The Easter weekend at the Indian Museum was all about games, painting, treasure hunts and more.
A fair of games, with art-inspired card games, board games and quizzes, in the central courtyard drew visitors of all ages.
Spread over the weekend, Play Fair was a surprise for the visitors. Anyone with a museum ticket could take part in the jamboree.
The first game, a treasure hunt, involved participants to play as the clock ticked.
In the decorative arts section of the museum, a player was given a set of clues to identify art objects used for playing. The section exhibits pashas, play cards, cowries, chess boards and other art objects.
Players had to identify and then draw the objects on cards provided to them to win postcards, notebooks and other prizes.
Tiny tots with their parents indulged in “Colouring Words”, a game where a QR code was scanned to access an audio clue that describes a paintwork.
The player had to paint hearing the description and his or her artwork was compared to the original piece.
“The game explored how people imagine the same set of verbal clues differently and created unique versions of the same image,” said Sumona Chakrabarty of DAG, an art company.
The Indian Museum held the programme in collaboration with DAG.
“Cartoon Heads Up” was a variation of dumb charade where teams of two played the game with one enacting a caricature and the other guessing it.
Chittaprosad and Gaganendranath Tagore’s caricatures were used for the game.
“It’s really fun playing this because you end up enacting these exaggerated faces,” said Indira Samaddar, a college student who had come to the museum with a guest.
“Tactile Tableau” was all about feeling and guesswork.
A gouache and pastel work of Gopal Ghose was spread out on the grass for the children to step on it and feel the bluish-green painting of vegetation that Ghose had made.
“Art Shuffle” involved shuffling a pack of art cards with paintings of various artists on them and playing Uno.
Players shuffled and played their cards based on artists, the medium used or keywords. The one with the least number of cards won the game.
The Easter Bunny was won by Sandip Sarkar from Howrah who identified all the animals in the clues given to him at the Gandhara gallery.
The evening ended with a quiz that saw wide participation from all age groups.
Questions ranged from identifying designers of book covers to films from Ray’s storyboards and identifying artists from their film posters.
“This is the second edition of Play Fair at the Indian Museum. The first edition was held during this time last year. It was a huge success. The second edition is a bit different,” said Chakrabarty.
