The Gyaan Project

Vinu Daniel joins us on Audiogyan. He is an Architect and did his B. Arch in 2005 from The College of Engineering, Trivandrum. After that, he worked with Auroville Earth Institute for the UNDP (United Nations Development Programme) Post-Tsunami construction. On returning from Pondicherry in 2007 he started 'Wallmakers', an architectural practice that deals with sustainable and cost-effective architecture. Mud bricks, recycled materials, eco-friendly methods of construction, and apt utilization of natural resources shaped Vinu's design philosophy. We’ll try and document some of his thoughts on mud as a material and what is truly sustainable.

Questions

1. According to BV Doshi, cement is just another material. It depends on how we use it. What’s wrong with cement?


2. What’s so beautiful about mud as a material? It gives a lot of warmth. What’s the extent to which Mud as a material can be exploited? Can we build a skyscraper with mud?


3. In UI design, we have an atomic theory for building design systems. In your case, is brick the foundation block? How do you build foundations?


4. At Wallmakers, how do you ensure Mud is sturdy and stable? How do you ensure that waste doesn’t spoil the architecture in a long run? Tell us a little bit about Debris Wall and Shuttered Debris Wall.


5. “Sustainable” is now an overused term. It loses its actual meaning over time. While you have been practicing it pretty religiously / judiciously. What does it mean to you? What is truly sustainable?


6. When we are focused on a particular agenda/approach, we tend to have less focus on other dynamics. For eg: If everything is about sustainability, What about architecture that invests in creating space for conversations? (Like Correa) - How do you balance them in your work?


7. What is the long-term future of housing, shelter, and security according to you? (Do you see any flip side to the name “Wallmakers”?)

Reference reading

1. https://www.wallmakers.org


2. https://architectuul.com/architect/vinu-daniel


3. https://www.instagram.com/ar.vinudaniel/?hl=en


4. https://www.gqindia.com/live-well/content/indias-most-radical-architect-vinu-daniel-is-getting-even-more-radical


5. https://www.stirworld.com/think-columns-vinu-daniel-feels-at-home-with-the-brick


6. https://www.beautifulhomes.com/magazine/lifestyle/features/architect-vinu-daniel-creates-sustainable-homes-that-look-good-a.html


7. https://www.designpataki.com/videos/sustainable-design-practices-with-architect-vinu-daniel/


8. https://www.thehindu.com/life-and-style/vinu-daniel-sustainable-architect-participates-in-exhibition-on-climate-change-our-time-on-earth-in-barbican/article65353319.ece


9. https://worldarchitecture.org/architecture-news/enfvm/-we-must-give-back-to-the-site-says-wallmakers-founder-vinu-daniel.html

Swami Vivekananda once said that “Get extensity with intensity, but not at its expense.” I guess our today’s guest has been trying to achieve both very elegantly in her practice, breadth, and depth at the same time. Happy to have Ruchika Nambiar with us on Audiogyan. Ruchika is an artist, designer, and writer. Her work ranges across media, from publishing books, graphic memoirs, interactive social media stories, design consulting practice for brands and businesses as well as a mentorship program for young artists and designers. We’ll be talking about what it takes to be an interdisciplinary designer. She has some really well-documented videos on her youtube channel and website.

Questions

1. What is your definition of design and what’s your definition of art?


2. What does it really mean to be an interdisciplinary designer or an artist? Is it an outcome to input? How do you compare it with being a T-shaped designer?


3. Can one start being interdisciplinary? As Massimo Vignelli says, “if you can design one thing, you can design everything”. How would you respond to that?


4. What comes first for such designers - Thought or the medium to explore?


5. In your talk “10 Practical Realities of a Multi-Disciplinary Practice” on youtube - you mention, “use your best skill first” - isn’t it difficult to become best at one thing while doing another?


6. I have heard multiple times (recently by Varun Grover) that if you wish to write, do all other things than writing. Then write. Basically, expose yourself to many other things which fuel your creativity. What does an interdisciplinary artist or a designer consume?


7. [personal question] From whatever I gather after researching you and seeing your work, it’s quite a feat. Plus you talk about being a project manager, handling billing, building relationships, and so on… Do you feel you are spread thin? What keep you motivated on so many levels?

Reference reading

1. https://www.ruchikanambiar.com


2. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yVxy7nt3zp0


3. https://www.youtube.com/@RuchikaNambiar/videos


4. https://www.instagram.com/thatruchika/?hl=en


5. https://adplist.org/mentors/ruchika-nambiar


6. https://www.linkedin.com/in/ruchikanambiar/

Anton Chekov’s famous lines in his book are… “If you say in the first chapter that there is a rifle hanging on the wall, in the second or third chapter it absolutely must go off. If it’s not going to be fired, it shouldn’t be hanging there.” Well, I guess our today’s guest has an innate and instinctive quality to decide what’s in the frame and what's not. Be her earlier stint as a photojournalist or her avatar as a production designer for numerous films since 2006. I am pleased to have Meenal Agarwal with us on Audiogyan. She has been a production designer for many films like Ankhon Dekhi, Hitchki, Pari, Bulbul, Dum Laga Ke Haisha, and most recently the Netflix film Qala.

Questions

1. What does a film mean to you? What are the other 2 things that matter the most to you in a film apart from the story?


2. I guess, in the early days of cinema, there was not really an explicit role of a production designer (at least in India). Most of the stuff was done by the director and the cameraman. How did it come to be? Why did we feel the need for production designers? Scale? More attention to detail? Quality of the narrative?


3. What is production design in the context of a film? How are they different from Art directors or set designers?


4. Who are the key stakeholders of a production designer? How much of a role do they have in refining / changing the narrative? Any example from Aakhon Dekhi or rk-rkay or Dum Laga ke haisha?


5. How much space is important in your work? When do you decide to make a replica or use the original? Can you briefly explain what are the steps to arrive at the final output? What’s kind of a process? Maybe take a recent example of Qala which is set in the 1940s in Calcutta.


6. How do you decide what stays and what’s not required in the frame keeping the larger story in context? Since you are creating a whole world out there - How big is the team generally for small-scale production and large-scale production?


7. All might seem possible in the pre-production stage but during the shoot, budgets might just shoot up. What compromises does a production designer do? Again with any example?


8. What is more satisfying as a creative designer - working on relatively large budget films like Hitchki and Shakuntala Devi or bootstrap films like rk/rkay?


9. What is the future of Production Design when everything is going digital? First, it was actors on green screen and now humans are replacing AI-driven characters.


10. If you have the conclusion by giving some tips for those who wish to get into this space, what would be those?

1. https://www.imdb.com/name/nm1440715/


2. https://www.linkedin.com/in/meenal-agarwal-3827555/?originalSubdomain=in


3. https://www.mid-day.com/sunday-mid-day/article/working-as-a-photojournalist-was-like-riyaaz-23260028


4. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xnV0GNtHlyU


5. https://www.instagram.com/lifaafa_/?hl=en


6. https://scroll.in/reel/1037258/the-art-of-qala-art-nouveau-and-a-lot-of-drama-in-the-darkness

Audiogyan is proud to partner with UnBox Cultural Futures Society and What Design Can do. What Design Can Do, is an international organization that seeks to accelerate the transition to a sustainable, fair, and just society using the power of design.

WhatDesignCanDo is launching the “Make it Circular Challenge” - a global design competition building a circular future in partnership with IKEA. This Challenge invites designers and creative entrepreneurs everywhere to submit design-driven climate innovations. The end goal? To show the world that a circular future is not only imaginable — but actionable. Winning projects will be propelled into 2023 with €10.000 in funding and a tailor-made development program. Submit your proposals online for free by 31 January 2023. Check out the design briefs and learn more about them at makeitcircular.whatdesigncando.com

Pepijn Zurburg joins us on Audiogyan. He is a designer and an art director. During his studies at the Utrecht School of the Arts and Sandberg Institute, Pepijn met Richard van der Laken. Together, they founded the renowned visual design agency De Designpolitie, the graphic design collective Gorilla, and What Design Can Do. Their work has won numerous awards and features in the permanent collection of galleries such as Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam and MoMa New York. Working with partners and clients from KPN to Frascati Theatre, and many more. Pepijn is responsible for leadership and strategy, branding, and visual communication for everything at “What Design Can Do”. A true allround designer with a strong hands-on approach.

1. What's your definition of design? How has it changed over time?


2. What according to you is a “short term” and “long term” view on using Design, for profitability? What according to you, design can really do and what are we doing?


3. What is the “What can design do” competition about?


4. What are the fundamental aspects of circular design for this year's theme?


5. What made you start with Richard, “What Design Can Do”? Any moment, project, or milestone which you think is a trigger/starting point?


6. Can you give us a panoramic view from 2015 till today? Maybe talk a little bit about the start with the “refugee challenge” and others to this year's “make it circular” challenge


7. Design is a continuum (Naveen Bagalkot), a process where we peel layers by shipping. What framework do you use to evaluate that proposed ideas are actionable? In your research docs, you mentioned “The Five Circular Ways of Living”. Can you tell us more about it?


8. I had given a flash talk a long time ago called “Designed by Default”. In short, it was about… “things are designed by default in nature”. We as the human species, rewire stuff for some incentives which more often than not land up in a few tradeoffs. What are your thoughts on that? How do you look at the synthesis after this tradeoff?


9. Can you conclude by sharing any case study/winner or 2, which you loved the most in the last 5 years?


10. One surprise question, regarding hands-on. Does a designer need to be hands-on all his/her career? What are the advantages and disadvantages of being an individual contributor all throughout?

1. https://www.whatdesigncando.com/makeitcircularchallenge/


2. https://www.whatdesigncando.com/our-challenges/


3. https://makeitcircular.whatdesigncando.com


4. https://www.youtube.com/@WhatDesignCanDoVideo


5. https://www.instagram.com/whatdesigncando/


6. https://twitter.com/WhatDesignCanDo


7. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mXhzxS6nqDU


8. http://quicksand.co.in


9. http://quicksand.co.in/unbox


10. https://www.whatdesigncando.com/project/living-coffin/


11. https://www.whatdesigncando.com/project/nyungu-afrika/


12. https://www.instagram.com/pepijnzurburg/?hl=en


13. https://www.linkedin.com/in/pepijn-zurburg-8207247/?originalSubdomain=nl


14. https://www.designpolitie.nl


15. https://www.whatdesigncando.com/about-wdcd/our-team/

Audiogyan is proud to partner with UnBox Cultural Futures Society and What Design Can do. What Design Can Do, is an international organization that seeks to accelerate the transition to a sustainable, fair, and just society using the power of design.

WhatDesignCanDo is launching the “Make it Circular Challenge” - a global design competition building a circular future in partnership with IKEA. This Challenge invites designers and creative entrepreneurs everywhere to submit design-driven climate innovations. The end goal? To show the world that a circular future is not only imaginable — but actionable. Winning projects will be propelled into 2023 with €10.000 in funding and a tailor-made development program. Submit your proposals online for free by 11 January 2023. Check out the design briefs and learn more about them on makeitcircular.whatdesigncando.com

Today we have Ayush Chauhan with us on Audiogyan. Ayush is the Managing Partner & Co-Founder of Quicksand Design Studio. He is a strong advocate of transformative roles through design within public policy, international development, social enterprise, and innovation, for which he was also granted the prestigious Yale World Fellowship in 2012. Ayush is also an avid triathlete! Quicksand Studio also hosts the UnBox Cultural Futures Society. It’s a platform exploring new narratives and building action at the intersection of disciplines, to reimagine India’s plural futures. As part of its agenda, UnBox Cultural Futures Society partners with What Design Can Do regularly and this year they bring, the ”Make it circular challenge”.

1. As we say, “India has many Indias.” We also do not have a literal translation of the word “Design” in India. We have kala, Karigari, and many more. How and where do you see Design in India?


2. Our education system is mainly inspired by the west which in the initial days (before personalization) was designed for profits and thereby had a lot of standardization. We have also recently seen that valley startups don’t find a PMF in India. What are your learnings/insights so far to reimagine India’s plural futures through UnBox Cultural Futures Society?


3. Historically (half a millennium ago) we as Indians were huge on up-cycling, reusing, and good design systems to make this circular thing work - Can we find learn from some insights?


4. What Design Can do has partnered with IKEA for this “make it circular challenge”. IKEA is one brand that has made genuine attempts to contextualize products and services as per markets, barring aesthetics. Can you talk a little bit about the fundamental aspects of circular design?


5. How did "UnBox Cultural Futures Society" and "What Design can do" connect? A little bit of the backstory? In which capacity do you guys collaborate


6. What are other initiatives undertaken by Unbox through the years? Collaborating with British Council, NID, Gothe Institute, and more.


7. In India, according to you are a few domains that need immediate design intervention. I am assuming it will be from MP Ranjan’s list but still, since you are a practicing professional, you might see things differently.


8. Can you conclude by sharing any case study/winner or 2, which you loved the most in the last 5 years from “What Design Can do” competitions?

1. https://www.whatdesigncando.com/makeitcircularchallenge/


2. https://www.whatdesigncando.com/our-challenges/


3. https://makeitcircular.whatdesigncando.com


4. https://www.youtube.com/@WhatDesignCanDoVideo


5. https://www.instagram.com/whatdesigncando/


6. https://twitter.com/WhatDesignCanDo


7. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mXhzxS6nqDU


8. http://quicksand.co.in


9. http://quicksand.co.in/unbox


10. https://cleanenergychallenge.whatdesigncando.com/jury/ayush-chauhan/


11. Living Coffin


12. Nyungu Afrika

Today Audiogyan turns 6. Yes, It’s been amazing 6 years of documenting designers, poets, musicians, writers, thinkers, filmmakers, and more… We have reached the 259th episode. Well and to celebrate this special anniversary episode, we have Taufiq Qureshi with us, who can unarguably be called the King of rhythms. One of the most sought-after percussionists and the greatest thinkers in the world of music and world music. Apart from introducing us to Djembe and many other instruments, Taufiq sir has brought percussion instruments to center stage. Son of Ustad Alla Rakha and younger brother of Ustad Zakir Hussain, for Taufiq sir, music runs in the family. His music speaks for itself. His repertoire clearly shows his hard work, discipline, and passion for it. What we will try and document today is his philosophy about music and his thoughts on “rhythm”.

1. What does the word rhythm mean to you after 50 years? What makes the “sum” so divine?


2. I heard in Ashok Ranade’s talk on ethnomusicology that, “Aristotle specifically mentioned that don’t change the rhythm of the state. It creates anarchy”. What makes rhythm so fundamental?


3. In my interview with Sudhir Mainkar, he mentioned that music emerged from nature. Is it worth asking did shruti came first or taal?


4. For a percussionist, rhythm is everywhere. Are there areas where there is no rhythm or rhythm need not be seeked? I had heard in one of P.L. Deshpande’s speeches that a real musician should be able to hear shadja even in the ceiling fan. 🙂


5. You have spent a lot of time experimenting with a rhythm which dwells in the zone of abstract music. How do you make it relatable? Does the listener have to be aware or informed for it to comprehend? You are often quoted as knowing the pulse of the audience and performing accordingly.


6. It is said that instruments travel. Can you talk a little bit about instruments like djembe, duff, and bongos, in the context of instruments travel culturally?

1. http://www.taufiqqureshi.com/#


2. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taufiq_Qureshi


3. https://www.instagram.com/taufiqdjembe/?hl=en


4. https://m.facebook.com/people/Taufiq-Qureshi/100047213433179/


5. https://thefoundationroom.in/courses.php?source=TQ


6. https://open.spotify.com/artist/5pHGolVxp4QTvcuSnLCo2X


7. https://music.apple.com/in/artist/taufiq-qureshi/80201529

“One man is equivalent to all Creation. One man is a World in miniature.” ~ Albert Pike. Even in Indian spirituality, these words are commonly used and understood that the macrocosm is the reflection of our body which is the microcosm. Today we have a guest who deals with really intricate artwork which need a lot of focus, attention and precision. We are talking about miniature art. Srijan Jha joins us on Audiogyan. Srijan is a miniature artist, traveller, writers, storyteller and also engages in heritage restoration. He is from Bhopal and we’ll be talking all about miniature art.

Questions

1. What’s you definition of patience and art? How do you see them both in the kind of art you produce?


2. What’s miniature art? Why was it called limning? Can you share any brief history of it’s origin and travel? Why was it done, when was it first thought of etc…? Where do you see it in India?


3. Can you give us a peek into the mythology and folklore associated with this art form?


4. I started of with the microcosm and macrocosm. It seems like in miniature art you try fit in the universe. What excites you about this form? What’s so special about Miniature art? Why do people predominantly draw portraits? Even your work is mostly portraits? What is the creative satisfaction in doing it?


5. How mini can a miniature painting be? What are typically the subjects? How important is the subject? What surfaces are suitable for this form of art?


6. With digital age and technology, what are the new challenges for miniature artists (at least in your kind of work). Can artists zoom 20x and achieve the desired output? What is the future of miniature art?

Reference reading

1. https://www.instagram.com/jaadugarbysrijan/?hl=en


2. https://www.facebook.com/studiojaadugar


3. https://twitter.com/srijanjha8


4. https://www.artofwildlife.com/miniature_art_history.html


5. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Miniature_art


6. https://uncoverimages.com/2016/05/18/review-the-history-of-miniature-painting-in-my-name-is-red/

In episode # 244, Sumana Chandrashekar spoke about History of Ghatam. Immediately after the episode was released, Sangeeta Jawla connected and suggested that we could have done a pre-cursor to the Ghatam episode and document the “pot”. Well, better late then never. Today we have Sangeeta with us on Audiogyan to talk about the clay as a material and it’s history through stories and folklores.

Sangeeta is a research scholar, a practicing potter and a storyteller. She engraves the potters’ folk narratives (collected all across India) on the clay canvas. The visual depiction of the potter’s folk and real-life narratives help us understand the community’s folklore, social relations and material culture differently. Additionally, as a woman practitioner, she also focus on the question of women agency, since in most traditional potter communities women are not allowed to touch the wheel, even while they fully engage with all other aspects of pottery production, from preparing clay to decorating to selling. We’ll try and document few stories and a brief history of clay intersecting from mythology to ecology and more…

Questions

1. How & why did we discover pot? Or did we invent it? What were the initial forms made of?Clay? How did the pot look long time ago?


2. Can you talk a little bit about the narratives around the title of the potters. Who is/was a Prajapati or Khumbhar? How did these words come to be?


3. Pot seem to have come with us a long way. It has connected many things. Could you tell few important milestones in it’s journey so far? For eg: The tools, the donkey, the gender and caste aspect? Music and songs


4. Pot is used a lot in philosophy. Seems like some profound questions are either asked or answered through pot. In Vedanta, Clay and pot example is used many times. Can you talk a little bit about the process of making a pot and the analogies we have in our life? (Beating the clay, baking etc…)


5. What kind of pots were / are made and what are the stories inscribed on them? Any key iconic stories which are found?


6. Can you tell us about the project that you did - “Who is the pot?”

Reference Reading

1. 
   
   1. https://www.instagram.com/wheeled_fortunes/
   
   
   2. https://shura.shu.ac.uk/29521/10/Parkes-Nield-LocatingWomenInTheFolk(VoR).pdf
   
   
   3. https://www.edexlive.com/news/2020/jan/27/what-do-this-aud-researcher-storyteller-and-ghatam-player-have-in-common-stories-about-pots-and-po-10030.html
   
   
   4. https://www.linkedin.com/in/sangeeta-jawla-74aa93237/?originalSubdomain=in
   
   

Today’s guest has been dealing with conflicts for some time now. Pleasure to have Avni Sethi with us on Audiogyan. Avni is a interdisciplinary practitioner with her primary concern lying between culture, memory, space and the body. She conceptualized and designed the Conflictorium about which we’ll be diving deep as a case study. Her interests lies in exploring the relationship between intimate audiences and the performing body.

Questions

1. What does conflict mean to you? Where do conflicts come from? Aren’t those inherent? Is there something called a s a good conflict to have?


2. What according to you is the relationship between the performer and the audience or a piece of art and viewer? The artist seems to be in a conflict and somehow tries to express it through work. What’s going on here according to you?


3. Where do main stream narratives come from? Do they emerge amongst us with time? Are they bottom up or top down or media propagated. How can one systematically study them or confront them?


4. What is conflitorium? How did it come to be?


5. How do you investigate conflict? Can you give any example(s)?


6. What does it mean to be comfortable with disagreements and conflict?


7. I think it’s a lot to do with building a common “vocabulary”. People think in binaries. How do you build these shades to grey - if you can explain with any example(s)? (For eg: how would say like a “memory tree” will not be perceived as a propaganda?)


8. It’s said that “the world is how you see it”. People have short term memories and choose to move on with just roti, kapda and makaan. Why introduce art and culture or as you call is “shiksha” in it?


9. Can you share a few community-led solutions to conflict in your practice so far? How have people reacted to very counter intuitive narratives which apparently look different.


10. Peace is generally an outcome of conflict, even as per the Buddha. While Conflictorium engages in dialogue and making sensitive by “talking”. How do you see future of it? What ways peace can manifest? Is there a timeline?

Reference reading

1.

1. https://www.ted.com/talks/avni_sethi_is_the_celebration_of_differences_possible


2. https://azimpremjifoundation.org/content/love-sites-contested-narratives


3. https://sites.libsyn.com/318962/on-building-a-museum-of-conflict-avni-sethi


4. https://vimeo.com/641271034


5. https://blogs.newschool.edu/news/2021/10/the-vera-list-centers-jane-lombard-prize-winner-avni-sethi-debuts-show-at-aronson-galleries/


6. https://abhivyaktiart.org/beta/en/artists/avni-sethi/


7. https://www.linkedin.com/in/avni-sethi-372b15a2/?originalSubdomain=in


8. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TQsVBMFDzn4


9. https://khojstudios.org/person/avni-sethi/


10. https://www.conflictorium.org/meet-our-team/


11. https://www.instagram.com/avnisethi/?hl=en

V. Ravichandar joins us on Audiogyan. Ravi is an Honorary Director at the Bangalore International Centre. He is also the Honorary Consul for Republic of Slovenia in Bengaluru. His entrepreneurial stint was around strategy and marketing consulting through his firm Feedback Consulting. He has worked voluntarily with State and Local governments as well as civil society to improve cities. This was through the Bangalore Agenda Task Force, JN-NURM, and the City Connect platforms.

Apart from BIC, Ravi also helps run the annual Bangalore Literature Festival as part of his efforts to improve public spaces. Today we’ll be talking about his pro bono work since 2000 with the city's hard and soft infrastructure. Thank you Ravi for giving your time and it’s a real honour to have you on Audiogyan.

Questions

1. Today we are focusing on redesigning cities using Bengaluru as a peg. In your experience how do we reimagine a city that is bursting at the seams and having a host of problems? As Pranay Kotasthane from Puliya Baazi says, Over population is not the problem but under governance is… Let us take the recent flooding as an example of the problems


2. Why did it happen and how do we prevent future floods?


3. Can we really redesign public spaces given their dynamic and organic nature? What would be the few axes on which this can be thought?


4. You have engaged with multiple stakeholders involving Sarkar, Samaaj, and Bazaar in the cityscape. What are your key learnings as we reimagine the future?

Reference links

1. https://audiogyan.com/2020/12/16/dhawal-ashar/


2. https://audiogyan.com/2022/05/11/designing-boundaries/


3. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a_nerclv53s


4. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3o5XErwvmwc


5. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hlvw_gB9Sm8


6. https://feedbackconsulting.com/about/v-ravichandar/


7. https://successfulsocieties.princeton.edu/interviews/v-ravichandar


8. https://www.livemint.com/Sundayapp/Npg8vLHRQvXEigztvq4JkI/I-would-set-up-decentralized-City-Connect-platforms-across.html


9. https://www.thehindu.com/news/cities/bangalore/bic-hubba-to-celebrate-city-ngos/article65084889.ece


10. https://www.thehindu.com/life-and-style/the-new-bangalore-international-centre-complex-is-a-free-space/article26364664.ece


11. https://successfulsocieties.princeton.edu/sites/successfulsocieties/files/interviews/transcripts/3533/v._ravichandar.pdf


12. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U8oSescM4GQ


13. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xWK1Uzcp0k4


14. https://www.linkedin.com/in/ravichandar-v-a97a65/


15. https://www.samaajsarkaarbazaar.in/