish itself as the country setting trends for avante garde design and hosts the Exposition Internationale des Arts Décoratifs et Industriels Modernes.

Hashiya is the word we generally use for a margin or border, and this is the word that a close friend, Mamata Singhania, chose as the title of a lively exhibition that she organised in Delhi under the auspices of her art gallery. Ten distinguished contemporary painters — some of them from across the border, in Pakistan, and others from home — were invited to participate with their works, but each with reference, consciously, to the hashiya: responding to the very idea.

Within Lahore’s Shahdara Bagh complex stands one of Shah Jahan’s most daring architectural commissions — the tomb of Mirza Abul Hasan Asif Khan. Completed in 1645, the mausoleum represents a pivotal moment in Mughal architectural evolution. The innovations in its form, structure, and decoration foreshadowed the perfection later achieved in the Taj Mahal.

As the chief curator of the Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art Sri Lanka (MMCA Sri Lanka), Sharmini Pereira reveals a breadth of knowledge and depth of thinking that can only come from decades of practice in her field. Highly sought after for her expertise, she has been part of the curatorial teams for several prestigious art events across the world, right from being appointed the guest curator for the Abraaj Capital Art Prize (2011) to co-curating the first Singapore Biennale (2006).

The work of filmmaker Amit Dutta is best understood as a conversation. His craft embodies a form of dialogue between different art forms, ranging from cinema, painting, literature, and music, which references art history and research. Emerging from the lineage of experimental filmmakers like Mani Kaul, Kumar Shahani, and Kamal Swaroop, Dutta, very early in his career, developed a style of his own, wielding the camera like brushstrokes on canvas to create paintings that move.

The hunt is almost over. A controlled chaos unfolds and, at the centre of it all, lies a tiger. Blood pooling under its belly, it lets out a roar in its last death throes. The elephants, urged by their mahouts, draw closer. The Englishmen, seated on their backs, strain forward excitedly as the locals, who helped bring in the kill, watch from the sidelines.

If you walk down the winding path that cuts across the Mehrauli Archaeological Park — a lush green patch, dotted with a cluster of monuments in the midst of bustling South Delhi — you’ll soon find yourself at the recently restored 16th-century stepwell: the Rajon ki Baoli. Sandwiched between the historic settlement of Mehrauli and the Qutub complex, the park is a palimpsest of pre-Islamic, Sultanate-period, Mughal- and colonial-era architectural styles.

“I work with paper, not on paper.” The Bengaluru-based visual artist Ravikumar Kashi corrects me gently during our conversation about his solo show We don’t end at our edges (2025) at Museum of Art & Photography (MAP).

Known as the “power couple” of the Kolkata art scene, Prateek and Priyanka Raja took a leap of faith to open the first Experimenter art gallery in 2009, leaving behind plush corporate jobs to do so. Today, Experimenter operates from three locations — its original Hindustan Road venue, a large space at Ballygunge Place that opened in 2018, and a Mumbai outpost in Colaba, launched in 2022.