India architecture exhibition opens at Wolk Gallery Last February, Shakeel Hossain, a visiting scholar in the Aga Khan Program, single-handedly organized and curated a display for the 19th International Exhibition of the Triennale de Milano which explored the artistic diversity of ritual architecture in India. The MIT version includes the original three mobile structures as well as six smaller structures also commissioned from Indian craftsmen. Mr. Hossain asserted that modern skyscrapers lack any identifiable national origin and that instant global telecommunication leads to greater conformity. For example, the ta'zia procession is a mourning ritual which ends when the elaborately ornate structure symbolizing Husain's tomb is buried or submerged. But, as part of the ritual, it's affirming and not destructive.
Community is formed through spiritual celebrations.
This spring, Mr. Hossain plans to create such a community at MIT, bringing together students, faculty and spectators with the craftsmen from India to build new structures and conduct workshops on the interaction between tradition and innovation. Ritual Architecture and Urbanity has received support from the Aga Khan Trust for Culture in Geneva, the Indian Council for Cultural Relations in New Delhi, the Office of the Dean of the MIT School of Architecture and Planning, the MIT Museum and the MIT Council for the Arts. For information on the exhibition, call Kimberly A. Shilland at x8-9106.