A box, the colour of moss, mottled with rusty brown flecks, bears Dayanita Singh's latest work, Museum Bhavan, for me. Incredible as it may sound, it is a unique piece, exclusively my own, and the 2,999 other versions of it that exist in bookstores, in real life or afloat in the ether, are singular too, each distinguished by its own special cover.
These "unique multiples", as Singh likes to call them, can be yours too, for the princely sum of €75 (a little over ₹5,000). (The price of her prints, which used to sell for ₹5-7 lakhs each, should help put the 'value' of Museum Bhavan in perspective.) Each box opens, like a portal to a hidden chamber, to reveal a set of nine "pocket museums" (once again, the lexicon is Singh's very own), having simple but eccentric names. Finally, the pocket museums can be unfolded, like an accordion, to display an array of images of crystalline clarity. Portable and affordable at the same time, the work is pocket-friendly in several senses of the term. Here's Singh herself, giving a quick demonstration.
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