Mumbai Diary: Tuesday Dossier

Pic/Shadab Khan

An Elegant inspection

A peacock watches on as a man sweeps the road near Raj Bhavan in Walkeshwar

Goa-ing gin up

Victor de Benito

It might be rum season for Mumbai's tipplers, but for Victor de Benito, it is always gin season. The head distiller of the Goa-based East Side Distillery's Doja Gin has been inducted into the international gin guild this year. Among the rare India-based names on the annual roster, de Benito called it a "honour." He said, "The year 2023 marks a decade since I started working in the manufacturing of gin, and it is an honour to join the guild as a Rectifier at such a time." The induction also offers access to community professionals across areas such as distilling, development and strategy for de Benito. While India is not traditionally a gin-drinking country, he said, "As the craft gin movement shifts from Europe to Asia, we are going to see more premium Indian gin brands on the local and international markets."

The art of learning from criticism

If you think artists dislike being told about the flaws in their works, Tarini Sethi (left) might surprise you. The Delhi-based curator is set to host a virtual peer-review session with the formerly Mumbai-based art house, Baadalghar on Sunday to help artists re-evaluate their work. "I understand how important it is to get feedback from artists from different spaces. As a creator, you work alone and in a bubble, so it is important to hear from other people in different mediums and forms," she remarked.

Painting a canvas of hope

An artwork by Sudipti Mahapatra

Art must offer comfort to the disturbed. The upcoming exhibit, Colours of Hope, at the Nine Fish Art Gallery in Byculla will try to prove the same. The exhibition, beginning June 30, is hosted in association with the Dot Line Spaces Foundation and Friends of Max fundraiser Chai for Cancer.

Gourmoni Das

The gallery will auction works created by cancer patients, and donate the money to their benefit. "The artworks have been collected over the span of 20 years," said Gourmoni Das, who will curate the exhibition alongside Viji Venkatesh.

A platform for special folk

The audience listens attentively at a previous session

Juhu-based Cafe Arpan recently teamed up with Yash Charitable Trust to document the narratives of specially-abled individuals in a short video. Trust member Ayush Khandelwal told us that those featured in the video are part of their awareness programme for intellectual disabilities that began in 2021. "It reflects on how the initiative has positively impacted them and will be followed by more such upcoming programmes."

A starry, AI-sky in Andheri's backyard

The AI-equipped reel of Linking Road created by Prateek Arora

The first few hours of Mumbai's monsoon have already brought out the familiar sights of flooded roads, traffic jams and chaos. In such times, artist and filmmaker Prateek Arora's latest creation might offer a touch of solace for hassled Mumbaikars. Known for his AI (Artificial Intelligence)-imbued works, Arora's latest creation brings the work of Vincent Van Gogh to the bylanes of Andheri. "It was nothing special; just a bit of experimentation with a few new AI tools to recreate a concept," Arora shared. The tool might be artificial, but Arora's inspiration came from a short video he had shot at Linking Road in Andheri. "I wanted to take the sights and sounds of a normal Mumbai street and transform it," he shared. To add some theme and colour to his Reel, he turned to one of his personal favourites - Van Gogh's Starry Night. AI for video is still in its nascent stages, Arora shared. "While it still has the AI feel, it adds something abstract and surreal to the video," he said.