BIC TALKS

This is the first segment of our four-part series 'Beethoven Variations: A Poet's Journey through the Music and Life of Beethoven' with renowned British poet Ruth Padel and eminent pianist Karl Lutchmayer. This series has been put together by Prateeti Punja Ballal.

In Part I of the series, Ruth and Karl take us through Beethoven's early years, his childhood in Bonn, his arrival in Vienna first as a virtuoso Pianist and then as a promising composer, and his early worries, at age 28, about deafness.

In the series, Ruth will take us on an intimate journey through Beethoven's life and music, illustrated by her poetry from her recent book. Professor of Poetry at King's College London, she has written many collections of poetry, and books of non-fiction and fiction. Her earlier book Darwin: A Life in Poems, released on Darwin's centenary, captured her great great grandfather memorably.

Concert pianist and lecturer, Karl Lutchmayer held an academic lectureship at the Trinity College of Music in London, now Trinity Laban, for 15 years. He has played at all the major London concert halls and across the world, and his London lecture-recital series, Conversational Concerts, garnered critical and public acclaim. Karl will perform Beethoven's music for us and give us his insights into its composition and context.

In future episodes, they will be joined by guest artists, soprano Nina Kanter, cellist David Waterman and the Endellion String Quartet, one of the world's leading quartets, and the South Asian Symphony Orchestra with musicians from the countries of South Asia and the diaspora.

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This is the first segment of our four-part series ‘Beethoven Variations: A Poet’s Journey through the Music and Life of Beethoven’ with renowned British poet Ruth Padel and eminent pianist Karl Lutchmayer. This series has been put together by Prateeti Punja Ballal.

Ruth and Karl take us through Beethoven’s early years, his childhood in Bonn, his arrival in Vienna first as a virtuoso Pianist and then as a promising composer, and his early worries, at age 28, about deafness

Architects, educators and curators Rahul Mehrotra and Kaiwan Mehta talk to host Pavan Srinath about the ideas behind the ongoing State of Housing – Aspirations, Imaginaries and Realities in India exhibition at the Bangalore International Centre.

Rahul, Kaiwan and Ranjith Hoskote curated the State of Housing exhibition in 2018 as a traveling exhibition, which is now at BIC in Bangalore for the month of September, 2020. The naturally ventilated gallery is open to the public on all days.

If you are in Bangalore and would like to schedule a visit, write to operations (at) bangaloreinternationalcentre (dot) org. Learn more about the exhibition at the BIC website, and you can also attend the online screening of the film 'A Place to Live' by Sanjay Shah on the website during the month of September, 2020.

On Episode 52 of BIC Talks, Rahul and Kaiwan discuss how State of Housing came about, what key questions the project seeks to answer, and they share glimpses of what various components of the exhibition offer to visitors – be they architects, people in government, urban governance researchers, or interested citizens and urban residents.

Rahul Mehrotra is an architect, urbanist and educator. He is Professor of Urban Design and Planning at Harvard University's Graduate School of Design, and is the Founder Principal of RMA Architects in Mumbai.

Kaiwan Mehta is a theorist and critic in the fields of visual culture, architecture, and city studies. He is the Managing Editor of the art and architecture magazine DOMUS India and is a faculty member at CEPT University in Ahmedabad.

The Exhibition is supported by RMZ Foundation, Brigade Group and Kohler.

BIC Talks is brought to you by the Bangalore International Centre. Visit the BIC website for show notes, links and more information about the guests.

Architects, educators and curators Rahul Mehrotra and Kaiwan Mehta talk to host Pavan Srinath about the ideas behind the ongoing ‘State of Housing – Aspirations, Imaginaries and Realities in India’ exhibition at the Bangalore International Centre.

In this episode, Rahul and Kaiwan discuss how the Exhibition project came about, what questions it seeks to answer, and they provide glimpses of what visitors can expect.

The Exhibition has been supported by RMZ Foundation, Brigade Group and Kohler.

Historian and Infosys Prize Winner Manu V. Devadevan talks about the life and work of MM Kalburgi. This episode is an edited audio discussion first aired as a BIC Streams livecast on August 30, 2020, on the anniversary of his untimely death in 2015.

Born in a peasant family in 1938, Professor M.M. Kalburgi went on to become one of the most influential historians of Karnataka in the post-independence times, exploring the history of language, literature and religious life in pre-colonial Karnataka. In his lifetime, Kalburgi published more than 100 books, including monographs, essay collections and critical as well as popular editions of a wide range of literary works in Kannada. He is especially known for his seminal contributions to the study of Old Kannada and the vachana literature.

MM Kalburgi was assassinated in 2015 at his residence in Dharwad, following the assassination of Narendra Dhabolkar in Pune in 2013.

Manu Devadevan makes an assessment of Kalburgi's career and contribution to research on the history of precolonial Karnataka. He begins by reflecting upon the formative influences on the late professor, his research methods, and goes on to make an overview of his academic output, critically interrogating one of several theses that Kalburgi developed.

Manu teaches History at the Indian Institute of Technology Mandi, Himachal Pradesh, and received the Infosys Prize in Humanities for the year 2019. He has published over a dozen books, and many works of poetry.

BIC Talks is brought to you by the Bangalore International Centre. Visit the BIC website for show notes, links and more information about the guests.

Historian and Infosys Prize Winner Manu V. Devadevan talks about the life and work of MM Kalburgi.

Born in a peasant family in 1938, Professor MM Kalburgi became one of the most influential historians of Karnataka in the post-independence times, exploring the history of language, literature and religious life in pre-colonial Karnataka. Kalburgi published more than 100 books, including monographs, essay collections, and critical, popular editions of a wide range of literary works in Kannada.

Heritage practitioner-scholar Krupa Rajangam talks to host Pavan Srinath about how a noble effort like heritage conservation can end up displacing and inflicting everyday violence on people living in heritage zones. Krupa talks about how the World Heritage Site of Hampi has existed before, during and after the Vijayanagara period – and the region is home to over 60,000 residents today. Can modern-day residents of Hampi receive justice and rights, while heritage is also simultaneously conserved?

Krupa Rajangam is a conservation architect with 20 years field-based conservation experience. As a doctoral scholar at the National Institute of Advanced Studies, she has just submitted her thesis on heritage as a form of governance, based on ethnographic engagement with Hampi. This episode also features perspectives from Ms. Ramya (name changed), a resident of Virupapura Gaddi near Hampi.)

Krupa is Founder-Director of the Bangalore-based socially-engaged heritage collaborative Saythu that is led by conservation professionals. The group aims to promote conservation as an integrated inclusive social process, by bridging theory (academy), practice (field), and peoples' lived experiences, through various initiatives, projects, and teaching-learning engagements.

BIC Talks is brought to you by the Bangalore International Centre. Visit the BIC website for show notes, links and more information about the guests.

Heritage practitioner-scholar Krupa Rajangam talks to host Pavan Srinath about how a noble effort like heritage conservation can end up displacing and inflicting everyday violence on people living in heritage zones. Krupa talks about how the World Heritage Site of Hampi has existed before, during and after the Vijayanagara period – the region is home to over 60,000 residents today.

Can today’s residents of Hampi receive justice and rights, while the UNESCO heritage site is also simultaneously protec

Why are Indian city governments so weak and toothless? Is it because Indian has failed to implement the 74th Constitutional Amendment, or are there fundamental flaws with the amendment itself?

Mathew Idiculla talks to host Pavan Srinath about how Indian cities need a new deal in the 2020s, with fresh imagination. Mathew explores the place of city governments in constitutional and legal regimes across the world, and how they are treated within India.

Mathew Idiculla is a lawyer, researcher and writer whose work focuses on issues concerning Indian cities and their governance systems. He is a research consultant at the Centre for Law and Policy Research (CLPR) and previously worked with the School of Policy and Governance, Azim Premji University. Mathew has actively engaged with urban policymaking in multiple capacities and led the drafting of the Greater Bengaluru Governance Bill, 2018 for the Expert Committee on BBMP Restructuring. He writes frequently on various law and policy issues in the opinion pages of India's leading publications.

BIC Talks is brought to you by the Bangalore International Centre. Visit the BIC website for show notes, links and more information about the guests.

Why are Indian city governments so weak and toothless? Is it because Indian has failed to implement the 74th Constitutional Amendment, or are there fundamental flaws with the amendment itself?

Lawyer and urban governance researcher, Mathew Idiculla, talks to host Pavan Srinath about how Indian cities need a new deal in the 2020s, with fresh imagination. Mathew explores the place of city governments in constitutional and legal regimes across the world, and how they are treated within India.