Designs on the Delta: Narratives of Cause and Effect

Speakers: Abhijit Gupta and Chhatrapati Dutta
Discussant: Amrita Gupta Singh

September 14, 2012 | 6.30 pm
Auditorium, National Gallery of Modern Art, Mumbai

Designs on the Delta is a project which evolved over three years (2009 — 2012) in the Sundarbans and areas bordering the Sundarban forests through research led workshops, seminars, design interventions, built form and performances. This project, initiated by the artist, Abhijit Gupta and led by the Khoj Kolkata Artists’ Initiative, is an attempt in defining contemporary interdisciplinary practices combining art, design, aesthetics and architecture, exploring ideas of sustainability through natural materials in lived environments. In a response to the tidal inundations and cyclones that regularly devastate the Sundarbans, this project interrogated the stop-gap arrangements which did not work towards the needs of the local communities. Using locally available materials such as bamboo as building material, a shelter has been designed in the Sundarbans —The Olive Ridley Shelter – for the local communities, which emerged out of collaborative dialogues and interactive exchanges. In this performative presentation, the artists Abhijit Gupta and Chhatrapati Dutta will share the processes and outcomes of this artist-led curatorial experiment, positioning the questions of alternative practices, public spaces and social responsibility.

Abhijit Gupta, an art college dropout, was a designer-entrepreneur till 1991, after which he decided to research indigenous architecture of Arunachal Pradesh and Assam as a personal initiative. This led him to study, research, collect and promote traditional art forms of Bengal. He was awarded the Senior Fellowship of the Department of Culture, Government of India in 1997 and received the UNESCO-Aschberg Fellowship in 2005 and was an artist-in-residence in Brazil. As a practicing visual artist, he has exhibited in both national and international platforms. He is the President and Coordinator of Khoj Kolkata Artists’ Initiative and has been responsible for authoring many projects which includes “Designs on a Delta” which was showcased in Aedes Berlin as part of the Asia – Pacific week in 2311.

Chhatrapati Dutta joined the Government College of Art & Craft for his Bachelors degree in Visual Arts after his schooling in Bangalore. This was followed by a post-graduate degree from the University of Greece, Athens and finally with a Masters in Fine Arts from Kala Bhavan, Viswa Bharati, Santiniketan. He began his career as a painter and gradually moved beyond the pictorial surface to performance, multi-media and installation and has exhibited extensively along with teaching at Rabindra Bharati University from 1995 – 2006. As founder member of Khoj Kolkata Artists’ Initiative since 2006, he has initiated and supported the cause of promoting alternative art practices.