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When Palm-Leaf Scrolls Unite Temple, Museum, and Academia

2025-12-08 0 comments

In Kerala, a fascinating cultural alliance has taken root. The Shevadhi Museum, in collaboration with Alliance University, will study ancient palm-leaf manuscripts held at the centuries-old Kumaranalloor Devi Temple. These manuscripts, often preserved in hidden temple treasuries, carry liturgical texts, family histories, almanacs, ritual instructions and more. The project is significant not only for its content but for who is involved: a religious institution, a museum, and academic researchers working together. This cooperation underscores how […]

South Korea Finally Lifts the Ink Ban: Tattoos Step Into the Light

2025-12-02 0 comments

For more than three decades, tattooing in South Korea lived in the shadows. The practice thrived, with an estimated 350,000 tattoo artists across the country, but the law treated it as criminal unless carried out by a medical professional. The contradiction was absurd: while eyebrow tattoos were quietly common among parliamentarians, a young artist risked jail for inking a client’s wrist. That era has now ended. The National Assembly has passed the Tattooist Act, allowing […]

Restoring the Past: Lahori Gate Haveli’s Museum and Delhi’s Heritage Revival

2025-11-25 0 comments

New Delhi will finally unlock more of its past. The Municipal Corporation of Delhi has taken a solid step by getting in-principle approval from the Indira Gandhi National Centre for the Arts to convert the restored Lahori Gate Haveli, built in 1929, into the Shahjahanabad Interpretation Centre and museum. The site lies in Khari Baoli, in a square where lanes spill out from spice bazaars, bustling markets, and the old Delhi Railway Station. The plan […]

When Art Gets Stuck: Cuba, MoMA, and the Risk of Loss in Display

2025-11-20 0 comments

The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) in New York is preparing “Wifredo Lam: When I Don’t Sleep, I Dream,” a major retrospective expected to show works by the seminal Afro-Cuban Surrealist. But several important pieces from Cuba’s National Museum of Fine Arts will not be part of the exhibition. Cuban officials declined to lend those works over fears that U.S. courts might seize them in legal claims brought by exiles over property confiscated after the […]

From Classroom to Curator: Why Goa’s College Museum is the Antidote to History Boredom

2025-11-10 0 comments

Let’s be honest: history often gets a bad rap. It’s seen as dusty, sequestered, and something that happened exclusively to people who wore powdered wigs. But in the vibrant coastal state of Goa, a group of college students and their professor, Rohit Phalgaonkar, are proving that history isn’t dead; it’s just scattered in three pieces at the bottom of a temple tank, waiting for a passionate student to fish it out. At the Sant Sohirobanath […]

MF Husain in Exile, MF Husain in Qatar: Law, Art, and the Strange Case of India’s Lost Painter

2025-11-06 0 comments

Introduction Few artists in modern India embody adoration and controversy like Maqbool Fida Husain, more popularly known as M.F. Husain did and continues to do. Often celebrated as among India’s leading modern artists, unfortunately, Husain spent his final years outside India. This was not because he was exiled by some law or decree, but by a steady barrage of court cases that in most cases edged on harassment. Now, more than a decade after his […]

Drilling Down on Due Diligence: Why Woodside’s Extension is a Legal Litmus Test

2025-11-05 0 comments

The energy industry often operates on the assumption that if a project is big enough, its economic gravitational pull will simply warp the legal landscape to accommodate it. However, the proposed extension of Woodside’s North West Shelf gas processing plant in Western Australia—set to run until 2070—is proving to be a legal gauntlet. Facing challenges from both the Australian Conservation Foundation (ACF) and Friends of Australian Rock Art (FoARA), the federal environment minister’s approval is […]

From Melody to Museum: S D Burman’s Cumilla Home Set to Sing Again

2025-09-26 0 comments

The Chartha home where Sachin Dev Burman (better known as S D Burman) first heard Bhatiali river songs and folk music of boatmen, may soon be more than a memory. The Ministry of Cultural Affairs of Bangladesh has re-launched plans to convert his ancestral home into a full-fledged music museum and cultural complex. The Bangladesh National Museum is leading feasibility studies under a three-member committee headed by Md Serajul Islam. The planned museum aims for […]

‘Almaty Museum of Arts’ Marks a New Chapter for Central Asian Culture

2025-09-16 0 comments

On September 12, 2025, Kazakhstan opened the Almaty Museum of Arts—its latest museum built to international standards and designed to host major art exhibitions. This is more than another cultural facility; it is a statement of ambition. Almaty has long been a regional hub, and this museum aims to tie together local artistic heritage, global conversations, and infrastructure strong enough to support both. With modern galleries, climate control, conservation spaces, wet and dry workshops, and […]

From Souvenir Shops to Cultural Stewardship:India’s New Heritage Initiative

2025-09-14 0 comments

The Archaeological Survey of India’s Piloted Model for Heritage Commerce The Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) has recently announced an initiative that may finally bridge the awkward gap between history as something you passively observe and history as something you can take home. At 55 select monuments, ranging from Qutub Minar to Gol Gumbaz, the ASI will transform its existing publication counters into full-fledged souvenir shops. These shops will stock replicas, craft items, and heritage-inspired […]