Sofar Sounds, a global music community that has its presence in 344 cities worldwide, hosted a gig on Sunday evening at an emerging hub for creative spaces called Jxtapose. Founded by a group of seven young architects from the city, Jxtapose has been open for weekend workshops and small gigs, all of which will lead up to its formal launch in June.
In its finished stage, Jxtapose will function as a co-working and meeting space for creative minds. Anyone from a sculptor to a designer, musician to a dancer, a potter to a filmmaker can hire a portion of the space for a few hours, a day, a week, a month or even a year.
A retail space will provide artists and designers an area to display their creations. A recording studio will enable budding musicians to cut a track. One of the co-working spaces in the atrium will turn into a mini amphitheatre for music events and intimate theatre productions in the evenings. A front yard abutting the house that hosts Jxtapose also enables outdoor workshops and performance art events.
Among the seven architects, a few take up freelance assignments but all of them have Jxtapose as their prime focus. “We consider this our biggest assignment,” says Shruthi Ramesh, the founder. The venture, they admit, is self funded. The task was to convince their parents of the need for such a venue in Hyderabad and feasibility of the idea.
The idea emerged from some of their thesis work, where they studied cultural spaces. “Our thesis can also be centred on fictional spaces,” explains Gayathri Kondepudi. That’s where the imagination soared. Enthused, they kept an eye open to gauge cultural venues in the city. “Everyone had bits and pieces of things we were looking for. We thought of a one-stop hub for creative people, which will also help those who are staring off and looking for directions,” says Teja Vanamala, a civil engineer.
Seven months of groundwork and networking with like-minded people in other cities later, they finalised the plan for Jxtapose. The Hyderabad Literary Festival 2017 was the first big event where they made their presence felt through a creative workshop that asked participants to look at a page in a book differently — identify words and build a story around them, either through text or images.
Though the interiors are still taking shape, the open-air front yard has been functioning as a workshop space in the past few weeks.
The venue will have a sound proof dance studio and ample co-working spaces. These spaces, Sravan Kavalipurapu insists, will not target tech-based start-ups. “There are plenty of co-working spaces for tech start-ups to rent, but none for creative arts. A graphic designer can come here and work, and if needed we can help him/her get in touch with good quality printers at a reasonable cost. We are open to helping new architects connect with the right vendors for their projects. Or, if someone wants guidance in social media marketing, we can help in that area as well. We want Jxtapose to be a space where people come and work, meet others and forge collaborations.”
In case of performance arts, the team may do a trial before signing them up for an event. While the space is for emerging talent, they want to ensure quality.
Vital stats
* Jxtapose is on plot no. 587, road no.32, Jubilee Hills. For details, check their Facebook page or jxtapose.com The outdoor portion is now available for workshops and gigs, while interiors are expected to be completed by the end of May for a formal launch.
* The founding team comprises architects Shruthi Ramesh, Akshay Varma, Sravan Kavalipurapu, Gayathri Kondepudi, Rachana Yerapotina, Prerana Shah and Teja Vanamala.
* The next workshop is ‘Experiments on the Potter’s Wheel’ on May 14; 5pm to 7 pm, hosted by Jxtapose and RuddBuddy.
