Twelfth International Conference on The Inclusive Museum

Abstract

Which museum is the most visited in the world? The official answer to the question is the Louvre in Paris which has more than eight million visitors yearly. However, I propose another alternative: the Jaya He GVK New Museum in Mumbai, which is situated at the Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport and is the most comprehensive collection of the Indian arts and crafts that has more than 5500 artifacts spread across four levels of the terminal. The airport has over 48 million passengers (including the tourists) traveling through every year. In certain sense, this is the most visited museum in the world. The measurement of the visitor figures is problematic: the passengers would become museum visitors even against their will, as the terminal is the museum itself. Thus the postulates of accessibility and inclusivity – among the most important issues of the museum studies discourse – are realized. In addition, it is possible to book a free guided tour at the airport and to attend several museum pedagogy events, etc. At the same time, possessing a valid flight ticket is required upon entering the airport; in this respect, the principle of inclusivity is violated. Stating that the visitor figure is not the indicator of the quality of a museum, the above question aims to challenge the way we are thinking about museums. In this study, I consider the case study of the Jaya He GVK New Museum as an example of a landmark corporate initiative using the museum export technique.