Akash Bharadwaj
Lecturer, Business of the Creative Industries
Akash Bharadwaj researches the histories of collecting, exhibitions and museum-making, and how these practices shape ideas of place, identity and belonging. In the Business of the Creative Industries programme, he brings together visual culture, archival research, curatorial practice and arts management to explore how cultural enterprises create meaning.
Biography
Akash trained in Visual Studies at the School of Arts and Aesthetics, Jawaharlal Nehru University, and in History at Shiv Nadar Institution of Eminence, Delhi NCR. He has submitted his PhD in History at Shiv Nadar Institution of Eminence. His doctoral research uncovers lesser-known histories of collections, collecting practices and museums in Bihar, Eastern India, showing how museums and collections serve as sites of historical and archaeological research.
He is the founder and curator of the Bihar Visual Archive, a digital platform and collaborative network that supports researchers, writers and artists working in and for the region.
Research
Akash's research examines how collecting, exhibitions and museums shape narratives across regional, national and global contexts.
- Histories of collecting.
- Visual culture.
- Museum audiences and visitor agency.
- Digital and emerging archival practices.
- Decolonisation and cultural heritage.
- Curatorial practice and public culture.
His scholarship has appeared, or is forthcoming, in Curator: The Museum Journal, the International Journal of Humanities and Arts Computing and Visual Communication. His public writing has been featured in The Wire, India Forum, The Huffington Post India and ArteSpace.
Teaching
Akash leads the module Introduction to Screen Production Methods and also teaches Creative Materials and Creative Business Leadership. His teaching emphasises active learning: students engage critically with research, analyse industry developments and build strong analytical and professional skills. He also helps design modules that connect theory with industry practice and transferable human skills.
Professional Activities
- Building a Mumbai/Bombay collection for the University of York Mumbai library, as a resource for students, writers, researchers and artists
- Research for interpretive planning for the upcoming Museum of Royal Kingdoms, Gujarat
- Image researcher for the curation of Bapu Tower, Patna
- Co-curator of Poorvanchal aur Palayan, an online project on migration and Eastern India
Selected achievements: Virtual Art Grant, Serendipity Arts Foundation (2023–24); UK Visiting Fellowship, Nehru Trust at the Victoria and Albert Museum, London (2023); Visiting Research Fellow, Centre for Design History, University of Brighton (2023); UGC Junior Research Fellowship in Visual Arts (2019).