Curating Conversations

The Studio-X Global Network Initiative is a global network of advanced research laboratories for exploring the future of cities launched in 2008 by Mark Wigley, Dean of the Columbia University Graduate School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation.

Mumbai. A dense, dynamic sprawl in perpetual flux. The beautiful dichotomy. Urban chaos. It is true that those regions undergoing the most radical transformation have the most to teach us about the future of the city. One in a series of spaces generating intense collaboration, dense activity and phenomenal creativity, Studio X Mumbai sits poised to be understood as an incubator of ideas, an empty container in the broadest spectrum of the definition, an ephemeral void which demands to be inundated with the ideas, thoughts & aspirations of the city of Mumbai and of course India at large.

Uninhibited in its cross disciplinary approach, The Studio X network moderates the exchange of ideas on culture, art, education, real estate development, music, literature, philosophy, film and of course architecture & design. Located in the heart of downtown Fort district overlooking the rooftops & monuments of Mumbai, Studio X constantly sets out to define & redefine itself in relation to the intellectual & physical fabric of the city. It represents the new marketplace of thought globally connected yet extremely regionally specific for Mumbai, where ideas are ‘negotiated’ & a variety of relationships are formed and fostered redefining the role, responsibility, and capacity of globally collaborative modes of education, research, response and action.

Although deeply integrated into the curriculum, research structures & knowledge base of Columbia’s GSAPP, its a radical experiment aimed at questioning the traditional methodologies used for imparting & collecting knowledge therefore utilizing a host of alternative tools to traverse the notional question, “What is the future of the city?”.
One such tool is that of creating conversations to orchestrate innovative scenarios for interaction. I would consider the conversation itself a ‘collaborative methodology’. It provokes its users to participate and engage the process by inverting the nature by which knowledge is typically disseminated and consumed. Its spontaneity, unpredictability, impermanence and equality reveal certain connections, which may have been hidden or subverted in reference to normal organizational hierarchies that exist within the community.

The relationship of curator and consumer is also as integral to motivating and sustaining the conversation. As opposed to traditional unidirectional methods of imparting knowledge, I believe the curator and consumer share a more egalitarian relationship within the context of Studio X. The threshold between both in this scenario although undefined & ambiguous is much more fluid and inclusive in reference to the discourse generated. This in turn reflects an alternate approach to the process of curating. The curator no longer controls or moderates all aspects of the exchange but accepts the notion that the subject may be an ‘unknown’ or ‘variable’ and this lack of control and knowledge actually provides a more transparent engagement with knowledge generated.

Since its launch in February 2011 & uninhibited in its cross disciplinary approach, The Studio X network moderates the exchange of ideas and has been initiating it's directive of engaging the past, present & future conditions of the city through a host of innovative and varied programming. Developing dialogues through events on contemporary architectural work & practice to public art, sociological research within urban centers to technology and the future of Design, we have presented over 16 events/lectures/exhibitions in collaboration with eminent thinkers & groups such as PUKAR, Penguin Books India Ltd, SLUMLAB, ArtOxygen and the Mohile Parikh Center, The UrbanVision. URBZ, DROOG Design, Gautam Bhatia, The People Tree Arts Trust, ARTES Foundation, CelebrateIndia, Christopher Benninger Architects, The Asia Society, SoftGrid UK, The Dialogue Group & the 1%-ers art collective & revered Architects, critics & educators like Sen Kapadia & BV Doshi.
Our future events will connect us to Public Art Groups, Architectural practices, Design think tanks & the most provocative minds of Urban India engaging in subjects such as ecology & sustainability, contemporary design methodologies, Urban Research & development & the critical review of current Architectural Practice within Mumbai , India & abroad.

The potential of the working studio and a prolifically assembled archival framework of material on the city, we plan to offer new and innovative tools for engaging our users and propose to further promote the idea of a new cultural space or "working laboratory on the city", inviting organizations, institutions & individuals to participate in the process and join the conversation.

Rajeev Thakker
Architect and Director
Studio-X Mumbai

+91.9820401836
StudioXMumbai@columbia.edu

Kitab Mahal, Fourth Floor
192, D N Road
Fort Mumbai 400 001 

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