Participating Artist and Curator as part of Klatsch Collective
All buildings have stories to tell and with the 'Building Stories' Project our goal is to weave together a retelling of oral histories that form a growing, living archive, narrating the story of Bengaluru’s built history and relooking at the city’s ever changing identity.
The first micro-project was 'Myself Mohan 1909', a community centric project in Chikpete, Bangalore. Over 6 months, from Aug to Dec 2015, we uncovered the 100-year old history of the Mohan Buildings through the community of shopkeepers that inhabit it and its surroundings. The community, which started out giving us suspicious glances, warmed up to us and was soon welcoming us into their shops for chai and lunch. Through our interactions with the community we found out about the disputes of ownership, the various functions the building had, and the colourful characters that inhabited the building over time. The project culminated in a 3-day festival which saw the building take on the role of protagonist, telling us his story through a journey of 22-mixed media installations.
This project received a grant under Project 560, 2015, an India Foundation for the Arts initiative partnered by Citi India.
This project was featured in IHC's Visual Arts Gallery Journal 2016: "Art in Public Spaces. Read the article here.
