summary post

tomorrow is the first day of the annuals. from the 15^th to the 22^nd the school is going to be a chaos of workshops, films screenings, exhibitions, publications.. on the 21^st edward soja delivers his lecture and on the 22^nd the valedictory along with the culturals. there are four workshops - a writing workshop by kaiwan, a painting workshop by sau, adi and ranz; a projections / film making workshop by shilpa gupta and a building technology workshop by amisha and vidya.

all of these and the big dharavi studio were the themes of today. ninad, pau, rupali, dipti, me and the students gathered today at dharavi to meet local players in the grand drama of the redevelopment. the terrain is contested and full of mines everywhere we turn. tomorrow is the big design charette with correa, prabhu, sparc, nsdf, korde and many other local representatives, along with our faculty and students attempting to develop a common platform for an alternative plan for the slum. we will be glad if all of us don’t tear each others eyes out by the end of the day. then there was the publication that needed that i go deliver a new cd to the prnters at byculla; and in the midst of all this workshop preparations and exhibition organizing. it is dizzying sometimes, but the tumult begins tomorrow and we will see how it turns out – for better or worse.

and now for some photos from the past few days

manoj before his encounter yesterday - finally got to see his work!

pre-annuals madness as water balloons are thrown on the participants as part of the treasure hunt - dont ask how...

at crit discussing the emerging urbanism conference yesterday. rupali, ubaid, prasad and sonal

at jak printers today in byculla lovely antique printing machines

byculla with is large industrial complexes and vibrant though decrepit chawls outside.

ninad, paul and rupali after todays discussion