Yaminay Chaudhri

This gave birth to a one-of-its-kind intra-regional e-symposium, South Asian Landscapes Conversations, which began in July and will continue till September. The lecture series will explore contemporary building environments and practices. "Along with the continuing historical threads, cultural similarity and shared colonial past, South Asian countries have been working towards articulating a critical discourse in shaping its built environment today. How can architecture mediate cultural and political forces that emerge from our common past? How can we respond to the distinct social tectonics that shape its people and place? What practices of the built environment from the past and present remain unrecognised in South Asia and how can these be deployed into a meaningful future?" the curatorial team at SEA shares.

Poll

Who will win the Punjab Elections?

BJP 32.76%

AAP 43.10%

INC 24.14%

Submit

View All In Poll

With the institution already working on its own archive of books, publications and drawings from South Asian countries, and their work on Nepal beginning in full earnest this year, the conference, says Gupte, helped prepare the ground from where a post-colonial inquiry into architectural and urban research for South Asia could be furthered.

Anoma Pieris

The symposium, which is available on YouTube, began in July, with speakers from Nepal. Roshan Mishra, museum director of The Taragaon Museum and Nripal Adhikari of Abari Architects led the series. This was followed by Kazi K Ashraf, architect and architectural historian of The Bengal Institute, and Salauddin Patash of Atelier Robin Architects, both from Bangladesh.

In August and September, SEA will have speakers from Sri Lanka, India and Pakistan. These include Sri Lankan architects Anoma Pieris, Ranjith Dayaratne and Narein Perera. "From Pakistan, we have Arif Hasan, an independent architect, planner and activist, who has been working in the space of housing. One of his most important works is the Orangi Project. The area of Orangi [in Karachi] is very similar to Dharavi, and the conversation there too, was about not rebuilding the space entirely, but upgrading it. That will be an interesting conversation." The second person is artist Yaminay Chaudhri, who runs the Karachi Beach Radio, which uses oral history and experimental sound as media of inquiry to study complex relationships between the ecology of the commons and Karachi-s rapidly commercialising coastline. The session on India will be led by Prasad Shetty, professor and co-founder of SEA.

Rupali Gupte, professor and co-founder, SEA

Register: https://www.sea.edu.in/

Access Lectures You Missed  https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCmqhK_cag50dn4PT0LHGxLw

Keep scrolling to read more news

Catch up on all the latest Mumbai news, crime news, current affairs, and a complete guide from food to things to do and events across Mumbai. Also download the new mid-day Android and iOS apps to get latest updates.

Mid-Day is now on Telegram. Click here to join our channel @middayinfomedialtd and stay updated with the latest news