SUBMERGE – Science Gallery Bengaluru Launches First Exhibition

Posted on: 09 December 2019

When we think of water, we are mostly thinking of the 3% that is freshwater on Earth. What does it mean to think of water beyond its being a resource: water is after all a weird substance? It is present in the smallest of living cells as well in gigantic glaciers and oceans. Water shapes landscapes, lives, and legacies. Yet, access to and use of water is neither equitable nor compassionate. Our oceans are polluted, our groundwater is depleting, and our rivers and lakes are drying up.

SUBMERGE at Science Gallery Bengaluru will explore our collective relationship to water and address challenges to identify better futures. What if geologists, hydrologists, artists, civil engineers, ecologists, social scientists, oceanographers, historians, and storytellers, among others, came together to share and create knowledge about water, explore our collective experience and relationship to water to address challenges and identify futures?

This exhibition is partly developed in collaboration with the Smithsonian Institution, facilitated by the United States Consulate, Chennai.

A flagship international collaboration to inspire young Indian innovators, and the first space of its kind in Asia, Science Gallery Bengaluru is a dynamic new space for engaging young adults, 15-25 year olds, at the interface between science and the arts, drawing on the intellectual capital of three of India’s leading research institutions, Indian Institute of Science, National Centre for Biological Science and Srishti Institute of Art, Design and Technology, which offer complementary areas of expertise.

As the first Asian member of the Global Science Gallery Network, SGB will build on the proven university-linked model of public engagement pioneered by Science Gallery at Trinity College Dublin, but will adapt this model to a radically different context – the city of Bengaluru, with a population of almost 11 million people, home to a dynamic creative community, some of India’s leading scientific institutions, and also the IT and biotechnology hub of India.

Science Gallery at Trinity College Dublin has a history of collaboration with the National Centre for Biological Sciences (NCBS), Indian Institute of Sciences (IISc) and Srishti Institute of Art, Design and Technology (SIADT) on exhibitions and workshop programmes in Dublin and Bengaluru. Building on the learnings of the Science Gallery Dublin, which has attracted over 2 million visitors since opening in 2008, Science Gallery International (SGI) is the charity established to develop the Global Science Gallery Network with the goal of creating eight university-linked galleries worldwide by 2020.

Science Gallery International was established in 2012 with the founding goal of establishing a Science Gallery Network with eight nodes by 2020, based on the success of Science Gallery Dublin at Trinity College Dublin. Governed by a voluntary board, and led by Executive Director Dr. Andrea Bandelli, the Science Gallery International team is based in Dublin, Ireland.