Wednesday, August 27, 2008

monday jury at aa . art in town




the views from the terrace were of the landscape of a transforming mill lands towards the east, while on the west the atrocious siddhivinayak temple spire. if there was a crime on skylines and street edges it is this building.
inside were crimes on humanity as housing projects across the city, in the most attractive areas for architects- read as historic precincts, defunct industrial lands and slums, were shown in a jury. if ever there was a case to disband the entire architectural profession it came also from here. horrific environments presented as natural. the question one asks when looking at housing is always efficiency and never one of domesticity. just goes to show just how complicit architecture is in reinforcing existing imaginations of horrific habitats.
but later in the day was a farce on heritage conservation. the reactionary bureaucrat recreated a neoclassical facade on an existing rcc building to 'go' with the area; while the reactionary artist made curtain wall buildings to appear contemporary. very daring. especially considering that these are masters students.
and maybe the art world is a little better? still repeating cliches, at least to my uninitiated eyes, the 'everything is war' exhibition where everyone says the same things in the same way. but at least it is not as scary as some of the stuff that architects churn out. bharti kher's hybrids brought to mind our cyborgs and shumona's installation in colaba the problem of the domestic.
and some images.
kb house view of pdp
mansion on napeansea road
and chowpatty


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