School's Out! #42 with Rohan Shivkumar
School’s Out! #42 with architect, urban designer and filmmaker Rohan Shivkumar. A lecture, drinks and bites. Friday 31 May 2024, 19:00 - 22:00
For School’s Out! in May, we invited the Indian architect Rohan Shivkumar to talk about the role of film in framing Mumbai. Through a fascinating series of movie fragments, Rohan covered the history of Bollywood (or rather ‘the Hindi film industry’), its relation to the perception of the Indian slum, the mystification of Mumbai as a city where anyone can make it, and to the iconic status of the seaside road Marine Drive. Other topics that were discussed included the various (quite outrageous) propositions that have been made through the years to make the Dharavi slum into an architectural prestige project, as well as the role of video and music, specifically hiphop, in empowering the ‘untouchable’ Dalit caste in India.
About the talk
Mumbai is often more myth than place. Every street and square is haunted by images - from the past and the future. These images shape the way we see who we are, and what we are going to be. They come from the world of cinema, television, poetry, urban design and architecture and promise the unfettered freedom of modernity on the streets, but also its inverse- the dark dungeon of crime filled alleys. These are intertwined with the everyday life of its inhabitants and affects the way the city grows. This has been particularly true across the twentieth century during which both its population and its role as the centre for the Hindi film industry grew rapidly.
About Rohan Shivkumar
Rohan Shivkumar is an architect, urban designer and filmmaker practicing in Mumbai. He is the Dean of Architecture at the Kamla Raheja Vidyanidhi Institute for Architecture and Environmental Studies. He also a principal of the architectural and urban practice the ‘Collaborative Design Studio’ and is a member of CRIT- an urban research collective based in Mumbai. His work ranges from architecture, urban research and consultancy projects to works in film and visual art. He is interested in issues concerning housing, public space and in exploring ways of reading and representing the city.
Programme
18:00 Doors open, drinks bites and tunes
19:00 - 20:30 Talk by Rohan Shivkumar + Q&A
20:30 - 22:00 Drinks bites and tunes
