In the wake of an individualistic contemporary culture, the integrated synergies of art and architecture influence a greater public engagement encouraging intimacy through inclusivity. Assessing the impact of ephemeral spaces in unconventional sites is the work of The Hashtag# Collective and Kolkata-based Abin Design Studio.
At various stages of our civilisation, artefacts have been found that bind time, space and ritual. In the context of the prevailing culture, buildings inadvertently have a malleable existence in our psyche. Subliminally, spaces which possess an innate presence of materiality, semantics, context and order inhabit temporal structures erected to facilitate a communal purpose. The apparent intimacy is subjective to the processes involved in the creation of an ‘object’.
The spectrum of work featured here by Abin Design Studio and The Hashtag# Collective ranges from temporal celebratory structures to independent installations as stimulators of interaction with the ‘object’, it’s setting as well as with each other. Within this premise, each of them is foremost conceived with the concurrence of time, place, and occasion.
Treading the Mist, Kolkata
Designed for Kolkata‘s National Design Festival titled ‘The India Story’, the installation is essentially a cube of 46 fish-net fabric layers, with the hint of silhouettes in the folds manifest into a metaphorical journey from the inner mists of Kolkata to the outer reality of Calcutta.
Bamboo Pavilion, Bansberia
Spiralling towards a focal idol, the Bamboo Pavilion is conceptualised as a circular volume with a choreographed movement that entails the journey through vibrant confetti by day and a glowing mirage by night.
Pavilion of Canopies, Bansberia
Catering to the neighbouring tribal communities, the Pavilion of Canopies foreshadows the ceremonial stages as a familiar model by attempting to raise awareness about the conservation of the forestlands and the communities residing in them.
Pinnacle Arch, Kolkata
Borrowing elements from its setting in the historic Presidency University, the installation lucidly suggests “self-sufficiency in the highest form, from attaining stability in the arch form to providing stability as the pinnacle.”
Reflecting (On) The Inhabited Crossroads, Kochi
‘Reflecting (on) the Inhabited Crossroads’ explores how architecture and meaning are conceived through abstractly familiar relations and perceived through an embodied experience respectively. Mirroring the context of Kochi as a centre of urbanisation in Kerala, “The work questions the role of memory and identity in the context of Kerala, which has been home to a variety of traders, conquerors, travellers, and immigrants in the past – questions particularly relevant in today’s global urbanscape.”
In Conclusion
Recent technological and social trends have enabled a confluence of materials and attributes which offer a fertile environment, unencumbered by the specificity of functions and codes that sometimes restrict explorations in temporal dimensions. As models in public space in which the city’s inhabitants are engaged, the new spirit in architecture celebrated here is about freedom, social responsibility, respect for tradition and memory ⊗
Founded by Abin Chaudhuri, ABIN DESIGN STUDIO was established as a multi-disciplinary practice in October 2005. Since then, ADS has executed a range of diverse project that has engaged with multiple issues, and of varying scales, from interior design and architecture to urban design and art. Their work encompasses projects of varying scales ranging from institutional and urban projects to private residences and installations. A conscious effort to explore the ‘unknown’ journey, experimentation with materials and technology, and the engaging of art and culture have been the approach for realising each project from inception to execution.
THE HASHTAG# COLLECTIVE is a collaboration between Biju Kuriakose, Parvathi Nayar, Abin Chaudhuri and Saira Biju that explores multi-disciplinary interventions, provisional propositions and site-specific installations in the public realm. Based out of Chennai and Kolkata, the collaborators have strong creative practices and have worked on permanent and temporary artworks in the past, ranging from installations at Chennai’s Marina Beach in Tamil Nadu to Fort Kochi in Kerala.
