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The visitor sits at the heart of the Museum of Art & Photography's new spaces at the Bengaluru airport. Piece together puzzles, fill in line drawings, or scroll through centuries of heritage on interactive screens. We want people to enjoy art on their terms, says MAP

- Natasha Rego

here's a surprise in store for fliers at Terminal 2 of Bengaluru’s Kempegowda International Airport, and it's a surprise that invites their participation.

Two large enclaves, one each at the domestic and international departures terminals, set up by the Museum of Art & Photography (MAP), offer intriguing ways to while away the time as one waits for one's flight.

Waiting here are paintings, photographs and sculpture by the likes of Jamini Roy, Jangarb Singh Shyam, Jyoti Bhatt, Suresh Punjabi and LN Tallur — giants whose works encompass Modernist, folk, abstract and contemporary styles. There is a games corner where visitors may piece together Indian art-inspired jigsaw puzzles, or colour in classical line drawings.

In an unusual highlight, each venue also features large interactive screens that allow visitors to navigate their way through MAP's massive collection of Indian art, going back 10,000 years.

Flip, digitally, through the Kanchana Chitra Ramayana, an exquisite 18th-century illustrated manuscript. Watch shadow puppets come alive. Pick a tribal art form and explore it. Or simply run a pattern search — draw a shape, any shape, on the screen, and it will throw up all the artworks where similar shapes show up in the MAP collection.