18/08/2018
The project is structured over three components; exhibition, discursive program and the digital aftermath, which
will function simultaneously throughout the duration of the exhibition. Nine existing examples of collaborative
initiatives have been selected for the exhibition, each one displaying a different politics and format of
collaboration. The examples serve as a reference point to initiate a cross disciplinary discourse. The works are
accompanied by detailed interviews with the collaborators offering in depth information on each individual
project’s needs, politics, ethics and medium. To initiate the discourse, four specific themes running through the
exhibition have been identified to set off the discussions. Each week follows one theme with three kinds of sessions.
(i) Language and Cultural Translation
The choice of language becomes important while considering how it creates access to certain audiences and even
knowledge. What happens when practitioners think through work in one language but present the work in a
different one? How much meaning is lost in translation, and how much is created? How does coloniality collude
with language through its facility, its social capital, or even its marginalization of the regional?
(ii) Gender Mobility and Politics on Site
When interacting with specific sites in the city, gender plays an important role in inhibiting and/or obtaining
access to certain spaces and stories. This session attempts to consider how practitioners negotiate their gender
presentation in their sites of engagement with the city and what challenges they face because of their gender
identity.
(iii) Pedagogical Models in Practice, their Limitations and Alternatives
Recent times have witnessed numerous examples of traditional notions of education and pedagogy being
challenged by alternative models which call upon cross-disciplinary critical engagement, site-based and collective
learning, oral history production, and political engagement with the city. Questioning the practiced and popular
modes of pedagogy and their shortcomings, the aim is to examine some of these alternative models and how
they expand our understanding of and access to knowledge.
(iv) Vernacular Forms of Representation
This section will look at modes of working which present local counter cultures and untold histories in response to
censorship, misrepresentation, or a lack of representation entirely in the mainstream narrative of the city. The
attempt is to consider the desire for such stories to be told, the challenges inherent in telling them, and strategies
for dealing with those challenges.
The discursive program is composed of three parts:
1. Peer Project Session
This will focus on student projects of recent graduates and current students from different universities
which revolve around similar themes. Selected projects are invited to initiate an interdisciplinary
dialogue.
2. Reading Sessions
The reading group carries on the ideas and discussion generated in the discussions. It comprises of critical
reading of existing texts via group discussions, with an aim to understand them conceptually as well as
questioning their application and relevance to our position. The readings are published in advance of the
week in line with the theme.
3. Working Sessions
This session concerns established practitioners; artists, academics, writers, anthropologists, musicians,
theatre practitioners and lawyers who are invited to engage in these work sessions where the discussion
is initiated under the themes inspecting the problems faced, and strategies employed to tackle specific
situations. Following the theme four to six individuals are invited each week who will expand on their
research and experience. The aim is to address questions generated through the exhibition, themes and
dialogue.
