Art Museum RIGA BOURSE has opened a new permanent exhibition Art of India

A new permanent exhibition, Art of India, is on view in the Asian Art Gallery of the Art Museum RIGA BOURSE in Riga (Doma laukums 6) from 23 October 2024.

Indian civilization has a multi-layered history that goes back more than five millennia. It is defined by its diversity of ethnicities, cultures, languages, faiths, arts, and crafts preserved from generation to generation.

The Latvian National Museum of Art collection has more than 500 objects of Indian material culture. Every item is an intricate work of art with elaborate ornamentation, motifs, symbols, stories, and designs.

During the creation of the exhibition, a study of the history of its formation was conducted, as well as a review of the terminology related to Indian art, and in collaboration with the Indian research institution Eka Archiving Services (New Delhi) a complete contextualization of the collection was carried out. Thus, the display provides an opportunity to get acquainted with the objects from the source community’s point of view, avoiding reproducing colonial ideas by moving away from othering and looking at items in an exoticized light.

Art and crafts are very present in every aspect of Indian life and culture be it people’s households, religion and rituals, clothing, or accessories. The exposition was created in cooperation with the Indian community living in Latvia. The result of this collaboration can be seen both in the selection of objects and in video stories, where community members talk about their culture, share memories, and look for connections with works in the museum’s collection.

A children’s guide Follow the Elephants! has been created especially for this exhibition to help them better explore the Indian culture.