Kolkata :
A Kartik Puja pandal that a city-based architect had created for a local club in Bansberia, Hooghly, has caught the attention of a prestigious museum in the US. The pandal will now be showcased in six cities across the world as part of a travelling exhibition on megacities.
The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) in New York City, considered among the most influential museum of modern art in the world, has acquired the publication rights of the image of the bamboo temple pavilion that architect Abin Chaudhuri had created in Bansberia. The colourful installation will feature in MoMA’s upcoming publication and exhibition titled ‘Uneven Growth: Tactical Urbanism for Expanding Megacities’.
The exhibition explores new architectural possibilities to address rapid and uneven growth around the globe and will be on view at MoMA, New York from November 2014 to May 2015. The exhibition will also travel to Mumbai, Rio de Janeiro, Istanbul, Hong Kong and Lagos.
Chaudhuri, whose design studio has created landmark buildings like the International Management Institute in Kolkata and IMI Bhubaneswar, School of Planning and Architecture in Bhopal and Kazi Nazrul Museum or Nazrul Tirtha in New Town, is delighted at the honour. “The selection of our work by MoMA for its prestigious publication came to us as a pleasant surprise. Being showcased in its exhibition or in the publication is a dream come true for the contemporary architect and artist fraternity,” remarked the principal and design director of Abin Design Studio (ADS).
The bamboo pavilion had earlier won the Black Elephant award indicating the ‘best of show’ entry at the first edition of the 2013 Kyoorius Awards in Goa. In the UK, the pavilion was in the top-five best installation art at the Apex award.
What had impressed the award juries and officials at MoMA is the thought that went into creating a pandal with locally available materials that would not only create an attractive pavilion but also be useful thereafter.
In fact, it was the need to fence a football field that led to the selection of bamboo poles as material of choice for the pandal. Kartik Puja is celebrated with fanfare in Bansberia.
“We run a small football camp at Bansberia. Every monsoon, water would flood the field and then cows and buffaloes would trample and damage the soft ground. Fencing is an expensive affair. So we decided to use bamboo for pavilion so that they can later be used to fence the ground,” Chaudhuri explained.
source: http://www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / The Times of India / Home> City> Kolkata / TNN / July 01st, 2014