MUSEUM OF OBSOLETE OBJECTS: MOHAN NIWAS COLLECTION
Virtual Museum, Alternate Archive, Story-making device, Salvage Farm
December 2019 onwards
Garli, Himachal Pradesh, India
Project initiated by / Atul & Ira Lal
Project supported by / Scan the World
Role / Researchers, Curatorial-mechanics, Narrative Strategists
This museum archives the everyday objects that have been collected, curated and preserved over generations at Mohan Niwas in Garli, Himachal Pradesh.
Through varieties of evidence and records, the lives of these artefacts are documented from their heyday to their current obsolescence in the everyday. Their intergenerational stories are enmeshed within associations, memories and anecdotes collected widely. Members of the Mohan Niwas household including the caretakers, stunned tourists and curious experts have contributed to developing these multi-layered narratives as one of the first personal archives in Garli.
In their magical-realist repose, the objects of the Mohan Niwas collection awaits new types of engagement to be re-animated into multiple possible future lives.
