In the days leading up to the second edition of Bengalury ByDesign (BBD), founder Suprita Moorthy was on the phone a lot, talking to the Autorickshaw Union, workers from Ulsoor’s dhobi ghat , a mixed bag of corporates, schools and Rotary clubs, and even the elderly at assisted living facilities. She wanted to invite them personally to the design festival that saw over two lakh people attend last year. “Many are really shy to come into places like the Bangalore International Centre [the main venue of the festival this year]. They feel awkward; that they won’t ‘understand anything’,” explains the arts aficionado and curator. “We want to break that ‘[lack of a] sense of belonging’.” The Kochi-Muziris Biennale — where the locals today take pride in the festival and come in droves to consume art curated from across the globe — has been a big inspiration for the 36-year-old, and she hopes BBD will add to the inclusive climate.
This year, despite challenges thrown up by the economic downturn, the annual festival has around 50 events (up from 2018’s 35), a “layering of stories” through installations, exhibitions, talks, workshops, and more. But Moorthy stresses that the curatorial process was tighter. “The strategy was quite focussed: on education, community design and sustainability. This year is also about collaboration.” Like Jakub Szczesny’s Taburete Tower installation. Exploring the idea of community engagement, over 30 people (from corporates, schools, the carpentry community, etc) came together at Workbench Project, a makers’ space, to create 60 stools designed by the Polish architect — overseen by Szczesny over Skype. Elsewhere, architect and origami artist Ankon Mitra’s oritecture studio worked with employees at the Titan Campus, teaching them how to fold hundreds of sheets of paper to create a large installation. “Today, everyone is designing on their computers. We are forgetting the idea of the handmade, so we wanted to get them back into that process,” she says.
- The pop-up at Kafnu, the co-working space on Residency Road, will bring in product design and fashion. “This year, it is a face-off between minimalism and maximalism. It’s a great place to break the seriousness of it all and pick up knickknacks, jewellery, clothing and design objects, by names like Cord, Valliyan, Bobo Calcutta, and The Bombay Attic,” says Moorthy.
At a time when design has diversified and the dialogue around it is gaining momentum — from the recent AD Design Show in Mumbai and Ogaan Media’s India Design ID, to the Kochi Biennale and the India Art Fair — Moorthy feels the need of the hour is not competition but collaboration. One of reasons why she’s teamed up with the ongoing DesignUp in Bengaluru. “We don’t want to curate conferences because there are enough people doing it really well already. So, last year, we tied up with India Design Forum [to explore a multi-disciplinary platform], and this year, DesignUp will bring in design and technology.”
Here, we navigate the 10-day festival, spread across eight venues, through a few must-catch exhibitions and installations.
Taburete Tower
Jakub Szczesny | Bangalore International Centre, Domlur
Szczesny brings together architectural tooling and design practice for these plywood towers — “a warm material, practical for domestic use”. “Over the last 20 years, I’ve participated in many festivals, designing objects that were incredibly important, sometimes very costly, but all of them mattered only as long as the festival lasted. After that, they became rubbish, unless some were bought or included in a museum’s collection. So, I thought, why not do something that gains a new life, that people can use and adapt to everyday needs,” says the Polish architect. “At BBD, since Suprita was looking for something that would represent the message of affordable, democratic design, I redesigned the original triangular stools [created for the Concentrico Festival in Logroño, Spain] into square ones, and made the towers at least twice as big, so as to give more of them [each signed by him] to Bangaloreans to take home.”.
Our Colour Reflection
Liz West | Bangalore International Centre
The inspiration for the British designer and artist was her ongoing research into colour theory, light fields, people’s understanding of colour and how it changes their perception of the spaces her works inhabits. “The first space I made the work in was a deconsecrated church that once had stained glass windows. I wanted to emulate the colours and impact of stained glass within the work,” says West. “For BBD, I’ve remade it site-specifically, in response to the architecture and space, creating a new dialogue between the materials, people experiencing it and the building. I hope the work will encourage a sense of self-awareness through the reflections, and a sense of wellbeing, joy, discovery, and meditation when viewing it.” The installation, assembled, once again, by Bangoloreans, brings together over 1,500 acrylic mirrors, in 15 colours and four sizes.
The History of the Built World
John Gollings | Bangalore International Centre
For the last 50 years, the Australian architectural photographer has been exploring our built world and the cultural construction of social spaces, from sacred sites to suburban homes. The MGA travelling exhibition is also a commentary on social and political climates. “I’ve seen the rise of mass housing, which is repetitive and boring. It’s a dilemma that reflects on the idea of democracy and economic advance at the expense rate of beauty and aesthetics,” he says. A frequent visitor to India, his Hampi photographs will also be on exhibit. “The Virupaksha temple, set amongst the rocks of Hemakuta hill, was a formative image for me in describing a city. India has been my laboratory for architectural image-making, the raw, pragmatic forms essential to my aesthetic.”
Intimate Etre
Magali Couffon De Trevros | DDIR Architecture Studio, Shanti Nagar
Curated by Shraddha Nair, the exhibition embraces the idea of humans as individuals, transcending labels, typecasts and prejudices. “I’ve always focussed on people and communities who are different, who have trouble expressing their voices,” says the Spanish photographer. This series of 10 portraits — all shot in Bengaluru, with the LGBTQ community — was her attempt to move away from their “flamboyant photos” to create, instead, an experience of them as normal people. “Part of my idea to go to my model’s homes and shoot on the spot was to keep this intimacy. I felt natural light and playing around with their interiors also added an extra level of familiarity.”
Eye on Poland
Titan Campus, Electronic City
Curated by Magdalena Frankowska and Artur Frankowski, the graphic poster exhibition is an attempt to present contemporary graphic design, says Moorthy. “The exhibited works include posters, books, exhibition catalogues, CD and vinyl record covers, all of which have been transformed by an outstanding designer from utilitarian objects to a means of artistic expression.” It is also an attempt to demystify the ‘white cube’, by taking art and design to an unusual space.
Till November 24, across eight venues in Bengaluru.
