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WORKSHOP
Urban Typhoon Date: March 16-18, 2008 Participants: Students, Researchers, Academics from India and all over the world and residents and community leaders from Dharavi Koliwada (In collaboration with Asia Initiatives)
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http://www.dharavi.org/X._Urban_Typhoon_Workshop_Koliwada-Dharavi Also for
more information see
www.urbantyphoon.com |
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EXHIBITION |
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One of the main reasons for PUKAR to mount this exhibition of photo essays was to bring into sharp focus the bygone era of Girangaon. These mills were the production centres of a thriving economy of the city and thousands of workers contributed to the economic and socio-cultural prosperity of the city and the country alike. Today most of the mills are in ruins, symbolizing the ruins of many lives which thrived inside them then and are scattered across Girangaon today. The fast paced gentrification of Girangaon is changing the habitats, livelihoods and destroying the social fabric of the community; once a proud community of workers, artists, writers, singers, poets alike. This exhibition was a small attempt to revisit Girangaon… for what it was... for what it meant...
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The photographs were a product of two years of documentation since 2006, by Ajit Abhimeshi, a catalyst of a research group in the Youth Fellowship Programme and the son of a mill worker, being born and raised in Girangaon; and Bharat Gangurde, the Office Manager of PUKAR Youth Fellowship. The seeds for the documentation were sown when Ajit as part of a PUKAR project – Tarunaee, saw that his own heritage was being lost in front of his own eyes. While he realized that there was little he could do against the sweeping forces of globalization, he took it upon himself to photograph various landmark structures of the region, some intact while some in ruins, to be preserved in the photo-memory for posterity. This process is based upon PUKAR’s fundamental philosophy of documentation as intervention. The exhibition was inaugurated by Datta Iswalkar, on 18th January, a landmark day for Girangaon; the day when the mill workers announced their strike; the day which changed many things in Girangaon including the lives of millions of mill workers. To view
the article and photographs of the exhibition featured online, click on the
link below: |
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PUKAR WINTER
INSTITUTE - 2007
The focus of the conference would be to put urban public health on the agenda of some leading educational and policy making institutions and civic organizations working in urban areas. To bring together the state of knowledge regarding urban health, finding gaps in that knowledge, exploring new strategies, emerging new ideas and expanding discourses at national and international level.
The participants of the
preparatory dialogue included Professor David Bloom, Chair, Department of
Population & International Health, Harvard School of Public Health, Boston
and representatives of local and national organizations working in urban
health sector. The idea was to start this conversation and finalize the
agenda of the conference in a collaborative fashion over a series of meetings
to be held in near future. |
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Gender and Space Project
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Participates
at the
Artist-In-Residence programme,
Shilpa Phadke, Shilpa Ranade and Sameera Khan of the Gender and Space Project have been invited by the International Symposium of Electronic Arts 2008 (ISEA2008) Committee to participate in the Artist-In-Residence programme hosted by the National University of Singapore. They will work on an installation art work ‘Gendered Strategies for Loitering’ towards the ISEA exhibition, which will be held at the National Museum of Singapore from 25 July to 3 August 2008. For more
information see:
http://isea2008.org/page/54/ |
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The young researchers were curious to know about the concept of ‘Women's Day’ as well as ‘Feminism’. Vandana Khare and her friends spoke about these briefly.
After this initial introduction; the programme buzzed up with singing many empowering songs from the Feminist movement. It was followed by readings of Hindi and Marathi poems of famous poets such as Amrita Pritam, Taslima Nasreen, Kavita Mahajan etc. The young girls participated in the programme enthusiastically – some of them put up a dance performance, some sang Hindi film songs and others conducted some fun group activities.
The Pukar Youth
Fellowship programme also sponsored 100 youth fellows to watch an Odissi
Dance Presentation by Jhelum Paranjape of Smitalay, on March 8th on the
occasion of International Women’s day. The special programme this year was
titled 'Nrityaprabha'; a solo recital by Jhelum Paranjape based on Dr.
Prabha Atre's Compositions. |
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PUKAR (Partners
for Urban
Knowledge,
Action and
Research) |
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PUKAR is an innovative and experimental initiative that aims to contribute to a global debate about urbanization and globalization. |
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