Of Spaces and Other Stories

THEY SPEAK WHEN WE LISTEN

When we look at objects, do they look back at us?
How do they respond when we speak to them?
In what language do walls, doors, arches communicate?
Do these architectural spaces ever die?
Who are the ghosts living in those cracks?

In this unique series, you will explore the unheard, unseen, untouched world of inhabited spaces. You will drown in their histories as they open their memories to us. The purpose of undertaking this journey is to unfold an intangible dimension, to co-learn to listen to silence of abandoned places. It aims at demonstrating that architecture is not a passive art, and it does not construct inert structures and frameworks. Every design, every shape, every composition is loaded with the weight of various cultures fusing into each other. To build is not to populate space, but to breathe meaning into it. 

Through these episodes, each highlighting a specific architectural body, you are expected to develop familiarity with silent dwelling zones. In this long search called life, you tell stories to each other– stories of love, longing and separation. Objects speak to objects, ghosts tell tales to ghosts, and when you are silent enough to listen, they open, and mouths and words flow like water.

Gain in-depth understanding of architecture through this one of a kind - story telling experience. Presented by architect and Ustad Bismillah Khan Yuva Puruskar award winning actor Anubha Fatehpuria; Asijit Datta and Anirban Dutta, the series will make you look beyond the superficial.


The Creative Team

Anubha Fatehpuria

Conceiver and Performer

Actor (since 1995), Architect (since 2001) – a recipient of the Sangeet Natak Akademi’s prestigious Ustad Bismillah Khan YuvaPuruskar 2013-14, The Telegraph SHE Awards 2019 and Shyamal Sen Smriti Puraskar 2007 for her theatre acting - has worked with directors like Habib Tanveer, Shyamanand Jalan, Rajinder Nath, Alyque Padamsee, Wlodzimierz Staniewski, Suman Mukhopadhyay, Vinay Sharma, Vikarm Iyengar, Purva Naresh – to name some. She received extensive theatre training from Late Shyamanand Jalan (2003-’10). She continues to learn the craft of acting & theatre-making under Vinay Sharma, 2006 onwards. Formerly, she was, Padatik Theatre Executive Co-director (2010 – ’16) & Core-group member/actor with Ranan Performance Collective (2002 – ’13). An actor with Padatik Theatre Kolkata since 2002, she is currently Director-Programmes. She has acted on screen for directors like Seema Pahwa, Prasoon Pandey, Aparna Sen, Bishnu D.Haldar, Anupam Misra, Kamlesh Soni, Vijay Veeraml & Marcel Odenbach. As an architect – a recipient of the Nagpur University Gold Medal (2001) for Bachelors in Architecture, graduating from LAD and SRP College for Women (Nagpur), Anubha interned at Ar. Balkrishna V Doshi’s SANGATH (Ahmedabad) and after graduating she worked under Ar. Dulal Mukherjee (Kolkata) for a brief period of time till 2002. Practicing independently thereafter, Anubha was also an in-house consultant architect with a real estate firm in Kolkata from 2003 to 2011. She has been a visiting faculty for Design at the Architecture Dept. at Jadavpur University. Since 2011 she has been running her own design studio, now in association with Ar Richa Bose – currently working on projects which include performing arts centres, residences, cafes, clinic/wellness centres amongst others – in various cities. Their design studio has received recognitions for green practices.

Asijit Datta

Writer and Director

Dr. Asijit Datta is currently working as Assistant Professor and Head of English at The Heritage College, under Calcutta University. He has also taught at Presidency University, Vidyasagar University, Ramakrishna Mission, Narendrapur, and Bethune College. He completed his Masters in English from Presidency College in 2009. He received his PhD from the Dept. of Film Studies, Jadavpur University in 2017. His academic interests pertain to Posthumanism, Beckett Studies, Modern European Theatre, World Cinema, and Psychoanalysis. He has written and directed critically acclaimed and award winning plays like 'Chairs', 'My Life As I', 'The Fortress of Men', 'Jantob'. He also has multiple academic papers published on Beckett, Disability studies and Film criticism in reputed books, and national and international journals.

Anirban Dutta

Visual Artist and filmmaker

A Visual Artist and filmmaker having loved traveling and exploring landscapes through his films on nature and humans’ intangible relationship, took his debut feature Jahnabi - a personification of a river as a woman across the globe. His experimental works on image making in films have earned critical acclaim from many renowned and reputable artists. His work in progress project is based on a true story of a Colourblind girl settled at a coastal village of Bengal. He also works with commissioned and independent artists from various countries on a regular basis. His documentary photographic series on Calcutta has won many accolades. Having also known as a sound Photographer and Poet in the literary circle of his home city and state, Anirban composes his narratives through various expressions and artistic mediums. Anirban Dutta has been working as a documentary photographer since early 2014. Since then while assisting some of the best filmmakers and visual artists, he developed his interests furthermore in innovative image making and experimental cinema. Cinema came as an obvious passion and responsibility at the same time, when there is so much to tell. Moving poetic images driven by realism and naturalism of our lives have been his primary interest in filmmaking. His first film Jahnabi - personifying a woman as a river won many critical acclaim. Besides working on his second feature film "Colours - a dream of a Colourblind" he has been working on various commissioned projects of photography, visual art, experimental films, poetry et al.

Imagine if built elements could emote, invoke and speak to us. 

Imagine if buildings and Architecture could present their stories to us.

Imagine if they could be more than mere backdrops to us.

Series Outcomes

  • Perception

    Unfold and interpret multiple intangible dimensions of architectural vocabulary and compositions

  • Art and Architecture

    Demonstrate the dynamic attributes and symbiosis of art and architecture and realize architecture beyond its inert assembly of materials

  • Co-learning

    Listen to the silence of abandoned places and thereby understand the socio-cultural meanings and spatial linkages

Who should attend this lecture series?

  • Anyone curious about the Built environment and our Heritage

  • Students, Professionals of Architecture

  • Students, Professionals of Performing Arts

  • Anyone interested in Creative writing and Photography