Architecture 101

Seagull Open House featured Anutosh Kanoria (student of architecture, IIT-Kharagpur) on 6 March 2010. 

An exhibition was held of some of Anutosh's project ideas, including one around the streets of Calcutta and how to preserve the culture of 'hawking' in a healthy way and one that is dedicated to making a Beatles memorial in London. 

Also exhibited were Anutosh's photographs of Geoffrey Bawa's fantastic architectural creations in Sri Lanka. 

A three-part BBC documentary series by Robert Hughes on three major 20th century architects—'Visions of Space'—was also screened for the general public. The documentaries looked at the art of Meis, Gaudi and Albert Speer. 
The day's event was rounded off with a discussion between Gita Balakrishnan (architect and founder, Ethos India), Sanghamitra Basu (Associate Professor of architecture, IIT-Kharagpur) and Anutosh Kanoria. The talk centred around architecture in Bengal and the need and possibilities of preservation and renovation of Calcutta's architectural heritage, along with the necessity of a governing body to oversee new constructions in the city in these times of rampant destruction and re-construction. 

“NOTES” are the pages of your diary, “NOTES” are introspections, confessions of young dreamers. 

LOK introduced the concept of installation theatre for the first time in Calcutta. Scores came to watch their pent up hopes, wants, desires—spoken out loud through visuals, poetry, art, dialogues, songs, live music (sarod, tabla, dhol, guitar, electronica). 

Installation theatre happens in a set location often with no set script, but with an outline or objective. It relies also on visuals besides auditory communication. Often the installation is abstract and encourages audiences to interpret the issue in their own personal ways.

"NOTES" was conceptualized and presented by Soumyajit Majumdar, a student of St Xavier's College, Calcutta.

Fatema Ebrahim: Paintings, Drawings, Collages

Fatema Ebrahim is a young artist, mostly self-trained. She has participated in shows in some galleries in Calcutta, but this is her first major show. Her artwork on view included some oils on canvas, and some smaller but exquisite pen and ink drawings on paper. Also included were some collages and mixed media work.

OBO Project Exhibition

Project Our Bodies (Our) Opinions, lovingly called OBO, presents an art exhibition that aims to break issues that most people would call 'taboo' and look uncomfortable about. It isn't much, just a six-month journey that has worked towards creating a forum where youngsters discuss issues that they can't elsewhere. Workshops have been held where body perception, identity and sexuality have been discussed in ways that are amenable to youngsters today, which is a better way of saying that the average teenager's patience threshold was taken into account and humoured. Art was obviously the best way to go about it, and that is what happened. The results are not groundbreaking in anyway, they're subtly shocking in a nice way. From self-portraits with a twist to almost-out-of-body experiences, the OBO art experience yielded some results that screamed out for an exhibition to happen. Not only did the participants break barriers and stigmas and mindsets and boldly go where no project participants have gone before, they left behind a bunch of work that embodies what Project OBO is truly about - to understand one's body by isolating every stereotype associated with it.
The Project OBO art exhibition aims to provide a vibrant, fun look at social issues. There shall be no awareness pamphlets. There shall be no theorizing. There shall, however, be kids with paintbrushes and opinions. They shall attempt to map Issues of Concern with the help of photography, art and craft, aided by a generous dose of enthusiasm. Additionally, visitors to the exhibition shall be able to be a part of the OBO experience by getting to make their own artwork. It isn't about understanding or cognizance or a karmic connection, not really. The Project OBO art exhibition is about, for once, living through your body. About treating it as art. And, at the sake of sounding cheesy, creating art by it, for it, and of it. Further convictions (or lack of them) regarding the coolness of the enterprise shall be discussed on the spot. Hoping to see you there to share the energy.
Project OBO is supported by Rotary Club, Inner City, Calcutta and the Lattoo Fellowship, Sri Ratan Tata Trust, New Delhi

No Strings Attached: Mandolin and Guitar

And evening of bluegrass music with Diptanshu Roy on the mandolin and Sujoy Chakraborty on the guitar. 

'No Strings Attached' is not about individuals, or sky-high egos, or of pompous virtuosity. It is about improvisation and taking the music forward. It is about like-minded people getting together to exchange musical ideas and engage in musical conversation. They have a line-up that is fluid and many friends who share their lives and have been a part of their musical upbringing will no doubt join in the groove at a later date.

Soham Gupta: 3 Essays

Seagull Open House featured three photo essays by Calcutta-based social documentary photographer, Soham Gupta.

Lakoa Wingflow: Photographs and Graphic Art by Devika Arora

From the Artist's Statement:

Go down the rabbit hole and look through the looking glass; then look again!
Vibrant and abstract, this collection aims to be a visual fiesta for anyone who loves inner space and outer contact. From auto rickshaws to spiders on glass; lazy beach dogs to old roman monuments, these photographs try to expand the colour spectrum, one pixel at a time.