City of maximum culture: How Mumbai is speeding towards creating diverse multi-disciplinary art centres

Could it be the ripple effect of the pandemic that locked us in into our homes That the city is speeding towards culture and culture is running towards the cityEvery week we hear of a design walk in conjunction with an art show or an interpretive dance recital in the midst of gauzy clothes by a new design prodigy championing slow fashion And frankly we canrsquot get enough Neha Mewawala cofounder of brand agency Wife launched creative workshops in her Aram Nagar office for staff but has now thrown them open to publicWhatrsquos not to love You go in to see a typography exhibition of famous print advertisements and there is live music by an upcoming artiste thrown in the tickets are miniature works of an upcoming artiste And instead of imposing but stuffy Kala Ghoda or the termite hills of village Vandre these spaces are drawing us to Ballard Estate Worli and Khotachi WadiUnderlining this movement is the very gritty reality of squeezing as much as one can from the Mumbai square foot which is smaller than the metric square foot more populated and disproportionately priced Most custodians of these multidisciplinary cultural spaces did not act coy about admitting this to midday which in itself is a very Mumbai attitudeHarpsichordist Nush Lewis opened the December programme calendar of Kala Ghodarsquos ARTISANSrsquo gallery which launched Mehfil Nights on Friday last month A ticket costs anything from Rs 500 to Rs 700 PicAshish RajeNeha Mewawallarsquos Wife a creative agency functions out of a bungalow in Aram Nagar Andheri ldquoTo underutilise space in Mumbai is a shame And weekends are 30 per cent of the weekrdquo she says speaking of creative workshops that they hold on weekends at bungalow No 100 The space intentionally looks like no office wouldmdashwalls torn apart like paper naked down to the brick work Colourful plush furniture sofas and dinerstyle booths for meetings There are four trees within the premises and the roof is built to celebrate them Pets are welcome and cats and birds walkfly in and out ldquoItrsquos a modern jungle landscape Why is an office supposed to be within glass walls and archaic woodworkrdquo asks Mewawalla its cofounderThey started weekend workshops on creativity first only for their teams centred on peertopeer learning The space was christened XWife with the multiplication sign denoting collaboration with the agency It was an inviteonly basis This weekend they host two podcasters and involve an audience in the recording of one Placed so close to the moviemaking business they are open to all mediums of creativity Songwriting visual performance art art direction etcMethod Gallery prides itself on being a place for new artists and for firsttime art buyers Live bands poetry readings and whimsical storytelling around an exhibition are some of the events it hosts PicAshish RajeldquoWe are operating on a pullmechanism rather than pushrdquo she says She is also excited about dropping a pin on Andheri in the cityrsquos culturescape ldquoMost people think lsquoWho goes to Andheri Irsquoll probably need a visarsquordquo Mewawalla continues ldquoBut Aram Nagar is a parallel universe There are about 500 bungalows and you can actually see the skyhelliprdquo Culture maven Sangita Kathiwada was also mindful of the privilege of real estate when putting the Art Deco bungalowmdashthat had once been the home of Mumbairsquos former sheriff and art collector Jehangir Nicholsonmdashto contemporary and relevant use ldquoWe have enough white elephants and dead horses in the cityrdquo she says speaking of heritage buildings and architectural jewels turning decrepit ldquoAt least my old horses are gallopingrdquo Kathiwada moved into the home 20 years ago she occupies the top floor and the terrace while her son and his family have the two floors below Under this is Kathiwada House with its select membersonly community Circle 1434 There are rooms with FN Souza on the walls and they host creative conversations in the night and provide inspiration in the day The therapy room offers kundalini meditation craniosacral therapy sound bath therapy yoga expressive arts therapy Osho meditationsmdashthese are all personally curated by Kathiwada based on her experience with them As we hold the phone line till she speaks to us she appeals to someone in the office on her end ldquoNo we canrsquot have nine people shoot in the therapy room Please explain to them It will change the energy We can allow twordquoSahil AroraAs she turns to use she says ldquoI must have some karma with heritage restoration I have restored 12 buildings so far starting with Melangerdquo She is speaking of the boutique on Altamount Road that she has been synonymous with Kathiwadarsquos Worli residence has always served as an creative adda she says and last year she formalised it by inviting a select few to be part of it Think of it as a creative gymkhana ldquoYou can work here attend screenings of short films and dance recitals present your own work Everything happens organicallyrdquo she says ldquoWe selected people with artistic inclinations People who consume consciously people with sensitivity and an interest in wellnessrdquo Not yet formally a coworking space directormusician Ankur Tewari nonetheless sits in Kathiwada Housersquos garden and writes a song Actor Rahul Bose is a member ldquoThese are people sensitive to places They respond to a placerdquo she says ldquoand furniture does not define the function of a room the room is defined by its many functions My own living room is also a meditation roomrdquoOngoing at the space is an art show by Divya PamnanimdashColours in Confluence and upcoming is a painting workshop on Vincent Van Goghrsquos Starry night and talk by art conservationist Anupam Sah Culinary experiences and fashion lines also find space here however invitations to outsiders are issued only if members do not take up all the seatsSarita Vijayan the programme designer at IFBE brings her passion for dance to the cityrsquos first space dedicated to architecture and designIn contrast to this exclusivity is IFBE Galleryrsquos inclusivity Fashioned out of a 147yearold old icemaking factory in Ballard Estate the space for design is the brainchild of fatherson duo Kamal and Arjun Mallik of Mallik Architecture The creative reins are in the hands of programme director Sarita Vijayan who was formerly the editor of B2B magazine Indian Architect amp Builder IAB and Perfect 10 A part of the structure still functions as an ice factory while Banyan Tree cafe and the restaurant Native Bombay operate in other nooks insideKamal worked the restoration around the banyan tree in the centre and to continue sunlight to flood the interiors ldquoThe mark of a good architect is to know when to stoprdquo says Vijayan ldquoKamal kept it the place open like a blank canvasrdquo The cooling coils are exposed and the design is wrapped such around the central banyan tree as if to ldquorelease itrdquo ldquoThe structure is not intimidating itrsquos invitingrdquo It is Mumbairsquos first cultural space dedicated to architecture and Vijayanrsquos passion for dance seeps in Here too the audience is up close to the performer not removed by a trench as on a stageEightmonthold IFBE in Ballard Estate strives to be selfsustaining A part of the factory still produces ice and revenue comes in from the restaurant and cafe housed insideCase in point their annual 10day event Thirak which will showcase the works of disruptors in the world of dance The eventrsquos inaugural show is an ongoing retrospective on late modern dancer Astad Deboo Breaking Boundaries ldquoI am a closet dancerrdquo Vijayan admits For a while she collaborated with the Sumeet Nagdev Dance Academy she would routinely choreograph members of her editorial and administration team at IAB and create space for them in cultural spaces such as the Kala Ghoda Fair Dance she says is the art form hardest to find patronageWhile the ice factory and eateries do contribute to bolstering the space financially they are lucky to have a partner pool to draw from A small percentage comes from the event fees kept nominalCulture maven Sangita Kathiwadarsquos Worli home has always been a creative adda but with Kathiwada House and Circle 1434 she has formalised it into a membersonly club that lets you work attend screenings and recitals and even present your own work PicsAshish RajeldquoOur programming is collaborative we are not a venue for readymade projectsrdquo she says of the initiatives at ldquothe crosshairs of architecture art and design We are medium agnostic and juggle a diverse set of initiativesmdashdance music theatre lectures workshops We are also delighted that more often than not such work is choosing IFBE more than the other way aroundrdquo In November the gallery played host to Hermegraves Heritage In Motion an exhibition of the French luxury fashion housersquos travel memorabilia and paraphernalia Even though patrons invest in the programmes there are no banners announcing their names or logos attached to the invitesVijayan admits that the initiative is not profitable as yet but will soon turn around ldquoAdding value to all stakeholders always makes business senserdquo she says ldquoOur programming sees a packed house and visitors keep coming back That augurs well for any patron or sponsorrdquo Currently the cafe works as an informal coworking space but there have been ardent enough enquiries for the management to rethink and open up a dedicated space for independent professionalsRanjit HoskoteVijayan says the time is ripe for such spaces where ldquothe boundaries between art forms and other disciplines are blurredrdquo It helps that audiences are increasingly and consciously seeking venues that surprise and delight them both through the programming and the spatial experience she thinksWhile masters of all disciplines have many takers Method in nearby Kala Ghoda and itrsquos Bandra outpost holds space for newer artists with contemporary sensibilities ldquoWe respond to younger fresher art inspired by the generation we grew up inrdquo says founder and curator Sahil Arora ldquoItrsquos the first solo show for most artistsrdquo Even his patrons are young most of them ldquofirst time collectors Wersquore kicked to be able to provide someonersquos first piece of artrdquo he says ldquoThe art we present is extremely accessible ranging mostly between Rs 20000 and Rs 2 lakhrdquoIsha and Nita AmbaniAs a lsquo90s kid Arorarsquos curation responds to the decade ldquoWe lean more towards artists that share the same influences and inspirationsmdashit might be 8bit video games or the soundscapes of analogue electronicardquo he says keeping the canvas as wide as he can ldquoWe havenrsquot boxed ourselves into a specific genre or stylerdquoThough Method primarily exhibits visual art it looks to curate events that complement whatrsquos on display Recently at the Bandra outpost Booker nominee Jeet Thayil read poetry with the support of a live jazz band for the opening of Smita Sahursquos exhibition The Egg comes first In November poet Juhi Sharma did a spoken word performance in response to Rohan Joglekarrsquos exhibition Happy in the Hippocampus Access to the event was for those who purchased a Tripper Trooper print by Joglekar priced at Rs 2500 Led by Isha Ambani the Nita Mukesh Ambani Culture Centre has already declared itself Indiarsquos first multidisciplinary cultural centre It will house a Grand theatre Studio Theatre the Cube and a fourstoreyed Art House It opens in March 2023 PicAtul KambleldquoThe financial side of the business is still taking shaperdquo Arora admits Arora who has a background in advertising and banking chooses to be led by passion instead of profitability Which is also why rarely does a an artist move from the Kala Ghoda venue to the Bandra one or vice versa ldquoThis way we can give more opportunities to new artistsrdquo he saysMuch like Kathiwada House but on a cosier scale ARTISANSrsquo Art Gallery and Shop in Kala Ghoda marries the intimacy of a small gathering of art lovers with various disciplines Radhi Parekhrsquos family acquired the ldquovernacular bricksandmortar house that predates the surrounding Victorian neoclassical buildings built in the 1880srdquo in 1962 She guesses the structure would have stood outside the moat circling the Fort Repair work forced them to take down the partitions that sectioned the building into offices and cubicles and in 2011 ARTISANSrsquo took up space as a centre for the arts ldquoI come from the world of designrdquo says Parekh ldquowhich is necessarily crossdisciplinary and in the age of userexperience and richmedia even more so The vision was for a space that would encompass the cultural context of material objects from an ethnographic understanding to its place in art history There was also an element of lsquoplace makingrsquo of envisaging the rough Kala Ghoda backstreets as a neighbourhood of independent cultural enterprises based on similar transformations of urban city centres I had witnessed in other parts of the worldrdquoCofounders of Wife and xWife Neha Mewawalla and Ankur Chaturvedi first started with holding workshops for their creative team at their Aram Nagar office and last weekend opened them up to the public PicSameer MarkandeAn experience is created around an exhibition to keep the objects in the context of their origins Pandit Jasraj sang Haveli Sangeet at a show of Pichhawais a shaman presided over a ceremony at the first MatainPachedi exhibition Like other centres talks book launches and workshops block up the ARTISANSrsquo calendar As recently as last month Parekh introduced Friday Mehfil Nights to create the atmosphere of a ldquosmall gathering in a living roomrdquo for an evening of independent music and performance The salvaged Burma teak wood floors are as she puts it an ldquoacoustic delightrdquo Harpsichordist and singersongwriter Nush Lewis flagged off the December programme roster even as textile designer Geeta Patel showcased her reinterpreted khun and ilkal stoles and sarees handwoven by the disappearing weavers of Guledgudda in KarnatakaAround the same time as ARTISANSrsquo Fort bookstore Kitab Khana opened its doors to share the Somaiya familyrsquos love for learning books cultural understanding and languages Founder Amrita Somaiya says these principles are guiding light for the books they curate and the conversations they stoke The events started with book readings Nesting in a 150yearold building that the family restored does set the stage poetically February will bring a string of storytellers and even podcasters to the bookstore in Somaiya Bhavan a stonersquos throw from historic Flora Fountain Before that Christmas will be celebrated with puppet shows and storytelling for children Somaiya hopes the endeavour sustains and grows as a thriving business that builds community and a love for literature and cultureAs with Kitab Khanarsquos close ties with storytelling the events woven by 47A Design Gallery are around the exhibitions it hosts on design The gallery is nestled in Girgaumrsquos Khotachi Wadi Its April exhibition This Ground Plus Khotachi Wadi in Design Context comprised objects taken from the homes of resident families and through them shone a light on wider context of history and culture For instance on display were original samples from Bharat Flooring Tiles found in the Wadirsquos homesSoho House Mumbai in Juhu seems the only one to have cracked the business formula for culture Itrsquos calendar is packed with food and drink events art design and fashion shows film screenings and musical evenings all announced to the members via its app There are about 30 to 40 events a month Itrsquos a global membersonly club with three categories of patrons each with an access level in line with the type of membership There is a flat registration fee and the annual membership hovers somewhere around R125 lakh an annumEach new entrant must be referred by two existing members ldquoOur membership is inclusiverdquo says Kelly Wardingham General Manager of Soho House Mumbai ldquoand we try to find a diverse group of people from across the creative industries so we can reflect the city as broadly as possiblerdquo The supplementary projects are sprinkled across the citymdashart walks in South Mumbai and popups by chefs or restaurants of the moment The physical house is fertile for networking and collaborationsmdashyou can work out of it swim or gymMembers beget members and everyonersquos business growsLooming over the coming year is the inauguration of the Nita Mukesh Ambani Cultural Centre at the JIO World Centre in BandraKurla Campus It has already declared itself Indiarsquos first multidisciplinary cultural centreIt will house a Grand theatre Studio Theatre the Cube and a fourstoreyed Art HousePoet and cultural theorist Ranjit Hoskote sees it as a ldquovital immersive and alternative hub for visual and performing arts nourished by the regional national and international art scenes and convening a vibrant dialogue among all threerdquo He along with American curator Jeffrey Deitch will curate Sangam Confluence in April 2023The group art show aims to celebrates diverse cultural impulses and traditions The exhibit will explore the multiplicity of India through the works of 11 esteemed and emerging Indian contemporary artists and western artists influenced by IndialdquoThere is only so much culture that can be concentrated in South Bombayrdquo says HoskoteldquoThe new centre will help to reorient the scene We realised 40 years ago that our future metropolitan centres will not have a central welldefined axis A decade from now the BandraKurla Complex will not seem to be tangential to the urban fabric It already doesnrsquotrdquoThe important heft that the Reliance group will bring according to him is ldquoinfrastructure and willingnessrdquo needed to ldquonurture the culturescaperdquo ldquoIt will be done on a magnitude that endures and allows for a dynamic spirit of dialoguerdquo he says ldquoThere can be no place for narrowness our cultural institutions must be hospitable to pluralityrdquoNot to forget it will provide that prime and elusive piece of Mumbai realestate Endless parking