The Museum of Voice (Vaacha) and Adivasi Academy: “A laboratory for contemporary ethnic, anthropological and artistic studies carried out from the perspective of Adivasis” – Gujarat

Vaacha – The Museum of Voice

The Adivasi Academy has been built brick by brick with the support of the tribal community and well wishers of Bhasha. It took nearly four years of continuous construction work for the Museum and Library, the first major buildings of the Academy to be completed, so intricate is the craftsmanship invested in creating the combination of simplicity and majesty. The Advisors to the Academy and the Community of Activists associated with the Academy decided not to have any formal ‘inauguration’ ceremony for the structure. Instead, they decided to install a plaque declaring that the structure, which is named Vachaa, The Voice, has been blessed by Mahashweta Devi on the 15th August 2004.

Museumization of culture is not on the Academy’s agenda. Vaacha functions more as a forum and a platform for expression of adivasi creativity. It offers intellectual space for adivasis interested in documenting social practices, and creating dynamic displays of adivasi expressions, both artistic and cultural, in the form of objects, artifacts, performances and digitized multimedia images. The Museum is seen as the ‘laboratory’ for contemporary ethnic, anthropological and artistic studies carried out from the perspective of adivasis themselves. It is conceptualized as a unique Museum of Voice and is the largest resource centre of Tribal Culture in India.

Visitors to the Museum include community members, artists, culture studies scholars, anthropologists, museum experts, university and college faculty and researchers and school children.

Source: Adivasi Academy
Address: https://www.adivasiacademy.org.in/MajorBuildings.aspx
Date Visited: Sat Oct 24 2015 10:36:15 GMT+0200 (CEST)

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