South Asia Gallery - Manchester Museum, University of Manchester, Manchester

The South Asia Gallery at Manchester Museum - in partnership with the British Museum - is the first permanent gallery in the UK to celebrate the lived experiences and contributions of the South Asian diaspora. Studio C102 and Mobile Studio Architects won the commission to design the gallery in 2020. Manijeh Verghese was then appointed to lead on the interpretation to helps us shape the visitor experience of this gallery.

The new 372-sqm space has been co-curated by the South Asia Gallery Collective, a group of thirty inspiring local experts - including community leaders, educators, artists, historians, journalists and musicians. Over 140 historic artefacts are showcased from the Manchester Museum, British Museum and their partner institutions’ collections, alongside new contemporary commissions and personal belongings loaned by the Collective.

The South Asia Gallery takes its inspiration from South Asian design, while being careful to avoid clichés and disrupt South Asian stereotypes. It is designed to have a lifespan of fifteen years, during which time there will be a regular rotation of some of the most sensitive objects in the collection as well as redisplays of entire sections in collaboration with the co-curators from the South Asia Gallery Collective to update the contents and tell new stories.

The gallery orbits a central Project Space as a room for conversation, collaboration and reflection. It will host events programmed in collaboration with both local and international artists and is a place for people to come together and share their ideas and personal histories. It is currently screening an immersive three-sided projection by Alina Akbar.

The graphic identity and interpretation for the South Asia Gallery bring the lived experience of the local diaspora to life through stories, languages, colours and textures that connect Manchester and South Asia. Everyday South Asian design is referenced through a bespoke typeface that takes cues from signage and typography commonly found in the public realm across South Asian cities. Inspired by a modular type specimen developed in the 1930’s by the Gujarati Type Foundry, it was conceived for the gallery by Sthuthi Ramesh Design, with the individual multi-lingual typefaces created by Bangalore and Reykjavik-based type foundry Universal Thirst.

Throughout the process of creating the South Asia Gallery, the project has existed at the intersection of design and engagement. The design team have been open, accessible and inclusive in their approach, finding different ways to communicate with several stakeholder groups, including Manchester Museum, the British Museum, the University of Manchester and the South Asia Gallery Collective to help design not just a gallery but a new form of co-curation where the plurality and diversity of what it means to be South Asian can be celebrated.

South Asia Gallery design team: Studio C102 + Mobile Studio Architects with Manijeh Verghese, Sthuthi Ramesh, Arup, ADi and Leslie Clark

Manchester Museum extension architects: Purcell

Sector: Cultural / Education | Size: 250-500 sqm | Budget: £0.5-1M

Publications: See our Press & Awards page

Photos by: Gareth Gardner