Bengaluru: National Gallery of Modern Art badly in need of maintenance

BENGALURU: The National Gallery of Modern Art in Bengaluru is the pride of South India’s contemporary art scene. However, the gallery, which was refurbished at a cost of Rs 10 crore back in 2009 is badly in need of maintenance. A visitor at the Jamini Roy exhibition, which is currently on display at the gallery, noticed that the wooden floorboards had begun to rot.

“It seems like a termite problem,” said Naresh Narasimhan, the architect who restored the Manikyavelu Mansion to its former glory. “The gallery is in need of maintenance on the whole and I have spoken to the Public Works Department, but nothing has happened so far.”

Letters written to the Public Works Department have taken them nowhere, which is a reflection of the government’s apathy towards cultural spaces in the city. “We have written a few letters to them, because the floors have been damaged, among other problems, but we will have to wait until the exhibition is over,” said a source connected with the gallery. 

According to another person, who has been closely associated with NGMA for several years, says that this is a longstanding problem. “We struggled to build the gallery’s name, by keeping the public’s interest going and ensuring that there is always something happening. That doesn’t seem to be the case anymore,” he said, strictly on condition of anonymity. “The fact that the gallery doesn’t have a permanent director in place has only added to the problem,” he added.

According to S.G. vasudev, member of the Advisory Committee, NGMA, there are a lot of things that need to be done. “Issues like maintenance work are taken care of by the administration, but the gallery does need storage space,” he said. “There is no place to house the permanent collection every time there is an exhibition. That needs to be looked into as well,” he added.

The NGMA administration has been apprised of the problem and is taking measures to get the floorboards fixed as soon as possible. “We are attending to it,” said Dhar, Administrative Officer, NGMA. “We have contacted the PWD, but they have a certain protocol in place, which involves calling for tenders and then giving it to a contractor. Since this takes time, we are looking for alternative ways to have the matter resolved,” he added.