Eka in the News

The blueprint for India’s museums of tomorrow includes immersive experiences, digital connectivity and gamification, writes Deepthi Sasidharan.

The New York Times quotes Pramod Kumar KG, Director, Eka, on the jewellery seen at the Ambani pre-wedding celebration.

Bazaar India explores restoration of art with establishments like the Archaeological Survey of India, INTACH, and others.

As (Bijoy Jain’s) unworldly new Paris show confirms, he is now crossing to a higher spiritual plane, keen to explore fire — Oliver Wainwright in The Guardian

This documentary is put together from Amar Singh’s diary which he kept in English every single day from 1898 to 1942, for 44 years.

Fondation Cartier pour l’art contemporain presents ‘Breath of an Architect’, specially created for the institution by Bijoy Jain, founder of Studio Mumbai.

Architect Bijoy Jain would like you to scratch out everything you might have read or think you know about him. It’s all too limiting, he says. (Financial Times)

Textile has been doing it for a while, but now fashion designers are catching up. Swatches, sketches, collections are being documented and stored, ensuring strong brand DNA and enabling collaborations.

Bijoy Jain’s Breath of an Architect, a site specific response to Fondation Cartier, explores his love of space, materiality, silence & the handmade – Deepthi.

Making couture-worthy textiles for ready-to-wear is rare, Herculean and only possible in India; that’s why Abraham & Thakore’s new Ikat leaf repeat pattern deserves a closer look, writes Pramod Kumar KG.

Deepthi Sasidharan’s comments on the much talked-about exhibition at the Nita Mukesh Ambani Cultural Centre (NMACC), Mumbai.

Deepthi Sasidharan & Pramod Kumar KG quoted in a feature on private collections of art, jewellery, music and more in The Hindu Read more  

The ambitious ‘India in Fashion’ exhibition at NMACC was challenging and rewarding. Co Curator, Rooshad Shroff answers Deepthi’s questions on the exhibition.

(Video credit: Sonikka Loganathan, for The Hindu)   At NMACC, fashion milestones volley back and forth in time, displayed against a majestic set designed to international standards — occasionally let down by bad lighting and the stray safety pin, writes Deepthi Sasidharan Read more  

Deepthi gives us a look at bejewelled objects in Indian museums, from Shahjahan’s wine cup to Aurangzeb’s sword. published in The Hindu.

Pramod writes about what the tombstone caption hides in the Mint Lounge

Wrapped in hand-hewn limestone bricks, evolved and expanded over decades, this Gujarat home houses some of the entrepreneur’s most eclectic art collection.

Pramod Kumar KG, the craft curator at the Serendipity Arts Festival, explores craft archives and the multiplicity of India through two remarkable exhibitions

A story about Eka’s ongoing project; the Savita N. Mehta Museum. Read the full story here.

Tourists throng the Porbandar home of the Father of the Nation, but mould rather than inspiration marks the Memorial now – laments Deepthi Sasidharan.

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Pramod Kumar KG, co-founder of India’s only archiving consulting company, on keeping material memory alive through textile archives. Read More

Preserving objects to know history isn’t new. But to storify their role in people’s and companies’ journeys, and tell a nation’s history is different.

Pramod Kumar KG & Alice Procter deliberate on repatriation and restitution and the need to explore alternative histories of objects, people, and collections.

(source: Khaleej Times) Rezwan Razack, MD, Prestige Group, is one of the world’s largest collectors of Indian currency notes and has set up a Money Museum

The Story of Wipro is finally being written on the IT major completing 75 years. Read More

Pramod Kumar and fashion designer Alan Alexander Kaleekal revived a Kerala sari from a 150-year-old photograph of Nagercoil Ammachi Panapillai Amma Srimathi Lakshmi Pillai Kalyanikutty Pillai Ammachi, consort of Maharajah Ayilyam Thirunal Rama Varma, king of erstwhile Travancore (1860-1880). Read More

Keen on becoming the country's museum hub, Kerala is on the course of unveiling heritage repositories that chart a thematic narrative of global appeal and function as interactive spaces attracting the youth. Read More

A talk exploring the the pursuit of gold amidst the textiles, arts and architecture of Jodhpur

This Indian city’s Laad Bazaar has been selling handmade lacquer jewelry for generations. It’s where brides shop Read More

In the first few days of the pandemic, before Zoom and broadcasting platforms sucked up most of my waking hours, I removed stickers. Small stickers in crayon-like blue, saffron, green and a sickly yellow, stubbornly stuck to the backs of books. The glue was cheap and if I managed to peel off a sticker completely [...]

The costume that Balasaraswati wore or Shambhu Maharaj’s anklets: where are these preserved? In India, archiving has never been taken seriously Read More

There were around 35 participants in this interactive online workshop titled Archiving the Performing Arts hosted by Shreya Nagarajan Singh Arts Development Consultancy in collaboration with Eka Archiving Services on July 11. Read More

UNESCO's International Council of Museums states that about 90 per cent of the world's museums are currently closed because of the Covid-19 pandemic. And nearly 13% of the museums around the world may never reopen. Read More

As COVID-19 loosens its grip over nations, museums and art galleries are gradually and cautiously awakening to a new reality. To understand how these places, which are custodians of relics of our past, present and, perhaps, future, need to adapt to the new scenario and still be relevant, MetroPlus speaks to two eminent museumologists, Deepthi [...]

As a museum advisory, travel is essential to our work at Eka, as most of the collections we work for are spread out across India and the world. Being able to see and handle objects first hand, examine their materiality and seek inferences from what we observe, and study contextually is a major aspect of [...]

The marble-clad lobby of Prestige Falcon screams affluence. It is the perfect setting for Rezwan Razack Museum of Paper Money, which claims to be the first of its kind in South India. Razack, Joint MD of the Prestige Group, the property development company, has diligently collected banknotes for about 50 years and is among the [...]

Wendell Rodricks’ clothes were an ode to minimalism and organic fabrics much before these terms became fashionable.

The fourth edition of the Serendipity Arts Festival (SAF) is being held at various locations across Panjim, Goa until December 22. Since its inception, the festival has brought together five key creative disciplines; visual arts, crafts, music, theatre and dance, and culinary arts. Read More

The definitive annual list of the most influential figures in India's cultural scene is here. Through their work and philosophy, these men and women have impacted the way India views art. Read More

Bappaditya Biswas turns jamdani into art while Kristine Michael focusses on design interventions between artists and craft communities Read More

Over the course of her five-decade-long career, celebrated designer Ritu Kumar has established herself not only as a savvy businesswomen, but as one of Indian fashion’s mainstays, says Pramod Kumar KG. IMAGES

Business honcho Rezwan Razack is now the proud owner of some currency portraits from the 1970s, featuring Mahatma Gandhi, which were done by Mysuru-based artist NS Subbakrishna Read More

The Tata Trusts partnered with the Mumbai Police Foundation to undertake a year-long project to help set up the Mumbai Police Archives. Read More

Made possible by the Devi Art Foundation, the exhibition curated by Pramod Kumar KG of Eka Archiving Services, is dedicated to the memory of Suresh Neotia and Martand Singh, patrons who found merit in Jain’s research. Presenting 43 samples of textiles from the ASHA Workshop, Pramod has juxtaposed the new collection with “historic textiles, miniature […]

An exhibition of luxury silk that was almost lost to us, but has now been reinvented with current skills and tools. Read More

Photography first came to India in the mid-19th century, when British administrators brought their cameras to the country to document the landscape, historical monuments and people. As early as the 1850s, photographic societies were formed in three presidencies: Bombay, Madras and Calcutta. The art form also emerged in the richest cities and courts. “Here, Hyderabad […]

Art historian Deepthi Sasidharan talks about her upcoming lecture in Mumbai, the joys of studying 19th-century photography and the current state of heritage conservation in India. Read More

Their fashion choices are lampooned by those who do not understand them, but for India’s foremost politicians, personal style is more than image—it is armour, says Pramod Kumar KG Read More

Is it possible to live many lives in one lifetime? Feroze Gujral, philanthropist, art patron and co-founder and director of the esteemed non-profit Gujral Foundation, has proven it is. https://www.thenational.ae/arts-culture/art/feroze-gujral-india-s-very-own-peggy-guggenheim-1.846960

Ancient India is dragged into focus through such eternal lenses as love, art, harassment and moral policing. The past springs to life; it is our present too. https://www.outlookindia.com/magazine/story/books-ashoka-laughed-at-the-same-joke/301324

COLVALE, India — Down a quiet lane in the Goan village of Colvale, opposite a petite white-and-blue church and sheltered from the sun by a cluster of mango trees, stands the house of Wendell Rodricks’s dreams. “It’s a long story,” the celebrated fashion designer said with a smile, before settling in to recount it. https://www.nytimes.com/2019/03/30/fashion/museum-costume-goa-india.html

DUBAI: More than 300 priceless items of jewelry from Saudi Arabia, from Bedouin belts to the brooch of a princess, went on display for the first time in Dubai this weekend, telling the story of the Arabian Peninsula as a crossroads of civilizations and influences. http://www.arabnews.com/node/1475196/lifestyle

An exhibition of stamps from the Ewari Family Collection is a window to the Nizam of Hyderabad’s British allegiance and his architectural finesse. https://indianexpress.com/article/lifestyle/art-and-culture/leaving-a-stamp-on-history-pramod-kumar-kg-5632810/

On display at Bikaner House, New Delhi, these stamps were among the first in the world to showcase the architecture and heritage of the region https://www.architecturaldigest.in/content/rare-postal-stamps-ewari-collection-nizam-of-hyderabad-on-display-at-bikaner-house-new-delhi/#s-custthe-first-stamp-of-hyderabad-is-one-of-the-finest-example-stamps-featuring-calligraphy-photograph-courtesy-the-ewari-collection-year-of-issue-1869

The use of exquisite calligraphy, multifarious languages and architectural tropes in these stamps demonstrates the far-reaching influence that Hyderabad had on the other Princely states. http://www.newindianexpress.com/cities/delhi/2019/mar/06/a-stamp-of-history-from-the-nizams-era-1947452.html

Do not miss the philately exhibition titled ‘Property of a Gentleman, Stamps from the Nizam of Hyderabad’s Dominion’, if you happen to be in Delhi between March 9 and 24 http://new.outlooktraveller.com/travelnews/story/69303/stamps-from-the-nizam-of-hyderabads-dominions-comes-to-delhi

Ten years of The Gujral Foundation and plans to activate an arts community are just the latest for this fashion icon and art patron Feroze Gujral is in London when we get her on the phone, at the Tate Modern. Though we aren’t privy to the why of her visit, as one of India’s leading […]

The Office of the Commissioner of Police, Mumbai, the Mumbai Police Foundation and Tata Trusts have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on a two-pronged project to conserve and archive historic police records, and to plan for a Police Museum. This will be the first such Police Museum.

Princess Esra lent a royal touch to the release of the Treasures of the Deccan – Jewels of the Nizam in Hyderabad’s Chowmahalla Palace on Thursday evening.

A new book which documents the vast array of the jewels possessed by the Nizams of Hyderabad was launched by Princess Esra in the recently-restored Chowmahalla Palace on Wednesday.

SHALINI SHARMA talks to art historians Dr Usha Balakrishnan and Deepthi Sasidharan about their new book Jewels of the Nizams that took eight years to publish. Their methodical hunt through museums and private collections around the world allowed the jewels and its owners to tell their own fascinating stories.

Attend a discussion that aims to decode the pattern of collecting art in India from the 1940s through the 1960s.

The team has worked on a diverse set of projects, ranging from private museums such as the Amrapali Museum in Jaipur and the Kasturbhai Lalbhai Museum in Ahmedabad. Deepthi Sasidharan is a fund of fascinating stories. Not surprisingly, since she is director of the well-regarded — and possibly unique — heritage consultancy, Eka Resources, which […]

For a nation obsessed with history, the vast Indian archives that tell us about our grand patrimony are given remarkable short shrift. From palm leaf manuscripts to contemporary ephemera, the vaults, stores and shelves of our institutes are richly populated with nuggets from our past.

“Documenting India’s plant life was sine qua non to learning about its natural habitat, and East India Company employees such as William Roxburgh were soon identifying and commissioning local artists to record India’s flora in watercolour drawings, both as part of their work and to pursue their own passion for natural history.”

Eka is proud to have shared Art of Heritage’ (AOH) journey in documenting and archiving traditional Saudi costumes and textiles besides vast reserves of other material culture.

From a Renaissance fixation to a 21st century journey through Buddha’s life, niche museums are changing the way we look at art and history. Forty-eight-year-old A.P. Shreethar, a self-taught painter from Chennai, wants to build a Mona Lisa museum one day, a space which will house remakes of one of the most exalted Renaissance paintings. […]

“The treasures on display at the Museum include the Khamsa of Nizami, a manuscript of Nizam Ganjavi’s poems. The museum also exhibits artwork from the Bengal school of painting. The core of the painting is from the legendary Tagore collection that was broken up in the early 1940’s, when Kasturbhai Lalbhai decided to acquire it.” […]

Curator and archivist Deepthi Sasidharan explains how museums can be turned into places that enchant and enlighten visitors. “Why on earth should one remove one’s footwear to enter a museum? Why shouldn’t one take pictures inside a museum? Famous museums the world over don’t have such strange restrictions. It only discourages visitors and museums thrive […]

Indira – A life of Courage, Allahabad Celebrating the centenary birth anniversary of Mrs. Indira Gandhi, India’s first woman Prime Minister, at the historic Swaraj Bhawan, the birth place of Mrs. Gandhi. The exhibition was curated by Eka. http://www.ndtv.com/video/news/news/the-life-and-times-of-india-s-former-pm-indira-gandhi-439936 http://www.architecturaldigest.in/content/travelling-photo-exhibition-showcases-rare-unpublished-photos-indias-first-female-prime-minister/#s-cust0 http://www.livemint.com/Leisure/UGOV41rXVRyiNV6pGDoimN/Art-Scan-Rare-images-of-Indira-Gandhi-reveal-a-life-and-a-l.html?utm_content=buffer0a0ee&utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter.com&utm_campaign=buffer   Indira – A life of Courage, IGMM, New Delhi ‘The centennial celebrations commemorating […]

Celebrating the 90th birthday of the legendary artist Satish Gujral in a monumental new show at the IGNCA, New Delhi. Curated by Pramod Kumar KG https://ekaresources.com/2016/01/21/a-peek-into-a-legends-life/

Pramod Kumar K.G. talks about the tragedy of Indian museums and what can make a change.

The exhibition, titled ‘A Passionate Eye’ featured on NDTV 24×7

Long Exposure – The Camera at Udaipur, 1857-1957

Eka on the pages of the Forbes India magazine

India Matters on NDTV 24X7, special episode titled ‘Making Museums Matter’ on the occasion of International Museum Day, featuring Eka 18 May 2012.

Eka on the pages of the Business Standard.

Eka featured on The Sunday Guardian

Cataloguing Specks of History: Eka on Gulf News

An exhibition showcasing over 40 Indian artists that represent a period of 400 years of Indian painting.

Pramod remembers Husain through a short piece published in Harper’s Bazaar.

Eka on the pages of Livemint. Sneak peak for those who do not want to pick up a copy.

The prestigious UNESCO Asia Pacific Merit award for cultural heritage conservation was presented to Chowmahalla Palace on Tuesday, March 15, 2011.

Eka Cultural Resources & Research is now at

No. 5-I, 2nd Floor, Jungi House Lane, Shahpur Jat, New Delhi -110049

The enduring beauty of Raja Deen Dayal’s photography goes beyond a merely historical interest in colonial or patrician India, just as Holbein’s art captivates a viewer who has no particular interest in Henry VIII and his court, says Aveek Sen of The Telegraph.

The December 2010 issue of ArchitectureUpdate has an article by Dr. Shikha Jain (director of DRONAH, whom we work with on a number of projects) on the architectural conservation work being done by her team at Udaipur.

Sephi Bergerson is a documentary photographer based in New Delhi since 2002, and in one of his posts he talks about the existence of the many kinds of photographers still working in Delhi today.

Raja Deen Dayal’s images are a fascinating record of India’s past says Shailaja Tripathi of The Hindu.

Ranvir Shah, Founder Trustee of the Prakriti Foundation, Chennai, reviews the Deen Dayal exhibition.

Shweta Sharma of the Sunday Guardian reviews the Deen Dayal exhibition.

Posts on the Deen Dayal exhibition on other blogs.

HT anounces Deen Dayal exhibition.

For the first time,visitors can catch the 19th-century photographers work, spanning three decades, at an exhibition at IGNCA. Richi Verma reports for the Times of India.

Deen Dayal in The Hindu.

Asian Age coverage on Deen Dayal.

The photographic journey of lensman Raja Deen Dayal documents nineteenth century India and the last leg of Hyderabadi Nizam’s dominance in the country, says Nanda Das.

Georgina Maddox covers the Deen Dayal Show for the Indian Express, especially discussing the technology that went into creating it.

You can finally watch the long-banned Satyajit Ray film on Sikkim, says BODHISATTWA MAITY in tehelka Magazine.

Coverage by Dainik Bhaskar on Museum Design Seminar, Ahmedabad

Coverage by Sandesh on the seminar ‘Designing for Museums’ at NID. Click to enlarge.

Waswo X. Waswo reports from Rajasthan’s ‘City of Lakes,’ finding an evolution of art practices within the double-edged environs of tradition and tourism.

Coverage from Dainik Bhaskar (Udaipur) and Navjoti (Udaipur) on the Risk Assessment Workshop

Coverage by Hindustan Times on the City Palace Museum, Udaipur and an article by Pramod Kumar K.G. on the photography archive in the museum from Marg. Both downloadable as pdf.

An article by Rahab Allana on the talks held at the IIC on early Indian photography. The discussion refers to the Udaipur Palace Museum Collection.

An article by Debesh Banerjee from Indian Express on early Indian photography with special reference to the City Palace Museum, Udaipur collection

Mita Kapur in Tehelka Magazine talks about the inaugural exhibition of the new Bhagwat Prakash Gallery at the City Palace Museum, Udaipur, titled ‘Long Exposure: The Camera at Udaipur, 1857–1957’

An article by Mita Kapur in Forbes India discussing the exhibition ‘Long Exposure: The Camera at Udaipur, 1857–1957’ at the City Palace Museum, Udaipur.

Coverage from The Hindu on IGNCA and Braj Mahotsav

Coverage from BBC and videosfromindia on Bhutanese King Jigme Khesar’s visit to the exhibition ‘Bhutan:An eye to History’ and the rare images on display.

Coverage from Thaindian News on King Jigme Khesar Namgyel Wangchuck’s visit to India and on the exhibition “Bhutan: An eye to history”

Bhutan Observer reports the inaugural ceremony of the exhibition ‘Bhutan: An eye to History’ at NGMA by the King of Bhutan

An article by Avantika Bhuyan in the OPEN magazine on the exhibition ‘Bhutan: An Eye to History’

Coverage from Bhutan Broadcasting Service on the inauguration of “Bhutan: An eye to History” at NGMA

Coverage from BIG News on ‘Bhutan: An Eye to History’ with special reference to the various sections of photographs in display

Vandana Kalra writes on the exhibition ‘Bhutan: An Eye to History’ in Indian Express

Jyoti Ray from Tribune News Service reports on the inauguration of “Bhutan: An Eye to History” at NGMA

Prof. Rajeev Lochan announcing the exhibition ‘Satyajit Ray: From Script to Screen’ in NGMA Bengaluru.

Coverage from Diplomatist on Sharan Apparao’s exhibition

Shoma A. Chatterjee from Screen writes on the exhibition ‘Satyajit Ray from Script to Screen’ and the Nemai Ghosh collection.

Coverage from The Hindu on the exhibition ‘Satyajit Ray from Script to Screen’ and on Nemai Ghosh

Kishore Singh writes on the life and work of Nemai Ghosh and his special relationship with Satyajit Ray in Business Standard. It also refers to Pramod Kumar K.G. and the exhibition at Udaipur’s City Palace Complex.

Sathya Saran from DNA reports on the three day meet titled Mantles of Myth: Narratives in Indian Textiles organised by Siyahi.

An article by Rinzin Wangchuk from Kuensel Newspaper discussing the inauguration of ‘Bhutan: An Eye to History’

In this article, appeared in India Today,Damayanti Datta writes on Siyahi’s Mantles of Myth: The Narrative of Indian Textiles.

An article by Mita Kapur in Heritage talks about the conference organised by Siyahi, Mantles of Myth: The Narrative in Indian Textiles. She asserts that clothing is an indicator of culture and it needs preservation.

This article from Verve Magazine narrate the mixed experiences of Mita Kapur in organising Mantles of Myth. Pages from her diary.

Verve Magazine reports on Mantles of Myth: Narratives in Indian Textiles organised by Siyahi.

Mita Kapur writes on the conference ‘Mantles of Myth: Narratives in Indian Textiles’ in Jetlife Magazine.