MODERNISM, NEGLECTED ARCHAEOLOGY & SCHRÖDINGER’S URBANISM The potential of an excavation in a city possibly ranges from finding material to displacing material. The content representative of a civilisation could be unearthed, inspired or displaced. Under modernist urban design/planning paradigms, the act of excavating a site presents a site of neglected archaeology. But if the site is considered as a laboratory for Schrödinger’s urbanism, the possibilities are probably infinite. REFERENCES [1] - http://realty.economictimes.indiatimes.com/realty-check/affordable-housing-inindia-challenges-opportunities/976 [2] - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Archaeology [3] - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Speleology [4] - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%27Pataphysics#Concepts
About the Author Naveen Mahantesh’s practice lies at the intersection of art, architecture and the city. He is involved in creative research with a love for urban life. His past projects includes, working with teams of artists and curators and engaging with ideas of placing art in the public realm while considering the city as a studio. His projects provide alternate perspectives for the banal routines, take inspiration from urban myths, and engage within the ecologies that the city thrives upon. Naveen (born in 1985) is the principal architect of CRESARC based in Bangalore. His projects and propositions have been a part of Sarai-Reader-Exhibition’09(2013) and Insert (2014), curated by Raqs media collective; Mediating Modernities (2013) at Srushti School of Design; design for change at TEDxR.V.Vidyaniketan (2013), Bangalore; and FOA-FLUX-art|life|technology Symposium at Swissnex (2015). He received a grant from KHOJ (2013) for his collaborative project Ecologies of the excess, and as part of 080:30, he received a grant from India Foundation for the Arts - Project560-Found space(2014) project that intimately situated art within the fabric of Bangalore City. He has been aCity as Studio fellow(2013) at Sarai-CSDS., and a Visiting Faculty and critic for architectural design at design institutes in Bangalore including R.V School of Architecture and SIT, Tumkur. His recent talks include a presentation at the Washington Project for Arts; Washington DC, The department of Cultural Affairs for Arlington County (2015) and International Studio for Curatorial Practices, New York City. Naveen Mahantesh is currently one of the curators for the Students’ Biennale 2016, which shall run parallel to the Kochi Muziris Biennale 2016. Contact him at naveen.mahantesh@gmail.com
June 2016 | CITY OBSERVER
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