Having announced our next architectural tour to Japan, we initiate the series of seminars with a prelude to the tour itself and the events to follow.
The seminar will take you through
1. The itinerary,
2. The payment schedule and travel prepration
3. The schedule of talks and seminars for the tour.
A platform for all you wanted to know, but were afraid to ask!
Architecture has often been a reflection of rulers, economics or the milieu. It has spoken of regimes and their priorities. The architecture of Lucknow, holds very true to that premise. It is a reflection of the aspirations and attempts to meet them.
Without knowing the cultural context, it would be difficult to understand any building, more so in the city of Lucknow. The people, religion, history, their dreams and their lives are all bound together in the architecture that comes forth.
In our attempt to understand this relationship to the past, we shall be conducting a presentation on the same. Presented by Revati Garde, Architect.
As a preamble to understanding the culture, we shall also be having a brief Introduction to Islamic tradition and its effect on architecture. Presented by Asghar Ali Khan, Architect.
“Art is humanity’s most essential, most universal language. It is not a frill, but a necessary part of communication. The quality of civilization can be measured through its music, dance, drama, architecture, visual art and literature.
We live in a dangerous, interdependent world, and today’s students need to hear not just the language of politics and propaganda; they also need to learn languages that transcend the intellectual and ideological barriers that distrust truth and suffocate the human spirit.
Now more than ever, our children need to see clearly, hear acutely, and feel sensitively through the exquisite language of the arts.”
-Ernest L. Boyer, Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching
As a part of our series on Lucknow, in preparation to our tour to the City later this month, we shall conduct a series of small presentations touching upon some of the facets of artistic life in Lucknow or the region of Awadh, that made this culture reach its zenith and leave a mark for centuries to come.
Presentation on Kathak by Hasitha Reddy, Courtesans of Awadh by Divya Gulechha, Chikankari prepared by Poornima Ganta and presented by Chetna Ramachandra, and also introductions to Pigeon Flying, the art of Dastangoi, Calligraphy and finally ending with that one art that binds us all above others – gastronomy!
The year of 1857 saw events in India unprecedented ever before…a bloody reprisal by Indians – natives and soldiers, against the British East India Company. An episode in history that had not seen such violence, rage, vengeance and gore ever before by so called ordinary people. The “Siege of Lucknow”, as it was called, is a big chapter in this haunting year.
As we prepare to visit Lucknow, later this year, we look at a narrative of events that lead to the reprisal, and the equally horrifying events that followed.
The aim, of the presentation, is to address the issue of violence, rage and anger that seem justified irrespective of which side you are on. The attempt, also, is to connect the events to the violence we live in this world together and how we react, think, and feel about it.
We do not try to reach any answers, rather to throw questions, and the most important of them all – do the ends really justify the means?
Bring out the poet in you as we take a short walk into the life of Khuda-e-Suqan (The Lord of Poetry) – Mir Taqi Mir, and also the birth and evolution of Urdu poetry and its impact on the culture of Awadh. Presented by Asghar Ali Khan.
We cordially invite you to a series of presentations and talks on Lucknow as part of our upcoming tour.
We start the series with Nawabs of Awadh: Their Lives and their Legacy.
Not as much as a lesson in history, the presentation aims, instead, at bringing forth the aspects of the Nawabs as people that contributed to the rich culture of Awadh, the intrinsic solidarity, their immense contribution to the arts and the “tehzeeb” of Lucknow which reflected not just in behaviour but in matters of the heart. We hope that this journey of study, introspection, and discussion will lead to our understanding their legacy in a way that changes our lives, and of those around us.
To study, is to understand better; and to understand better, is to develop wisdom, for wisdom is nothing but the ability to connect the dots and realize simple truths…whether in life, or in architecture.
Keeping that perspective in mind, architect Revati Garde, will be conducting an architectural presentation on the Temples of Tamil Nadu that we shall be visiting on our forth-coming trip to the state.
If architecture affects ideas, values and socio-economic dynamics, then the Architect, being true to his calling, is on an eternal quest to go beyond the design program and understand the larger picture that is life itself, and all that encompasses it.
As we prepare to visit the Meenakshi Temple next month, we attempt to study the aspect of the female goddess across antiquity and over pre-historic civilizations, and how India remains the sole country where the female Goddess is still revered and prayed to everyday.
We introduce the topic in a presentation that hopes to create a window of awareness towards the aspect of female divinity and energy. What this means for society, humanity and architecture, and how and if these are connected is a journey for each one of us to discover.
In our continuing talks on the forth coming architectural study trip to Tamil Nadu, our dear friend Dr. Massimo Vianello, architect and urban planner, will talk about the planning of Srirangam, highlighting its values and contextual architecture.
As a preparation of our upcoming trip to Odisha, we are having a presentation on the Temple Architecture of Odisha by architect Reva Garde.
All are welcome!
