In the late 1990s and early 2000s, a group of software and information technology companies in Bengaluru became globally renowned for their services to clients across the world, fast and cheap. India was the ‘world’s back office.’ Since then, Bengaluru has become a hub for technological innovation, for legacy companies and new ones alike to thrive. The city has a robust startup ecosystem. There is the presence of over 450 research laboratories, and over 400 of the world’s Fortune 500 companies within the city’s premises.

Despite this, the spirit of scientific inquiry – asking questions for which the answers are complex, difficult to find – and the history of science is still fairly unilateral across India, which is one of the largest populated countries in the world. The scale of research does not match India’s size: whether in terms of research institutions, state funding, or innovation. How can the spirit of scientific inquiry, so critical both for a rich education and a successful country, be more deeply ingrained? The higher education system also separates arts from sciences, making interdisciplinary engagement, already a global challenge, particularly difficult in India, and South Asia. Yet, the arts and the sciences both have a role to play in the ways in which we think about our past, present and future(s). The arts need rigour to thrive; science needs to be creative. Institutions need to have space for creative thinkers, technological problem solvers, and those positing hypotheses and proving them through their work. To record science, to understand its cultural and social value, and to be able to do this no matter one’s background, educational qualification, or scientific literacy, is essential to creating this spirit. Institutions doing this need to be committed with a long-term focus; creating the space for sustained conversation over many years, which is the time needed for change to present itself.

Jahnavi Phalkey has exhibited this through her work. She is a historian of the sciences, having tracked how nuclear physics impacted the ‘business of state’ for India. For this close reading of history, she won the Infosys Prize for the Humanities in 2023. She is the founding director of Science Gallery Bengaluru, one of eight global science centres. The Gallery creates the space for, and showcases, collaborative work across the arts and sciences, with a public laboratory complex. Through the institution, she aims at making the history of science accessible to the public. With diverse programming, the Science Gallery offers an opportunity for closely studying the history of science as well as the everyday interactions with the subject. The focus is not just on participation, but “..an ethos of proactive experimentation”.

In this edition of Case in Point, we will hear from Jahnavi on how she built and sustains the Science Gallery, how to combine the arts and sciences into one wide-ranging worldview; the significance of the Gallery for the city of Bengaluru; and how to make science accessible, interesting and impactful through cultural leadership. Following a presentation of her work, she will be in discussion with Mortimer Chatterjee, co-founder, Chatterjee & Lal. 

This event is invite-only and open to all members of Asia Society India Centre. The venue has limited seating.

Asia Society India Centre’s Case in Point series features practitioners across business and culture as they go in-depth on one project or initiative in their work, opening up discussion for how replicable, relevant and effective the case is for the field at large.   

SPEAKERS

Jahnavi Phalkey is a filmmaker and historian of science. She is the Founding Director of Science Gallery Bengaluru. Prior to founding Asia’s first Science Gallery, Jahnavi was an academic based at King's College London. She has been a Fellow at the Wissenschaftskolleg zu Berlin, an external curator to the Science Museum London, and a Scholar-in-Residence at the Deutsches Museum, Munich. She is the author of Atomic State: Big Science in Twentieth Century India and co-edited Science of Giants: China and India in the Twentieth Century. She is also director and producer of the documentary film, Cyclotron. Jahnavi is the recipient of the Infosys Prize in the Humanities (2023).  

Mortimer Chatterjee along with his wife, Tara Lal, co-founded Chatterjee & Lal in 2003. Based in Mumbai, the gallery is focused on contemporary and historical material focusing on the disciplines of art and design. The founders also consult for major corporate collections. Chatterjee has authored and edited several publications including Moving Focus, India: new perspectives on Modern and Contemporary Art.

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