UNBOX 2013 | Festival handbook

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2013

HANdS ON MINdS ON HEArTS On


UNbOX 2


In the pursuit of a rich, open AND connected way of life, UnBox 2013 will create ways to engage meaningfully with ourselves and the world around us. The UnBox Festival is an annual celebration of interdisciplinary thought and work through a series of workshops, performances, exhibitions and talks. Held over four days from 07-10 February, 2013, this third edition of the festival will be more open, vibrant and experiential than ever before. The ample, unique and green spaces at Zorba, our venue, allows us to program multiple elements simultaneously, creating more of a festival and less of a conference. Multiple stages, several work rooms, bespoke lab spaces and open resource networks will house the nearly 100 different pieces of programming. All day bars and cafes will further add to the community atmosphere and inspire at least a few conversations. With more than half of the audience being active participants, UnBox 2013 will truly be a communitycreated festival.

Attendees and participants will be free to roam, choosing from varied options of engagement, in an environment that encourages and facilitates conversation. UnBox 2013 will span four days, affording people time to take in all the offerings in an intimate and leisurely manner, ensuring the experiences have greater resonance. The formats spread across four days ensure varied ‘hands-on minds-on’ experiences that are meant to kickstart new thoughts, conversations, collaborations and projects. Themes for the festival range across habitats, social innovation, design, technology, business, curation, music & film, performance arts, culture, sustainability and spaces.

2013

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FORMATS


workshops

6-23

ELECTIVES

24-31

OPEN LABS

32-43

PERFORMANCES

44-55

SHOWCASES

56-65

SEMINARS

66-79

FELLOWSHIPS

80-85 5


WORk SHOPS


FORMAT

UNBOX 2013 WORKSHOPS

In 2013, workshops form a core part of UnBox allowing participants to engage deeply with an international group of exemplary practitioners and studios in a true ‘hands on, minds on’ fashion, ranging from skill-building around cognition to creating products using technology and tools with craftspeople.

8 and 9 February: • Deconstructing a Violin with Alexandre Letellier • Transient Living Spaces with micro Home Solutions • Behaviour Architecture with Final Mile • Be Shirt with Hanif Kureshi and BLOT! • Craft Progressions with Sandeep Sangaru 8 February: • Building Communities with WORKSHOP Architecture • The Urban System in India: Walking through Zilhapur with URBZ • Analog Ron with Ron Schneider • Pedestrian with The Busride • VeloWala Project with John Thackara and Arjun Mehta • Interactive Newsprint with Bespoke Project 9 February: • UnBoxing Museums with Flow India and Sanskriti Foundation • Re-thinking Microfinance with Thomas Mehwald and Urmee Mehta • Proustian Scents with PAN Studio • Field Recordings with The Travelling Archive • Bespoke Workshop with Bespoke Project

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WOrkshops

8 FEB 4 HOURS

ANCHOR The Busride The Busride is an independent design studio specialising in the design and creation of built environments, ranging from hospitality and entertainment venues, to film and production environments, from exhibitions and temporary installations, to institutional and architectural environments. They are a team of architects, interior and industrial designers, who create left of the centre solutions to most issues faced by high-visibility venues today. www.jointhebusride.com bandraforyou.blogspot.in

PEdesTRiAn WiTH THe BUsRidE

Pedestrian is a workshop that examines the peculiar architectural, cultural & professional opportunities of creating pedestrian experiences in the now booming urban village of Hauz Khas.

The pedestrian experience connects various elements of the Indian street—green cover, shading, lighting, safety, vibrant commerce, residential issues, waste management, and more progressively, an active street art culture, a progressive soundscape, and other younger attributes to urban life. An activated street—one filled with art, music and culture—becomes increasingly more economically stable, and safe for

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pedestrians of the area. The Busride explores this aspect of Hauz Khas village, with cutaway examples of their own extensive project in Bandra, Mumbai called The Bandra Project. Both these locations find their roots in pakhadis or villages, and face similar issues. In drawing these parallels, the workshop strives to produce a stylish yet progressive way forward for issues faced by these areas.


ANCHORS URBZ RAHUL SRIVASTAVA AND MATIAS ECHANOVE URBZ facilitates the production and exchange of information, knowledge, ideas and practices towards better cities for all. They organise participatory workshops, design adaptable structures and develop web tools for urban communities and practitioners. www.urbz.net

WOrkshops

8 FEB 4 HOURS

THE URbAN System iN INdiA: WAlkINg tHRoUgh ZilHAPUr witH URbz

BRING YOUR OWN • Laptop • Digital Camera • Images of neighbourhoods, villages, cities, nature and infrastruture (digital or print)

ThE workshop aims at creating a collective ficitonalised epic around the imaginary urban system of Zilhapur—a city that exists both in our imaginations and the crazy reality around us.

The workshop will start off with a discussion on new emerging urban trends, using hard data and theoretical arguments as a base. The starting points of the workshop, to provoke the participants, will be a piece of fiction, some theory and a visual. Almost at once it will take off into a creative exercise where a fictionalised account of an imaginary urban system will be presented to the group which will fill in the details, add more stories, images and arguments.

The group can take as its cues any starting point—Bollywood movies that play with new sensibilities, songs, art, photographs, literature set in small towns and weird locations, to help fill up the imaginary map and fictional account of Zilhapur— the emerging urban form in new India. Over three days, this urban space will get

infused with life, colour, ideas, stories and provide a more creative way to visualise India’s urban future, using a broader and more powerful bandwidth of imagination. Hopefully, this will become part of a richer vocabulary that urban practitioners can use in fields such as architecture, urban planning, media, and others—a vocabulary that goes beyond speculation fired, glass and concrete short cuts that urban forms seem to be taking these days. The workshop output will be an illustrated book that will be collectively authored with the participants in the workshop.

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WOrkshops

8 FEB 4 HOURS

ANCHOR Workshop Architecture WORKSHOP Architecture is a non-profit design + make studio that focuses on participation, learning by doing, and cultivating deep understandings of a place. Living temporarily with the communities they are working with, they bring new ideas whilst engaging in local building crafts and materials, to bring about an architecture of exchange that is both challenging and pragmatic. www.wrkshp.org

bUILDING ComMUNITIES witH WoRK sHoP ARCHIT ecTUre

At UnBox 2013, WORKSHOP ARCHITECTURE will be presenting their work, and leading a discussion about community-engaged design.

WORKSHOP Architecture’s next project, in partnership with the Indian Trust for Rural Heritage and Development (ITRHD), the British Council, and the Architectural Association, explores low-cost, sustainable architecture in the context of Hariharpur, a small village in rural Uttar Pradesh.

ITRHD is striving to protect Hariharpur’s classical music tradition and promote their valuable cultural heritage through basic infrastructure provisioning— including health, education and sanitation. WORKSHOP Architecture will work with the community to design and construct a school building that acts as a prototype for contemporary rural architecture in India. During the workshop, the studio will hold a session regarding community-engaged design, and will be leading multiple group discussions to ideate possible design interventions around sustainable architecture in Hariharpur.

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ANCHOR Alexandre Letellier Alexandre Letellier is a luthier based in Bangalore. His studio, Nouvelle Lutherie Lab, produces stringed musical instruments. nouvellelutherielab.wix.com

8 FEB 4 HOURS

WOrkshops

8 & 9 FEB 4 HOURS

DECON CONSTRUCTING A VIOLIN wITH AlexANdRe LETElliER

Alexandre Letellier, a violin builder from Bangalore, will offer a peek into the inner world of musical instrument construction.

Through a demonstration of repairing violins and other stringed instruments, Alexandre Letellier will detail the finer nuances of the construction of sound.

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WOrkshops

8 & 9 FEB 4 HOURS

ANCHORS micro Home Solutions MARCO FERRARIO, RAKHI MEHRA AND GREG RANDOLPH micro Home Solutions (mHS) is a multidisciplinary social enterprise based out of New Delhi, India. mHS’s vision is to enable the creation of socially inclusive cities by developing a portfolio of housing solutions to meet the diverse shelter needs of the urban poor. They conceptualise and facilitate the design of innovative projects and collaborate with institutions to drive impact at a larger scale. To achieve their goals, they work with communities, civil society, financial institutions, government and multilateral agencies to pilot solutions on the ground. www.microhomesolutions.org

TRANsiENt LiviNg SpAces wiTH micRo Home SolUTioNs

The workshop seeks to use the design skills of students and young professionals to explore a better design for construction workers’ tents.

The workshop entails exploring concepts for better designed tents built by construction workers. The starting point for the designs would be the tents’ original size and material. During the workshop, the participants will design

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and build scale models and eventually a full scale solution. The mHS team will facilitate the site visits and the design process. Particular attention will be given to community interaction and integrating design inputs from final users.


ANCHOR Final Mile Final Mile is a first-of-its-kind consulting company in the world. Its practice of Behaviour Architecture is built on the principles of cognitive neuroscience and behavioral economics. Their work is hinged on explaining human behaviour in an accurate and consistent manner, and influencing it desirably through design for the non-conscious. www.finalmile.in

WOrkshops

8 & 9 FEB 4 HOURS

BEHAvioUr ARcHitecTUre WitH FiNAl milE

Final Mile facilitates a workshop that explores the non-conscious cognitive processes that influence decision making.

A diverse range of sciences, including behavioural economics and cognitive neuroscience, are presenting us with a more nuanced understanding of the human condition. A condition guided not solely by rational choice, but one that is influenced by non-conscious, relatively automatic processes. By applying the developing paradigm of human cognition to design, we enhance our ability to create products and services that meet the user, not where we rationally believe they exist, but where they quite naturally live.

Join Final Mile for this workshop to unlearn common assumptions regarding human cognition and behaviour, reframe research and design processes, and apply this new model to a socially relevant opportunity.

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WOrkshops

8 & 9 FEB 4 HOURS

ANCHORS Hanif Kureshi Hanif Kureshi is graphic designer and art director from the Faculty of Fine Arts, M.S. University of Baroda. His work has featured in distinguished typographic publications such as Typodarium and the Type Director’s Club of New York. Apart from advertising and typography, Kureshi also likes practicing his art on large walls. www.hanifkureshi.com

Be SHiRt WitH HANiF KUResHi +Blot!

BLOT! A multidisciplinary project helmed by Gaurav Malaker and Avinash Kumar and supported by a network of artists, BLOT! focuses on creating audio and visual experiences which are at the core of their work. www.blottin.blogspot.com

T-shirts as a canvas for your creativity with the Levi’s® PrintLab.

Sponsored by Levi’s®, the art and design team from Levi’s® PrintLab will create and facilitate the challenge of making 300 T-shirt prints across the festival duration which will be done in a fun, participative

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way. All 300 T-shirts will become an installation on the last day of UnBox before they are displayed at Sunday’s Maker Fair and then given to participants as a takeback from UnBox.


ANCHOR Bespoke project Bespoke is a unique partnership of researchers from journalism, design, computing, craft and social science backgrounds and was inspired, created and funded to bring together community journalism and design, and explore this as an insight tool and a platform for innovation in design and technology. www.bespokeproject.org

WOrkshops

8 FEB 4 HOURS

interACTIVE NEWSPRINT witH THe BesPoke project

bespoke hosts a workshop that demonstrates Multi disciplinary prototyping technology solutions for journalism.

The internet is shiny, rectangular and comes out of our screens, right? Wrong! There is an assumption that the world needs screens in order to connect to the web. But what if we paused and thought for a moment—what if we could rethink what the web was, and if the web could connect to anything. What if the web could connect to paper—pieces of paper that you touch, draw on, print, fold, and tear?

In this workshop, Bespoke Project will show you demonstrations of exactly this. They will have the world’s first newspaper that connects to the web. Come and touch it, listen to the news, ‘like’ and rate content and download music—all from run-of-the-mill sheets of paper. And we want to know what you think. Is it a world changing idea or just another design gimmick that the world really doesn’t need? Love it or loathe it, come and try it and let us know what you think, and start to think about what you might do with this emerging technology.

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WOrkshops

8 & 9 FEB 4 HOURS

ANCHOR Sandeep Sangaru INDUSTRIAL DESIGNER FOUNDER, SANGARU DESIGNS Sandeep Sangaru holds a Post Graduate degree in Industrial Design with a specialisation in Furniture Design from the National Institute of Design (NID) in Ahmedabad. He also holds a Bachelor’s degree in Mechanical Engineering. His firm, Sangaru Design is a multidisciplinary design studio that has the talent to manipulate materials, appreciate technology and combine engineering with craft to deliver unique solutions. www.sangaru.com

CRAFT PRogRessioNs witH SANdeeP SANgARU

Sandeep Sangaru will facilitate a hands-on workshop with artisans, taking cues from the needs of UnBox and the challenges posed by participants towards innovation in bamboo. Bamboo as a material has not been experimented and developed for use in large-scale production methods so it has remained a ‘poor man’s timber.’ The general perception is that any product or furniture made from bamboo has to be cheap. However, this is not the case as all natural materials come with their unique characteristics. Every natural material has been stereotyped and compartmentalised for its usage because little has been done to re-purpose it for contemporary living.

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This workshop intends to demonstrate newer ways in which bamboo can be used as a material, to understand the material, and its unique characteristics, as well as design intervention in traditional crafts. Artefacts will be produced as a proof of concept for innovative thinking.


ANCHOR Ron Schneider Ron Schneider is a self taught artist exploring the correlation between sound and technology. Based in Berlin, he works as a music producer, sound technician, musician and engineer, modifying or building custom electronic instruments. Currently, a few of his most active projects include his alter ego, Raumagent Alpha—a dancefloor orientated techno solo project, the realtime improvisation band called Transistors of Mercy, and the industrial ambient live program, dRONe. Ron Schneider is currently an artist in residence at Srishti School of Art, Design and Technology in Bangalore. stattbad.net

WOrkshops

8 FEB 4 HOURS

ANALOG RON WITH RON ScHNeideR

The workshop, led by Ron Schneider, demonstrates the capabilities and aesthetics of sounds produced by electronic instruments.

Ron Schneider will share his passion for electronic instruments, notably analog synthesizers, taking participants through simple demonstrations of the capabilities and aesthetics of sound embedded in these technologies. He will also provide an insider’s view of the modification of electronic musical instruments—which, during the festival will be followed up with a performance. Participants

need not be conversant with electronic music or culture. This workshop is a way to understand the relationships that exist between the artist, music and technology-based instruments.

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WOrkshops

8 FEB 4 HOURS

ANCHORs John Thackara FOUNDER AND DIRECTOR, DOORS OF PERCEPTION John Thackara is the founder and Director of Doors of Perception, an event production company that organises festivals in Europe and India in which grassroots innovators work with designers to imagine sustainable futures, and take practical steps to realize them. www.doorsofperception.com

VELOWALA witH JoHN THAckArA +ARjUN MeHtA Arjun Mehta FOUNDER, SHURUAT Arjun Mehta is the founder of Shuruat— an organisation launched in 2011 with the goal of leveraging product design and technology innovation to serve segments at the base of the pyramid. He is currently working through Shuruat to design and distribute mobility aids in semi-urban and rural India.

this is an evolution of a project developed by John Thackara and BLOT! that is facilitated as a workshop on new opportunities for VELo or bicycle commerce in congested urban spaces.

Cargo cycles are fast, efficient, clean and quiet. Transport for London found that among transport and logistics professionals, “a reluctance to use cycle freight is due more to a lack of information on the vehicles and options now available rather than due to entrenched attitudes against using cycle power”.

innovation, and local cultures are defining factors. Although they are perceived to be an inconvenience in some quarters, bicycle vendors will be key actors in tomorrow’s smart and sustainable cities. The challenge for city managers is that bicycle commerce is a complex ecosystem which is hard to manage.

However, in India, velo or bicycle commerce is a much wider and richer ecosystem. India’s many millions of bicycle vendors operate in a complex ecosystem in which entrepreneurship, sustainable mobility, grassroots

The workshop at UnBox will explore what new actions, products or ingredients are needed to help a bicycle commerce ecosystem flourish in our congested and polluted cities.

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ANCHORS Flow India Flow India works across education and culture to create exciting learning experiences for people of all ages. They work with schools to enhance learning across the curriculum and run workshops and courses across Delhi/NCR for children and adults. www.flowindia.com

WOrkshops

9 FEB 4 HOURS

uNBOXING MUSEUMS WITH FLOW INDIA+ SANSKRITI FOUNdATION Offsite: At SanskritI Foundation

Sanskriti Foundation Established in 1978, Sanskriti Foundation cultivates an environment for the preservation and development of the artistic and cultural expressions of India, and the world at large. Sanskriti perceives its role as that of a catalyst, in revitalising cultural sensitivity in contemporary times. www.sanskritifoundation.org

The workshop takes participants on an exploratory journey of the three museums at Sanskriti Foundation, with the aim of arriving at interventions that may educate and inform old and new audiences.

Flow India and Sanskriti Foundation will co-create a workshop experience that takes a group of practitioners on a tour and investigation of three museums at the Sanskriti complex. UnBox participants will brainstorm and co-create ideas based on specific challenges posed by Sanskriti Foundation,

with a focus on uncovering new experiential ideas for visitors, artists and stakeholders. Participants are invited to work in groups to design new means for visitors to experience and engage with the collections. The aim would be to create several versatile interpretations to encourage active audience participation.

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WOrkshops

9 FEB 4 HOURS

ANCHORs Sam Hill and Ben Barker CO-FOUNDERS, PAN STUDIO PAN is a design and research studio, established to produce rich, powerful and affecting experiences—taking knowledge from design industries and applying them to help people discover new sensations, explore deep emotional states and learn in new ways. www.panstudio.co.uk

PRoUstiAN SceNtS witH PAN StUdio Offsite: At Hauz Khas Village

The workshop by pan studio targets a re-assessment of our sense of smell and memory.

This is a workshop dedicated to our sense of smell and how it is linked with memory. PAN Studio will discuss the process and ideas behind their development of a ‘smell camera’.

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Attendees can mix a scent of their own design using a combination of perfumers’ flavours, then take it home after the festival and use it to ‘encode’ a future event.


ANCHORs Moushumi Bhowmik and Sukanta Majumdar FOUNDERS, THE TRAVELLING ARCHIVE Moushumi Bhowmik has been working as a singer, writer and music researcher for over fifteen years. She is based in Kolkata but her work is spread over eastern India, Bangladesh and the UK, where she has been doing both field work and lecturing and writing on her research.

WOrkshops

9 FEB 4 HOURS

Field RecordiNgS WitH tHe TRAvelliNg Archive Sukanta Majumdar is a Kolkata-based audiographer who has worked on many national and international features and documentaries. He teaches and works as an independent sound-artist. thetravellingarchive.org

The Travelling Archive shares with readers and listeners extracts from a growing collection of Bengal’s folk music, recorded in the field by Moushumi Bhowmik and Sukanta Majumdar since 2003.

The Travelling Archive is a website chronicling an ongoing journey through the rich and varied folk music of Bengal, covering mainly Bangladesh and the eastern Indian state of West Bengal and a few adjoining areas of Assam. The entire collection comprises of nearly 180 hours of songs and interviews from about 100 sessions, which is indexed by the performer or composer, form and location, with descriptions of the recording sessions, while the audience or viewer is taken

through an interactive map. For UnBox, they will share their unique process while facilitating a group experience of field recordings with a group of Bengali migrant workers in New Delhi. They will create recordings based on the theme of “migration, memory and music”—an extension of their work in London in 2007.

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WOrkshops

9 FEB 4 HOURS

ANCHORS URMEE MEHTA Umree Mehta is an independent consultant with extensive experience in the microfinance sector. She was part of the founding team at Swadhaar FinServe, an urban microfinance entity based in Mumbai. She is an architect and urban planner, and particularly interested in the ‘white space’ where design and development come together.

RETHiNkiNg MicRo FiNANcE WitH THomAS MEHWAld +UmREE MeHtA

THOMAS MEHWALD Thomas Mehwald is an independent consultant based in Germany. He has worked for over four years in the financial sector in India. Starting as an intern for the Reserve Bank of India in Mumbai he later worked for the Indo-German development cooperation in the microfinance space. As of July 2012, he coordinates a GIZ research study on ‘Financial Capabilities of Low Income Rural Households in India’.

THE financial contexts of the participants’ lives are explored, in order to then examine perspectives of low income populations in India and think of new strategies for user-centered microfinance solutions. The crisis of microfinance in India may be related to two aspects: little receptiveness to people’s contexts and life realities as well as problematic institutional setups of microfinance providers. As a result, the beneficial use of financial services by low income households was not always in the focus of microfinance providers.

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The workshop involves the participants in building an understanding of factors affecting beneficial use of financial services in their own contexts. This may be very different from the perspectives of low income populations in India. The results from a research tudy will be as well as photographic stories to reveal similarities and differences in perspectives and perceptions. They aim to outline institutional setups and strategies for people-centric microfinance providers.


ANCHOR Bespoke project Bespoke is a unique partnership of researchers from journalism, design, computing, craft and social science backgrounds and was inspired, created and funded to bring together community journalism and design, and explore this as an insight tool and a platform for innovation in design and technology. www.bespokeproject.org

WOrkshops

9 FEB 4 HOURS

BESPOKE WORKSHOP WITH BESPOKE PROJECT

Harnessing local knowledge for better design and technology for specific communities.

In a world of mass manufacturing and a ubiquitous internet of everywhere and everything, Bespoke wanted to re-think how they engage with communities— with communities that are deprived of resources that are normally excluded from the innovation process. The Bespoke project posed the question of localized indigenous knowledge and

how it could be harnesed to use design and technology to respond-to rather than intervene-in peoples’ lives. Come and get involved with a hyper-local UnBox test of this process and find out how you can use insight journalism to create Bespoke designs in your communities.

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ELECTIVES


FORMAT

UNBOX 2013 ELECTIVES

Electives are a great way to enhance your UnBox experience. Drop in for a short duration to get your hands dirty and have a close and intimate guided session with various experts.

8 AND 9 February: • Pop-Up Brew with Aditya Challa • On Writing for Design with Professor Teal Triggs • Absolut Unique Infusion with Arijit Bose 8 February: • Fellowships Project Brainstorm: UnVeil, UnTill, UnPlay, UnMap, UnBuild 9 February: • Long Live the Pool Table with The Busride and BLOT!

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ELECTIVES

8 & 9 FEB 1 HOUR

ANCHOR Aditya Challa FOUNDER, JUNGLE BEER Aditya Challa is the brewer and entrepreneur behind multiple award winning, Singaporean craft beer brand, Jungle Beer. Aditya brews, bottles and supplies Jungle Beer in Singapore, and is heavily invested in innovation of flavours and ingredients. www.junglebeer.com

POP-UP BReW wiTH AdiTYA CHAllA

Aditya Challa helpS UnBox participants blend their own experimental, wild bREWS.

Aditya Challa, founder of indie Singapore beer brand, Jungle Beer, will team up with participants to create special UnBox

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brews with a focus on cross-pollination and sensory experiments.


ANCHOR PROFESSOR TEAL TRIGGS ASSOCIATE DEAN, ROYAL COLLEGE OF ART Professor Teal Triggs is Associate Dean at Royal College of Art, London. She was previously Course Director, MA Design Writing Criticism within the School of Design at LCC and also Director, Information Environments for the University of the Arts London. As a graphic design historian, critic and educator she has authored and edited a number of books in the field and her writings have appeared in numerous international design publications. www.zineweekly.blogspot.co.uk

ELECTIVES

8 & 9 FEB 1 HOUR

ON WRiting foR Design witH Prof. TeAl Triggs

A CURATED TEAM OF WRITERS EXPLORE UNBOX AS A FERTILE GROUND FOR PROGRESSIVE DESIGN THINKING AND WRITING.

This elective, facilitated by Professor Teal Triggs from the Royal College of Art, will explore the different ways in which design may be written about from the point of view of an UnBox Festival participant—whether from the perspective of a practitioner, journalist, or as someone new to the field. Whilst your inspiration may be drawn from personal experience, we would like you to engage with the activities and people of UnBox itself. The story—our story for the day—will be about the way UnBox nurtures and creates repositories of local knowledge and commentary to understand the nuances of the bridges between tradition, culture, modernisation and design, while inspiring a truly ‘Indian’ way of design.

Experimentation and play are key. You will have the opportunity to explore ideas and processes in your own fashion while at the same time being guided by the material and by a team of experts. Only by finding a distinctive voice can we hope to communicate clearly and effectively. Daily workshop and review sessions will be held where you will refine your outcomes with a view of being published within the UnBox Zine. Supported by the British Council. The elective is a part of the British Council program that supports the development of a new generation of design writers, curators and ambassadors in India.

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ELECTIVES

8 & 9 FEB 1 HOUR

ANCHOR Arijit Bose Arijit Bose is a bar enthusiast and beverage evangelist based out of New Delhi. He is the principal cocktail programer for a new bar called PCO— styled as a speakeasy, it is currently one of the city’s coolest watering holes.

AbsolUt UNIQUE INFUSION WitH ARijit Bose

Learn how to create vodka infusions with great flavour pairings.

Using a variety of ingredients, host Arijit Bose helps you experiment with creating a variety of custom flavoured vodkabased drinks. Sponsored by Absolut, the workshop is a fun, experimental approach towards learning about vodka infusions.

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ANCHORS the busride The Busride is an independent design studio specialising in the design and creation of built environments, ranging from hospitality and entertainment venues, to film and production environments, from exhibitions and temporary installations, to institutional and architectural environments. They are a team of architects, interior and industrial designers, who create left of the centre solutions to most issues faced by high-visibility venues today. www.jointhebusride.com

ELECTIVES

9 FEB 1 HOUR

LONG LIVE THE POOL TABLE WITH THE BUSRIDE +BLOT! BLOT! A multidisciplinary project helmed by Gaurav Malaker and Avinash Kumar and supported by a network of artists, BLOT! focuses on creating audio-visual experiences that are at the core of their work. www.blottin.blogspot.com

Using the bare bones of a pool table, The Busride and Blot! will eNgage with participants to co-create a vision for the ultimate play machine using upcycled materials, creative barters, donations and open-source content.

At UnBox, as a progression of the Puma Social Lab, The Busride and BLOT! will engage with the active conversations, inputs, and physical help of participating

guests to create the ultimate gaming mashup. The resultant machine would be a symbolic assemblage of the interests and aspirations of an active, multi-faceted user.

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ELECTIVES

8 & 9 FEB 1 HOUR

FELLOWSHIP ANCHORs PRS Legislative Digital Green Quicksand CRCI People Tree

UNBox FelloWsHiPs PRoject BRAiN stoRm

Brainstorm along with the UnBox Fellows to help them pitch their work for additional funding to continue their projects beyond the scope of the festival.

Join UnBox Fellows for an interactive session where they explain the focus of their fellowship and conduct an open brainstorm session about the different ways to better their pitch for a booster funding application. The booster funding will enable the work of the fellowship to continue beyond the duration of the festival and advance its potential.

The themes of the fellowships are based on ‘design thinking’ for: sustainable communities, innovation in digital media, entrepreneurship and new technologies. The objective for each fellowships team is to devise a solutionsfocused project that may have a social return, or may become a commercially viable venture in the longer term.

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The fellowship have been developed along with the five host organizations and our partners, the British Council, the Arts and Humanities Research Council and the Science and Innovation Network of the British High Commission. The UnBox 2013 Fellowships are: • UnVeil anchored by PRS Legislative Research • UnTill anchored by Digital Green • UnPlay anchored by Quicksand • UnMap anchored by CRCI • UnBuild anchored by People Tree


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OPEN LABS


FORMAT

UNBOX 2013 OPEN LABS

Designers, artists, musicians, chefs, programmers, and even a master brewer unite at this year’s festival to explore their skills and trades in a new context to see what emerges. Our hosts will engage with participants in this exploration, making these truly hands-on experiences. Elements created in the labs add to the festival flavor, with tangible outputs shared, sold, or even eaten. Open Labs will work through the duration of the festival, working on site in dedicated spaces with specific streams. You can drop in to see what is happening at the Open Labs throughout the festival. We have also blocked specific times when participants can engage with the hosts in a more focused conversation—8th Feb from 7:00–8:00 pm and 9th Feb from 3:00–4:00 pm. All Open Labs will be at the Maker Fair on Sunday, 10th Feb from 3:00–6:00 pm.

7–9 February: • FoodLab with Dennis Francis Theo and Rikta Krishnaswamy • Absolut Liquid Lab with Arijit Bose, Dennis Francis Theo and Rikta Krishnaswamy • Think Act Vote with Amisha Ghaidali • Space Frame with D’espace and Virkein Dhar 8–9 February: • TechPlay Lab with Bespoke Project, Karmicfix and Romit Raj • SoundCamp with Border Movement and Blot! • Levi’s® PrintLab with Hanif Kureshi and BLOT! • Zine Press with Codesign and Professor Teal Triggs • Puma Social Lab with The Busride, BLOT! and Quicksand. 9 February: • Artisan Node with vv Sangaru

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OPEN LABS

8 & 9 FEB 1 HOUR

ANCHORs Mithun Varghese KARMICFIX Mithun Verghese, founder of Karmicfix, is an architect that is presently setting up a digital manufacture-based brand in Kochi, India.

TecHPlAy LAb witH besPoke project KARmicFix+ Romit RAJ

DR. JON ROGERS AND DR. JUSTIN MARSHAL Bespoke PROJECT Dr. Jon Rogers is the course director of Product Design at the University of Dundee specializing in the design of digital products. Dr. Justin Marshal is currently a Research Fellow working within Autonomatic, the 3D Digital Research Cluster based at University College Falmouth. Romit Raj Romit Raj, a programmer with a diverse range of interests and experiences will be curating screen-based technologies.

The TechPlay Lab gives participants hands-on access to a selection of emerging material and digital technologies. The TechPlay Lab will foster conversations around the impact of multidisciplinary interventions on the development and commercialization of future technologies. ‘Play’ is crucial in both describing the nature of interactions at the lab and in curating a selection of technology toys.

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The TechPlay Lab at UnBox 2013 is a seed for a much larger initiative around material sciences proposed in 2014.


ANCHORS Gerriet Schultz BORDER MOVEMENT Border Movement is a platform that aims to encourage interaction between the electronic music scenes of South Asia and Germany www.bordermovement.com

OPEN LABS

8 & 9 FEB 1 HOUR

SoUNDCAMP –THe UNBox EditioN wiTH BoRdeR MovemeNt +Blot!

BLOT! A multidisciplinary project helmed by Gaurav Malaker and Avinash Kumar and supported by a network of artists, BLOT! focuses on creating audio-visual experiences that are at the core of their work. www.blottin.blogspot.com

THe development and creation of the sounds of unbox to be produced as a music sampler compilation. For Open Lab, SoundCamp will record with UnBox musicians, and develop collaborative material to create the ‘Sounds of UnBox’ music sampler compilation. They will collaborate with the TeachPlay Lab to create a bank of sounds and scores for their proposed video-game, as well as create a conversation and presentation around temporary spaces for music culture. Gerriet Schultz will lead and share his experiences running one of Berlin’s iconic clubs—WMF Club.

Assisted by Jan Ramesh de Saram, the participants of SoundCamp include: • Udyan Sagar from Nucleya • Gaurav Malaker from Blot! • Asvajit • Suryakant Sawhney from Peter Cat Recording Co. • Raumagent Alpha • TL Mazumdar • Vinayak^A

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OPEN LABS

8 & 9 FEB 1 HOUR

ANCHORs Hanif Kureshi Hanif Kureshi is graphic designer/art director from the Faculty of Fine Arts, M.S. University of Baroda. His work has featured in distinguished typographic publications such as Typodarium and the Type Director’s Club of New York. Apart from advertising and typography, Kureshi also likes practicing his art on large walls. www.hanifkureshi.com

LEVI’S PRINTLAB WitH HANiF KUResHi+ Blot!

BLOT! A multidisciplinary project helmed by Gaurav Malaker and Avinash Kumar and supported by a network of artists, BLOT! focuses on creating audio and visual experiences which are at the core of their work. www.blottin.blogspot.com

Creating 300 t-shirts for UnBox participants with the Levi’S® PrintLab in a collaborative manner.

The UnBox Levi’s® PrintLab stitches together ten artists from India, Sri Lanka and Japan with the challenge of creating 300 T-Shirts in three days.

The artists are all recognized in their contexts and locations, and bring a broad palette of interests to the PrintLab. Since the artists come in with a variety of styles and approaches, the Levi’s® PrintLab at UnBox Festival will be equipped with a diverse set of tools and technologies—everything from screenprinting to dark room experiments and laser cutting.

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This is a unique project on the horizon of youth facing brands in India, and represents the UnBox Festival’s philosophy of collaboration and partnership in a positive manner. With a possible book in the making from this project, and an eclectic, imaginative team like this one, the Levi’s® PrintLab at UnBox promises to be an adventure.


ANCHORs Codesign Codesign, a communication design studio, and one of the founders of UnBox, will facilitate an open lab that creates a realtime festival zine for UnBox 2013. www.codesign.in

OPEN LABS

8–9 FEB 1 HOUR

ZiNe PRess witH Codesign+ Prof. Teal Triggs PROFESSOR TEAL TRIGGS ASSOCIATE DEAN, ROYAL COLLEGE OF ART Professor Teal Triggs is Associate Dean at Royal College of Art, London. She was previously Course Director, MA Design Writing Criticism within the School of Design at LCC and also Director, Information Environments for the University of the Arts London. As a graphic design historian, critic and educator she has authored and edited a number of books in the field and her writings have appeared in numerous international design publications. www.zineweekly.blogspot.co.uk

Exploring collaborative content making at UnBox 2013 culminating in the creation of a festival journal.

An ensemble of designers, writers, illustrators and resources will work overtime to hand over copies of the festival zine to participants when they depart.

Building on their recent experiences in creating Dekho—a periodical for communication design in India— Codesign will facilitate interactions and exchanges with the UnBox community that help co-create a personal documentation of the festival. The challenge of creating a realtime magazine is emblematic of the practical challenge of interdisciplinary practice, and the Zine Press will seek

to orchestrate a balance of preparation and instinct that is defining in such experiences. The Zine Press will culminate in the creation of a festival journal as a takeaway of the vibrant process of assimilating diverse journeys in the act of content creation and dissemination. UnBox participants who feel they can contribute to the Zine Press are more than welcome to pitch in.

The Zine Press is a part of the British Council program that supports the development of a new generation of design writers, curators and ambassadors in India. 37


OPEN LABS

9 FEB 1 HOUR

ANCHOR Sandeep Sangaru INDUSTRIAL DESIGNER AND FOUNDER, SANGARU DESIGNS Sandeep Sangaru holds a Post Graduate degree in Industrial Design with a specialisation in Furniture Design from the National Institute of Design (NID) in Ahmedabad. He also holds a Bachelor’s degree in Mechanical Engineering. His firm, Sangaru Design is a multidisciplinary design studio that has the talent to manipulate materials, appreciate technology and combine engineering with craft to deliver unique solutions www.sangaru.com

ArtisAn Node WITH SANdeep SANgArU

Indian Artisans collaborate with artists and designers at UnBox to take craft-design intervention in new directions. UnBox is collaborating with Sandeep Sangaru to share the work processes and innovation challenges of master artisans with participants. The Artisan Node at UnBox provides the following experiences: • A hands-on experience with the chance to observe master artisans and their approaches • Debate and conversation with artists, designers and artisans • Creative workshops that propose imaginative ideas for challenges in the crafts • Resources for creating spatial and 38

artistic experiments at UnBox • Create merchandise for UnBox participants The challenge of creating meaningful craft-based interactions at a festival like UnBox is a critical conflict to consider. Artisan Node examines not just the expansion of the possibilities of craft, but also critiques typical conceptual and creative dynamics between design interventions and craft knowledge.


ANCHORs the busride The Busride, based in Mumbai, are a team of architects, interior and industrial designers, specialising in the design and creation of built environments. www.jointhebusride.com

OPEN LABS

8 & 9 FEB 1 HOUR

PUmA SociAl LAB WitH THe BUride+ BLOT!+ QuicksAnd

BLOT! A multidisciplinary project helmed by Gaurav Malaker and Avinash Kumar and supported by a network of artists, BLOT! focuses on creating audio-visual experiences that are at the core of their work. www.blottin.blogspot.com

QUICKSAND Quicksand, a co-founder of UnBox, brings user-centered design principles to the core of any innovation effort. quicksand.co.in

Supported by PUMA, The Busride, BLOT! and Quicksand collaborate to give upcycling and repurposing a new meaning by extending it to festival decor, as UnBox interiors make their way to the new Puma zero-carbon footprint store in Bangalore. The Puma Social Club is a new concept housed in a one-of-a-kind Puma store and is possibly the first truly sustainable flagship experience for a brand. It’s agenda is to represent the most progressive ideas around art and culture, while also being a watering hole for the city’s enlightened youth. Taking this spirit of sustainability and up-cycling forward, UnBox has proposed

a format including: • A parallel mapping of the Puma store and UnBox festival plans and artist networks. • Design and curation of aspects of the new Puma Social Club, including a large ‘play’ area, using a modular system made with repurposed materials. • An assemblage of UnBox decor made relevant for an entirely new context carried out by The Busride.

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OPEN LABS

7–9 FEB ALL DAY

ANCHORs Dennis Francis Theo Dennis spends his time shuttling between the worlds of fashion and cuisine. He has been creating culinary experiences that are holistic and conceptual, with a focus on baking and confectionary-making.

FoodLAb witH DeNNis FRANcis THeo+ RiktA KRisHNASWAMY

Rikta Krishnaswamy Rikta is an industrial designer turned design researcher. She loves to discover new cultures through the exploration of culinary traditions and social rituals around eating. She is responsible for making FoodLab a meeting place of traditions, collaborations and inventive experiences.

At UnBox 2013, Rikta Krishnaswamy and Dennis Francis Theo will curate an open kitchen, A canteen and A culinary experiments group that creates new experiences around food. New cooking styles and ingredient pairings will be explored to push boundaries while tempting palates. • Zorba Cafe from 7–10 February 2013 The Zorba cafe is an all day cafe meant for quick re-fuelling.

meal. This is the premise of our picnic lunch, featuring the organic produce paired with fine wines from Nine Hills.

• Delhi Belly on 8 Februray 2013 The first UnBox lunch will sate your hunger in royal style, while keeping you on your feet for all the UnBox action that follows. We have short, simple mini meals that represent all that we love and crave from the streets of Old Delhi.

• UnBox Feast on 10 February 2013 The last meal at UnBox 2013 is a thoughtfully curated Kerala-style sadya (grand feast) served on plantain leaves. Sit down on the lawns of Zorba, wash your hands before-hand and prepare well for the absence of spoons, forks, excavators, Vernier-Calipers and the lot. Starving in anticipation is optional.

• VinoPicnic on 9 February 2013 Humble chit-chat is elevated to great conversation when paired with a good 40


ANCHORS Arijit Bose Arijit Bose is a bar enthusiast and beverage evangelist based out of New Delhi. He is the principal cocktail programer for a new bar called PCO—styled as a speakeasy, it is currently one of the city’s coolest watering holes.

OPEN LABS

7 - 10 FEB 1 HOUR

AbsolUt LiQUid LAb witH ARijit Bose+ DeNis FRANcis THeo +RiktA KRisHNAswAmy

Dennis Francis Theo Dennis spends his time shuttling between the worlds of fashion and cuisine. He has been creating culinary experiences that are holistic and conceptual, with a focus on baking and confectionary-making. Rikta Krishnaswamy Rikta is an industrial designer turned design researcher. She loves to discover new cultures through the exploration of culinary traditions and social rituals around eating. She is responsible for making FoodLab a meeting place of traditions, collaborations and inventive experiences.

Progressing a mandate to experiment with spirits at UnBox, the Absolut Liquid Lab is led by Arijit Bose, Dennis Francis Theo and Rikta Krishnaswamy.

On the heels of the supremely successful Liquid Lab at UnBox 2012, this year promises several new dimensions. The UnBox team has translated the Pernod-Ricard portfolio into several projects, each resulting in innovative concoctions and directions that tease participants to learn more about the inner world of brewing and mixing.

• Absolut Shapeshifter Bar from 7–10 February 2013 • Jameson Cinema from 8–9 February 2013 • Absolut Unique Artisanal Bar from 7–9 February 2013 • Havana Tiki Bar on 10 February 2013

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OPEN LABS

7–9 FEB

ANCHOR Amisha Ghadiali Amisha Ghadiali is a designer, writer, comedian and Scuba diver. She is the founder of the independent jewelry line Elegance Rebellion and the radical think-tank Think Act Vote. Her first book, The Future We Choose was launched at Rio+20, with over 200 participants contributing ideas and artwork towards a brighter future. Amisha has been the Associate Director for the Ethical Fashion Forum and her passion for sustainable fashion and curates a series of events under the banner Future Fashion. thinkactvote.org

THiNk Act Vote witH AmisHA GHAdiAli

Think act vote (?!X) is a video booth that documents interesting political conversation as a starting point for discussing futures.

How can we create the future that we choose? Every one of us has ideas and personal experiences to share that can lead us to a brighter future. This is an invitation to you, to imagine the future of your choice and inspire us to build it with you. Our global future should be

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created by all of us, together. The Think Act Vote video booth is the start of a new conversation for making that happen. The open lab is hosted by the founder of the radical think-tank Think Act Vote who published her first collaborative book, The Future We Choose in 2012.


ANCHORS D’espace D’espace is a design collective that came together within a group of friends combining their love for creativity and music. It consists of architects and students of architecture that realise their imaginations through innovative design interventions.

OPEN LABS

8–9 FEB 1 HOUR

SPAcE FRAme WitH D’espAce +ViRkeiN DHAr Virkein Dhar Virkein Dhar is currently pursuing her Bachelors in Architecture, and works as a freelance spatial planner and dancer. Her interest in scenography gets her to join D’espace for an array of projects at the UnBox Festival this year.

Space Frame is an Open Lab that addresses spatial projects, art installations and performances at UnBox 2013.

The spatial preparation for UnBox is a collaborative project in itself. Materials, modules and resources have been bartered, re-purposed and created from an assemblage of prior projects and new ideas. The challenge for space design at UnBox is tethered by principles that direct this open lab towards: • Frugal use of finances and materials • Multi-purposed and re-purposed building modules • Barter and exchanges between festivals and studios • Collaborations with other labs and projects within UnBox • Creating hands-on experiences for participants • Leaving behind a permanent installation at the UnBox venue

The Space Frame Lab will have resources for stitching fabric, basic metal and woodwork, and an inventory of fabric, rope and modules and will keep working through the duration of the festival, making the space an evolving one.

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peRFo RmAN ces


FORMAT

UNBOX 2013 PERFORMANCES

Experimental,interdisciplinary performances are an intrinsic part of UnBox.In 2013 multiple artists and performers come together for several music and audio-visual performances that embody the crossover spirit of UnBox.

7 February 2013 • New Culture Mashup with BLOT!, Nucleya, PinkSoda and The Busride • Sounds of Bengal with Soumik Datta and Arif Khan 8 February 2013 • Hariharpur Musicians • Bhajans, Blues & Bob Dylan with MT Aditya and Vedanth Bharadwaj • Saskia Rao and Gwyneth Wentink • Peter Cat Recording Company 9 February 2013 • Dayglocrazie • Prelude to an InnerAct with Gwyneth Wentink • Puma loves Vinyl with Ron Schneider, KOHRA and Vinayak^A • SoundCamp Ensemble

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PERFORMANCES

7 FEB

PERFORMERS Blot! A multidisciplinary project with musical experiences at the core of their work, BLOT! explores content creation through the visual arts, moving image and artifacts. As a performance ensemble, BLOT! has been active at music, dance and cultural venues in India and abroad. blottin.blogspot.in

NEW CUlTURe MAsHUP WitH BLOT!+ NUclEyA+ PINKSODA+ THE BUSRIDE

Nucleya Nucleya has released 14 singles, a studio album—Bhor, and has had numerous collaborations. Besides this, there are four more international releases lined up for this year. Nucleya has frequently made it on the playlists of BBC Radio 1 and many other radio stations around the world and has performed at numerous music festivals around the world. nucleya.com PinkSoda PinkSoda is the alter ego of Smriti Chowdhary, the mad brain behind some of the mashup videos of the New Culture Mashup. The Busride The Busride, led by the gifted architect and artist Ayaz Basrai, is an interdisciplinary studio based out of Mumbai. He will be the live sketcher at the New Culture Mashup. www.jointhebusride.com

A live audiovisual project helmed by electronic artists BLOT! and Nucleya, New Culture Mashup presents a

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unique approach to the composition of contradictions in the audiovisual space.


PERFORMERS Soumik Datta British sarod maestro, composer Soumik Datta is fast being recognized as one of the biggest new music talents in Britain. Â He has led groundbreaking new arts projects as a resident artist for the London based Alchemy Festival and the Rich Mix cultural foundation. www.soumik.info

PERFORMANCES

7 FEB

SoUNds oF BENGAL WiTH SoUmik DATTA+ ARiF KHAn Arif Khan Arif Khan, the grandson of the doyen Ustad Karamatullah Khan, is a prolific tabla maestro based in Kolkata.

Rhythmic beating of clothes at the dhobi ghat lead to the sounds of trams, steam engines, the cry of pheri-wallahs, the uproar of Durga Puja Dhaki and the gradual awakening of the city. From boatmen, street hawkers and lorry drivers to folk singers and film directors,

they expound on what sounds draw them back to Bengal. Partly documented on film and partly imagined live off stage, this is a new music–theatre experience that will take the audience on a breathtaking sonic journey through Bengal.

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PERFORMANCES

PERFORMERS Musicians from Hariharpur At Hariharpur, a heritage village, nearly every family has a history of musical lineage. Continuing from the workshop—Building Communities, Workshop Architecture together with the Indian Trust for Rural Heritage and Development (ITRHD) will bring together musicians from Hariharpur for a performance.

Classical and folk musicians from the village of Hariharpur, will perform at UnBox in the Benaras Gharana styles of singing, tabla, and sarangi. Learnt generation to generation, the tradition

of music in the community is of cultural importance and ITRHD and Workshop Architecture are striving to keep this tradition alive by facilitating the means to increase exposure to local heritage.

8 FEB

HARiHARPUr MUsiciANs

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PERFORMERS Mt Aditya Srinivasan Mt Aditya Srinivasan is a classically trained tabla player from Chennai.

PERFORMANCES

8 FEB

BHAjANs, BlUEs & Bob DylAN WITH MT AdiTyA SRiNivAsAN +VedANtH BHArAdWAj

Vedanth Bhardwaj Vedanth Bharadwaj is a composer, singer and classical guitarist. He has composed music for advertisements and movies.

Vedanth Bharadwaj and MT Aditya Srinivasan will play a re-invention of

songs written by the poet Kabir and the musician Bob Dylan.

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PERFORMANCES

8 FEB

PERFORMERS Saskia Rao de Haas Saskia Rao De Haas is a virtuoso cellist and composer from the Netherlands based in New Delhi. Saskia’s contribution to Hindustani classical music is through the Indian cello—an instrument fashioned out of the cello that enables it to be played in Indian classical concerts. Saskia is acclaimed for bridging Western and Indian classical music. She is an accomplished Western classical cellist as well, and plays folk music from Eastern Europe and has composed music for dance, film and theatre. www.saskiarao.com.

SAskiA RAo-de HAAs+ GWYNeTH WeNtiNk

Gwyneth Wentink Gwyneth Wentink, one of the leading harpists of her generation, has been fascinated by Indian culture for many years. She travels around India regularly, and has introduced the country to the little known instrument. One of the major fruits of her travels to India is the unique ensemble she has formed here, called Better Than Coffee. www.gwynetheentink.nl

Saskia Rao De Haas and Gwyneth Wentink will be collaborating for a duet on the Indian cello and the harp. The

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performance, a fusion of different styles, will be in an informal intimate setting.


PERFORMER Peter Cat Recording Co. Peter Cat Recordings Co. is a New Delhibased band that creates and records a variety of different music, ranging from gypsy jazz to ballroom. www.petercatrecordingco.com

PERFORMANCES

8 FEB

PETER CAt RecoRdiNgs Co. Peter Cat Recording Co. (PCRC) blends a miscellany of genres to produce their own brand of music. Driven by an eclectic

range of interests, their sound is rich and intense. Unwind after a hard days work with a performance by PCRC.

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PERFORMANCES

PERFORMER dayglocrazie Dayglocrazie is Pratap Aditya, a singersongwriter who plays indie music on his acoustic guitar.

Dayglocrazie will play a set during FoodLab’s VinoPicnic, contributing to the

light informal picnic atmosphere of the second UnBox lunch.

9 FEB

DAYGLOCRAZIE

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PERFORMER Gwyneth Wentink Gwyneth Wentink, one of the leading harpists of her generation, has been fascinated by Indian culture for many years. She travels around India regularly, and has introduced the country to the little known instrument. One of the major fruits of her travels to India is the unique ensemble she has formed here, called Better Than Coffee. www.gwynetheentink.nl

PERFORMANCES

9 FEB

PRElUde to AN INNeRAct WitH GWyNEtH WeNtiNk Gwyneth Wentink is part of InnerAct— an audiovisual performance with the harp, electronica and visuals, based on the groundbreaking composition, Canto Ostinato. InnerAct takes place on the fascinating intersection between music, visual art and technology, and provides a unique experience for all the senses.

For the next 18 months, Gwyneth Wentink, electronica specialist Wouter Snoei and video artist Arnout Hulskamp will bring this arrangement to many international stages.

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PERFORMANCES

9 FEB

PERFORMERS KohrA and Vinayak^a Kohra and Vinayaka are both fascinated with analog sound, whether its through field recordings, vinyl, or analog synthesizers. This collaboration brings new ideas towards listenable, moody Indian electronica—making lo-fi the natural flavour of tuning in to India

PUmA Loves ViNyl WiTH KoHRA+ VinAyAKA +RoN SCHNEiDER Ron Schneider Ron Schneider is a self taught artist exploring the correlation between sound and technology. Based in Berlin, he works as a music producer, sound technician, musician and engineer, modifying or building custom electronic instruments. Currently, a few of his most active projects include his alter ego, Raumagent Alpha—a dancefloor orientated techno solo project, the realtime improvisation band called Transistors of Mercy, and the industrial ambient live program, dRONe. Ron Schneider is currently an artist in residence at Srishti School of Art, Design and Technology in Bangalore. stattbad.net

Pitching together two underground stalwarts from the Indian electronica scene, along with Ron Scheinder, and having them explore their secret hobbies is a perfect excuse for a classic UnBox

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evening. A great sounding Vinyl is a thing of sheer beauty. Puma celebrates the renaissance of analog and the power of music that makes people come together in the true spirit of Puma Social.


PERFORMERs Border Movement Border Movement is a platform that aims to encourage interaction between the electronic music scenes of South Asia and Germany. www.bordermovement.com

PERFORMANCES

10 FEB

SoUNd CAmP ENsemble SoundCamp is a Border Movement project that has its origins in a three week residency in Sri Lanka in 2012. The SoundCamp at UnBox Invites Indian and South Asian musicians to create and experience a temporary, collaborative music development space. SoundCamp will perform at the closing event for UNBOX 2013 assisted by Jan Ramesh de Saram, the participants of SoundCamp Ensemble at Unbox include: • Udyan Sagar–Nucleya

• Gaurav Malaker–Blot! • Asvajit • Suryakant Sawhney–Peter Cat Recording Co. • Raumagent Alpha • TL Mazumdar • Vinayak^A

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sHoW cASes


FORMAT

UNBOX 2013 SHOWCASES

UnBox 2013 provides a platform for practitioners and creators to engage participants in showcases of progressive content, projects and processes. This will take the form of installations, exhibitions and screenings, specially curated for UnBox.

7–10 February 2013 • Project Rising Edition 2: Forgotten Citizens 1984, Seeking Justice • The Jaffna Music Festival, Sri Lanka 2011 curated by Jan Ramesh De Saram • Bang Bang curated by Jan Ramesh De Saram • Now Delhi curated by Akshat Nauriyal • The Snapped Rope and other stories from the new Bangalore curated by Avani Tanya • A Plan for Bandra by The Busride • llustrations by Isuri Dayaratne • Black and White Illustrations by Shamanthi Rajasingham • Image and Word by Vidyun Sabhaney & Shohei Emura 8 February 2013 • Fellowships Showcase 8–9 February 2013 • onedotzero 9 February 2013 • Poetic Tech in the Live Room by SIN:DROME 9-10 February 2013 • Long Live the Pool Table by The Busride + BLOT! • Tinted Waters by Digital Jalebi 10 February 2013 • Maker Fair 57


SHOWCASES

8 FEB FelloWsHip EXHIBITION OF FELLOWSHIPS: unveil, untill, unplay, unmap, UNBUILD

SHoWcAse The UnBox Fellowships are a core component of the festival. Diverse offerings set within inspiring contexts will challenge participants while pushing “action at the intersections” in new directions. This year, the UnBox Fellowships included: 1. UnVeil anchored by PRS Legislative Research, exploring film and digital media for open-governance 2. UnTill anchored by Digital Green, on augmenting agriculture with new technologies

3. UnPlay, anchored by Quicksand, exploring gaming for social innovation 4. UnMap anchored by Cultural Resource Conservation Institute, focusing on culture and heritage preservation 5. UnBuild anchored by People Tree, on developing sustainable lifestyles. The UnBox Fellowships have been coconceived with our partners—the British Council, the Arts & Humanities Research Council, UK and the Science & Innovation Network at the British High Commission.

7–10 FEB ProjECT RISInG

Photography Exhibition curated by: Arpana Caur and Harvinder Singh Phoolka

EDITIon 2: forgotten CITIZENS 1984, SeeKING JUStice “Art must record history to prevent atrocities from happening again.” —Arpana Caur.

Forgotten Citizens 1984, Seeking Justice is a travelling photography exhibition initiated by senior advocate and human rights activist H. S. Phoolka. Artist, Arpana Caur, together with H. S. Phoolka, put together the exhibition along with Bachpan Bachao Andolan, Lok Raj Sangathan and a volunteers to draw public attention to the continued 58

injustice during and after the anti-Sikh riots of 1984. Using art as a tool to record memories, the photographs of eyewitness accounts deliver a message louder than words. The photographers exhibiting at the showcase include Ram Rahman, Ashok Vahie, Sondeep Shankar and Phal Girota.


SHOWCASES

7–10 FEB THe JAFFNA Photography Exhibition and Video Screening curated by: Jan Ramesh De Saram

Music FestivAl, Sri LANkA 2011 The showcase is a video and photography exhibition that documents the 2011 Jaffna Music Festival in Sri Lanka. Jan Ramesh De Saram worked as the festival coordinator for the festival, organized by the Sewalanka Foundation and funded by the Royal Norwegian Embassy and US Aid. The Sri Lankan civil war that lasted over 25 years had come to an end a little over a year before planning had started. The concept of having a three day

celebration of folk music and what its benefit would be were not immediately understood by many people. The main Jaffna Music Festival attracted over 15,000 local visitors who had come to see an eclectic mix of 24 different Sri Lankan folk groups from all ethnicities and regions share a festival ground and main stage along with 5 international groups for the duration of the festival.

7–10 FEB BANg BANg Print Exhibition curated by: Jan Ramesh De Saram

BangBang is a closely-knit collective of DJs, producers, artists, designers and promoters from Sri Lanka. The collective was formed in 2009 by a group of friends as a counter-reaction to the increasingly commercial local music scene. They were keen to promote underground electronic dance music and have gone on to host multiple public shows as well as many events within their country featuring acclaimed local and international acts. As an artist-centric, non-profit organization passionate about the development of

Sri Lankan electronic music, BangBang attempts to aid the growth of the scene by holding quality events, supporting fresh talent, collaborating with partisan institutions, and fostering relations between musicians across nations. From its simple beginnings, the collective has grown into a key player in the local industry; steadily gaining a reputation for their unwavering dedication to promoting and supporting only noncommercial electronic music.

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SHOWCASES

8 FEB Now

VIDEO SCREENING curated by: Akshat Nauriyal

DelHi

Now Delhi is an internet based video documentary series that features stories of emerging subcultures from the capital city. It hosts short features on the underground and alternative communities which are overlooked by mainstream media while also extending support to impact based social change

movements. Constantly exploring how artists are interacting with the city, Now Delhi is a platform to showcase the global cultures that exist in the city and attempts to paint a realtime image of an emerging, contemporary India.

7–10 FEB THE SNAPPEd Print Exhibition curated by: Avani Tanya

RoPe ANd OtHEr Stories The Snapped Rope and Other Stories from the New Bangalore is a photographic collection of stories and objects found in Bangalore, that are tied together to tell a multitudinous tale of the city. While traversing a breadth of subjects from science, governance, environment to iconography, linguistics and play; the collection includes a recycled metal knife used by local gangsters, a piece of bark of a tree that was recently cut

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for the convenience of the passers-by, an illustration of Dr. Rajkumar on a matchbox and a cake specially made for dogs among other things. The collection is curated by Avani Tanya, an aspiring art and design practitioner, who enjoys working with a range of media, drawing inspiration from people, places and stories in her daily life.


SHOWCASES

7–10 FEB A PlAN for Photography Exhibition and Video Screening curated by: The Busride

BANdrA

In conjunction with a seminar, The Busride will present a showcase on The Bandra Project. The project conceived by The Busride aims to understand and actively engage with the tangible and intangible aspects of this vibrant suburb. To allow for an in-depth understanding, they walked every street, listing and rating built forms, open spaces, monuments and landmarks, to a list of diverse criteria, in an effort to quantify the suburb’s pedestrian response.

The detailed mapping exercise directs a pedestrian plan for the suburb tying in the very best of Bandra through a series of informative walks, that highlight and showcase every issue that the suburb faces today. The map identifies Bandra’s best pedestrian spines, connecting main streets to her forgotten heritage pockets. The pedestrianisation and showcasing of these important parts of Bandra’s surviving cultural fabric is the first step towards a progressive heritage conservation plan for the suburb.

7–10 FEB IllUstrAtioNs by Print Exhibition curated by: Isuri Dayaratne

IsUri DAyArAtNe Isuri Dayaratne is a 27 year old illustrator from Colombo, Sri Lanka. She recently graduated from Columbus College of Art and Design, in Ohio with a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Illustration.

Isuri has exhibited her work in ‘Odd! Company’ at Wild Goose Creative in Columbus, Ohio, ‘Combo Attack: 25 Years of Street Fighter’ at IAM8BIT Gallery, Los Angeles, California, ‘Girls: Fact + Fiction’ at Light Grey Art Lab, Minneapolis, Minnesota.

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SHOWCASES

7-10 FEB Black ANd WHite Print Exhibition curated by: Shamanthi Rajasingham

IllUstrAtioNs by ShAmANtHi RajAsiNgHAm Shamanthi Rajasingham, from Sri Lanka, has been drawing and painting all her life, with her style of art constantly evolving. This interest in art has recently extended to photography and design as

well. She forms part of the core team for Levi’s® PrintLab and will be participating at the Be Shirt workshop.

8–10 FEB Image ANd Word

Print Exhibition curated by: Vidyun Sabhaney and Shohei Emura

by VidyUN SAbHANey ANd ShoHei EmUrA Image and Word is an upcoming showcase on visual storytelling in India, being organised by a small team of comic book artists in New Delhi. At the Unbox Festival, they will introduce participants to the world of traditional storytellers in India through a collection of illustrations from their fieldwork.

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In an attempt to generate interest from artists and designers, whose participation is critical to the showcase, they will be screen-printing part of their showcase at UnBox itself.


SHOWCASES

8–9 FEB onedotzero Video Screening

onedotzero is an international moving image and digital arts organisation which commissions, showcases and promotes innovation across all aspects of moving image, digital and interactive arts. The organisation, founded in 1996, is known for representing a diverse array of artistic endeavour. It has a cross media and collaborative approach attuned to technological advances and fast paced change within digital arts and the contemporary cultural landscape.

There will be two screenings that are held: • Wow + Flutter 11: The driving force of onedotzero’s programming since inception fifteen years ago. Revered for forecasting the future of moving image, this is the place to discover pioneering creatives producing forward thinking motion graphics, animation and experimental short-form work defining the look of tomorrow. • OnScreen: A curated programme of linear moving image installations, that are transporting, immersive and contemplative.

9–10 FEB LoNg Live tHe INTERACTIVE INSTALLATION curated by: The Busride and BLOT!

Pool TAble Pre-UnBox, discarded materials and technologies are sourced and after an initial brainstorming to create a basic framework of an ultimate gaming mashup, the project is brought on to be worked on live at UnBox. At UnBox, an elective is offered wherein participants get to ideate along with

anchors/curators to create a machine that represents the symbolic assemblage of the interests and aspirations of an active, multi-faceted user. The resultant in-progress ‘machine’ will be showcased on the final day of UnBox. Post UnBox the design of the machine will be taken forward with the addition of modules and details with the intention of finally being displayed at a Puma store in Bangalore.

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SHOWCASES

9–10 FEB Tinted INSTALLATION curated by: Digital Jalebi

WatErs The installation explores interactivity by using physical actions that generate its digital counterparts. Tinted Waters allows visitors to play, wave, swing, dance and even synchronize their physical movements with music. This embraces the user into its emotional play with physical world gestures combined with the digital experience.

Another very important aspect of the installation is the use of a water membrane for the projection. The membrane acts as a tool to enhance the content and exploit the context and environment of the installation. The installation is conceived by Digital Jalebi, a new media design firm based in Bangalore and Delhi.

9 FEB Poetic TecH

Print Exhibition curated by: Vidyun Sabhaney and Shohei Emura

iN tHe Live Room by SIN:DROME

The seed of Sin:drome is a result of many years of collaborative audio visual works between Vinny Bhagat and Ashhar Farooqui. The duo has been involved in technology-driven art practices. As curators of Online Concerts, Sin:drome has featured artists from varying disciplines such as sound, music, architecture, digital drawing, photography, and live visual performance.

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Live Room is an online concert venue designed by Shivnakaun Studios for experimentation and collaboration between musicians, artists and performers. Sin:drome’s performance at Unbox will involve Live Sculpture, Sonic Landscape, Interactive Visuals, through remote storytelling and distributed online artists.


SHOWCASES

10 FEB MAker Video Screening

FAir

Hosted on the final day of UnBox, Maker Fair is an opportunity for UnBox participants and anchors to display work produced during the festival. It is a recap of the workshops, electives, open labs and seminars as tangible output. The concept

of the Maker Fair is to end the festival by facilitating a conversation on the learnings at UnBox and its extension beyond the festival.

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semi NArs


FORMAT

unbox 2013 seminars

Eminent scholars, thinkers, and doers present their work while challenging attendees to question and rethink conventions on topics like education, manufacturing, anthropological inquiry, design, music, and traditional worldviews. Seminars are conversational, and audience participation is encouraged.

8 February 2013 • User-Generated Cities & Urban Systems by URBZ • Sustainable Livelihoods from Waste by Waste Ventures • Project Rising Edition 2: Forgotten Citizens 1984, Seeking Justice by Harvinder Singh Phoolka • Stories in Sound: Journeying to the Field by The Travelling Archive • Insight Journalism by Dr. Jon Rogers • Craft & Digital Manufacture by Justin Marshal 9 February 2013 • Design for Democratic & Sustainable Societies by Samir Doshi • Making it Relevant by Flow India • Interactive Newsprint by Paul Egglestone • Digital Economy Toolkit by David Frohlich • The Rise of Electronic Music in Berlin (1990–2010) by Gerriet Schultz • Brewing a Dream by Aditya Challa • A Li’l Seminar by BLOT! 10 February 2013 • A Plan for Bandra by The Busride • Enabling Socially-Inclusive Cities by micro Home Solutions • Rules to Dress By with Amisha Ghadiali • Cultural ROI by Parmesh Shahani

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SEMINARS

8 FEB User-Generated SPEAKERS: Rahul Srivastava and Matias Echanove [URBZ] urbz.net

Cities & Urban Systems by URBZ URBZ facilitates the production and exchange of information, knowledge, ideas and practices towards better cities for all. They organise participatory workshops, design adaptable structures and develop web tools for urban communities and practitioners.

URBZ works with contractors, masons, and other actors, including material providers, designers and architects. The seminar will center around the interconnected initiatives through which they operate in Mumbai and abroad—URBZ (a global collective and forum of expressing and communicating ideas), Institute of Urbanology (for academic research, reflection and writing) and Hood (for design and other practices).

8 FEB Project Rising Edition 2: Forgotten Citizens 1984, Seeking Justice by Harvinder Singh Phoolka SPEAKER: H. S. Phoolka phoolka.net

Harvinder Singh Phoolka is an author, activist and advocate. He is known for helming the crusade for justice for the victims of the 1984 anti-Sikh riots.

After his escape from the 1984 antiSikh massacre, in his resolve to fight for justice for the victims, H. S. Phoolka conceived the formation of the Citizen’s Justice Committee (CJC). Floated in May 1985, the CJC has been pivotal in representing the massacre’s victims

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before the various judicial commissions that have been formed for inquiry into the massacres. His seminar is an attempt to increase awareness about the continued injustices and introduce the showcase presented by Project Rising called ‘Forgotten Citizens 1984, Seeking Justice’.


SEMINARS

8 FEB Sustainable SPEAKER: Tiffany Talsma President, Waste Ventures wasteventures.org

Livelihoods from Waste by Waste Ventures Tiffany manages Waste Ventures Charities—focusing on incubating and rigorously testing the best integrated solid waste management processes and creating waste picker benefits. She was formerly a management consultant with KPMG’s Mergers & Acquisitions advisory practice.

Waste Ventures is solving the growing garbage crisis in emerging Tier II and Tier III Indian cities. They have developed a locally-appropriate model for solid waste management that cleans the environment and integrates the oftexcluded wastepickers and their families. From the initial blueprint of transforming waste picker cooperatives into profitable corporations to the

current blueprint of building out its own full-fledged integrated solid waste management projects, Waste Ventures has experimented with a number of models to get to where they are today. Waste Ventures has set a new standard for service levels that can be provided at a low cost by employing wastepickers to collect garbage from households for an average monthly fee of 50 Rupees. Waste Ventures generates revenue through three separate streams by charging a fee for collection, processing organics into compost, and selling cleaned and aggregated recyclables downstream. The benefit is doubling of wastepicker livelihoods, clean neighbourhoods, and creation of beneficial soil conditioner for farmers, all while diverting more than 80% of waste from dumping.

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SEMINARS

8 FEB Stories in

SPEAKERS: Moushumi Bhowmik and Sukanta Majumdar, Founders, The Travelling Archive thetravellingarchive.org

Sound: Journeying to the Field by The Travelling Archive

The Travelling Archive is a website about an ongoing journey through the rich and varied folk music of Bengal, covering mainly Bangladesh and the eastern Indian state of West Bengal and some adjoining areas of Assam, in the east of South Asia. Moushumi Bhowmik and Sukanta Majumdar play some of their

most recent tracks, talk about the vision behind The Travelling Archive and the importance of the project.

8 FEB Insight SPEAKER: Dr. Jon Rogers insightjournalism.net

Journalism by Dr. Jon Rogers

Dr. Jon Rogers is the course director of Product Design at the University of Dundee specializing in the design of digital products.

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Blending community-centered storytelling, journalism’s critical and investigative approach with the skill sets of designers, makers and builders, Insight Journalism offers a radical approach to design and service provision for communities.


SEMINARS

8 FEB Craft & Digital SPEAKER: Dr. Justin Marshal www.bespokeproject.org

Manufacture by Justin Marshal Dr. Justin Marshal is currently a Research Fellow working within Autonomatic, the 3D Digital Research Cluster based at University College Falmouth. He is a practising maker and researcher with a diverse training in range of visual art and design disciplines

he digital manufacturing revolution, aligned with the development in web capabilities enables user participation in an individualised design process to a remarkable extent. Justin’s talk will discuss the nature of this revolution as well as the potential that lies in this emerging process.

9 FEB Making it SPEAKERS: Katherine Rose Founder Director, Flow India and Arundhati Mitter, Flow India. flowindia.wordpress.com

Relevant by Flow India Katherine brings 15 years of experience in education and museums across UK and India. She has managed education projects for V&A Museum and Tate Gallery in London. Arundhati specialises in content design for programmes. She trained as an interpretive planner and museum exhibit designer from NID. Flow India is a Delhi-based consultancy and education service provider working at the intersection of the disciplines

of education and culture. Founded in 2010, Flow harnesses our country’s rich material wealth to develop engaging and relevant learning experiences for children and adults. The talk will explore how material culture can transcend its ‘dusty museum’ image and come alive to create memorable learning experiences, showcasing Flow’s work and case studies from around the world.

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SEMINARS

9 FEB Interactive

SPEAKER: Paul Egglestone www.interactivenewsprint.org

Newsprint by Paul Egglestone

Paul Egglestone runs the Media Innovation Studio, based in the School of Journalism and Digital Communication at the University of University of Central Lancashire. He is currently leading the interactive newsprint project to develop a new platform for community news by connecting paper to the Internet.

Paul Egglestone will discuss his role on Interactive Newsprint which brings together communities and academic partners from Dundee, Surrey and UCLan to develop and test a new idea for community news based on digital interactive paper.

9 FEB diy club clture SPEAKER: Gerriet Schultz www.bordermovement.com

in Berlin 1990– 2010 by Gerriet Schultz

Berlin based musician and music lover Gerriet Schultz founded Border Movement in 2012 as a blog and cultural catalyst for electronic music in South Asia and Germany which is funded by the Goethe Institutes of India and Sri Lanka.

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This talk will use the example of WMF Club (1990–2010) to discuss how massive changes after the fall of the wall and the legal vacuum created as a result gave rise to the use of temporary spaces and a freely creative way of life which culmunated in Berlin’s widely acclaimed club culture, something that has irrevocably made it’s mark on German electronic music since then.


SEMINARS

10 FEB Rules to Dress SPEAKER: Amisha Ghadiali www.amisha.co.uk

By with Amisha Ghadiali Amisha Ghadiali is a designer, writer, comedian and Scuba diver. She is the founder of the independent jewelry line, Elegance Rebellion and the radical thinktank ThinkActVote. Amisha has been the Associate Director for the Ethical Fashion Forum and currently curates a series of events under the banner Future Fashion.

Clothes are an important part of our daily life. Yet the global industry that employs one sixth of the world’s population is riddled with issues such as fast fashion, toxic chemical use, forced labour and waste. We have the opportunity to affect millions of people’s lives and to protect our environment by how we shop and what we wear. Rules are made to be broken, but by following these you can make a difference. Hosted by Amisha Ghadiali, Sustainable Fashion Specialist, presenter of the Future Fashion series and designer.

8 FEB Re-imagining SPEAKER: Professor Teal Triggs Associate Dean at Royal College of Art

the Street: Zines and Self-published Stories Street culture has long provided inspiration for writers, designers and zine producers. In Britain in the 1980s, a ‘street-style’ sensibility emerged and was captured in early lifestyle magazines such as i-D (produced by Terry Jones), which mixed a punk DIY attitude with an interest in fashion. More recently, fanzine producers have engaged with psychogeography—a seemingly purposeless meandering through city streets—in order to explore social politics.

And finally, as digital technology takes hold in the form of Google Street Maps, fanzine producers and artists alike are extracting the street from its digital incarnation and re-imagining it in printed form. This talk will provide a brief survey of this unique form of self-publishing by way of introducing, and putting a call out for contributors to the UnBox Zine Press initiative.

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SEMINARS

9 FEB Brewing a

SPEAKER:Aditya Challa, Founder, Jungle Beer http://www.junglebeer.com/

Dream by Aditya Challa

Aditya Challa is the brewer and entrepreneur behind multiple award winning, Singaporean craft beer brand, Jungle Beer. Aditya brews, bottles and supplies Jungle Beer in Singapore, and is heavily invested in innovation of flavours and ingredients.

‘Adi’ will present the history of Jungle beer and give a unique insight into his understanding of brewing flavourful beers with an atypical identity.

9 FEB Living Systems: SPEAKERS: John Thackara Founder, Doors of Perception www.doorsofperception.com

Next Economy by John Thackara John Thackara is founder and director of Doors of Perception, a platform that enables collaboration between grassroots innovators and designers to imagine and co-create sustainable futures.

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The next economy is about creating value in ways that enhance natural and social assets. Instead of fossil fuel energy, this kind of innovation harnesses human energy—the time, skills and creativity of seven billion people. Whether it’s the food systems of a city, the restoration of a river, or the management of informal markets—a variety of different stakeholders needs to to work together.


SEMINARS

9 FEB Digital Economy SPEAKERS: David Frohlich http://www.bespokeproject.org/

Toolkit by David Frohlich Amisha Ghadiali is a designer, writer, comedian and Scuba diver. She is the founder of the independent jewelry line, Elegance Rebellion and the radical thinktank ThinkActVote. Amisha has been the Associate Director for the Ethical Fashion Forum and currently curates a series of events under the banner Future Fashion.

Clothes are an important part of our daily life. Yet the global industry that employs one sixth of the world’s population is riddled with issues such as fast fashion, toxic chemical use, forced labour and waste. We have the opportunity to affect millions of people’s lives and to protect our environment by how we shop and what we wear. Rules are made to be broken, but by following these you can make a difference. Hosted by Amisha Ghadiali, Sustainable Fashion Specialist, presenter of the Future Fashion series and designer.

9 FEB Design for DemSPEAKER: Samir Doshi www.samirkdoshi.com

ocratic & Sustainable Societies by Samir Doshi Winner of the Buckminster Fuller Challenge Design award in 2008, Samir is a Fulbright scholar conducting research on how social innovation can alleviate poverty and progress sustainability in India.

Samir Doshi will lead a discussion on how the experience and knowledge from the different communities of business, design, government, development, academics and the low-income communities themselves can interact to better understand and enable emerging innovation in these fields.

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SEMINARS

9 FEB A Li’l Seminar

SPEAKERS: Avinash Kumar and Gaurav Malaker, BLOT! blottin.blogspot.in

by BLOT!

A multidisciplinary project with musical experiences at the core of their work, BLOT! explores content creation through visual arts, moving image and artifacts. As a performance ensemble, BLOT! has been active at music, dance and cultural venues in India and abroad. As a content creator, BLOT! has built up a body of work that comprises of graphic art, music videos, experimental film and new media.

Gaurav Malaker and Avinash Kumar from Blot! talk about their process and what goes into making their signature music and visuals.

10 FEB A Plan for SPEAKER: The Busride www.jointhebusride.com

Bandra by The Busride

The Busride is an independent design studio specialising in the design and creation of built environments, ranging from hospitality and entertainment venues, to film and production environments, from exhibitions and temporary installations, to institutional and architectural environments. They are a team of architects, interior and industrial designers, who create left of the centre solutions to most issues faced by high-visibility venues today.

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The Busride’s The Bandra Project aims to understand and actively engage with the tangible and intangible aspects of the suburb. The outcome of a detailed mapping exercise, it identifies Bandra’s best pedestrian spines, connecting main streets to forgotten heritage pockets.


SEMINARS

10 FEB Enabling SPEAKERS: Marco Ferrario, Rakhi Mehra and Greg Randolf, micro Home Solutions www.microhomesolutions.org

Socially inclusive Cities by micro Home Solutions micro Home Solutions is a multidisciplinary social enterprise based out of New Delhi, India. mHS’s vision is to enable the creation of socially inclusive cities by developing a portfolio of housing solutions to meet the diverse shelter needs of the urban poor.

Marco, Rakhi and Greg from micro Home Solutions will present their work in developing a portfolio of housing solutions to meet the diverse needs of the urban poor.

10 FEB Cultural ROI SPEAKERS: Parmesh Shahani Head of Godrej India Culture Lab parmesh.net

by Parmesh Shahani Parmesh Shahani, recently listed as one of 25 Indians to watch out for by the Financial Times, is the head of the Godrej India Culture Lab. Parmesh is a graduate of Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, USA. He is a TED Fellow, MIT Futures of Entertainment Fellow, and a Utrecht University-Impakt Fellow, and the Editor at Large for Verve magazine. His first book Gay Bombay: Globalization, Love and (Be)Longing in Contemporary India was released in 2008.

ROI is presumably a cold term that proposes the commercialization of culture, but on closer introspection, an expression of the urgent need for stakeholders to stand up for the value of cultural interventions in public, private and professional spheres of activity. In his talk, Parmesh Shahani will share his work with the Godrej Culture Lab in India, suggesting a new marriage of culture and enterprise.

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SEMINARS

10 FEB Zine Press with

SPEAKERS: Professor Teal Triggs Associate Dean at Royal College of Art http://blottin.blogspot.in/

Prof. Teal Triggs

Professor Teal Triggs is Associate Dean at Royal College of Art, London. She was previously Course Director, MA Design Writing Criticism within the School of Design at LCC and also Director, Information Environments for the University of the Arts London. As a graphic design historian, critic and educator she has authored and edited a number of books in the field and her writings have appeared in numerous international design publications.

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At the closing seminar, Teal Triggs will present her experience on anchoring an Open Lab responsible for the creation of a real-time festival zine, as well as mentoring participants on curating content and writing for design.


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FelloWsHiPs


FORMAT

unbox 2013 followhips

A core component of the UnBox Festival, the Fellowships have been designed to explore the scope of interdisciplinary partnerships. Five distinct projects have been created to explore the collaborative potential of design, film, technology and art. The kinetic energy emerging from these immersive experiences is defined by the tagline—“Action at the Intersections.”

Unbox Felowships 2013: • UnBuild anchored by People Tree • UnMap anchored by Cultural Resource Conservation Initiative • UnPlay anchored by Quicksand • UnTill anchored by Digital Green • UnVeil anchored by PRS Legislative Research

The scope of each fellowship has been carefully developed with the five Host Organizations and our partners, the British Council, the Arts and Humanities Research Council and Science and Innovation Network of the British High Commission. Apart from a showcase and electives designed to facilitate interaction between fellows and participants—the projects will be analysed in front of a select jury, as a pitch to apply for a booster funding to continue their work on the projects.

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fellowships

UnBuild anchored by People Tree The UnBuild fellowship is located at PeopleTree’s new venture, a space in Goa that the host organization wants to develop into a demonstration space for a more ecologically active approach to art, food, crafts and heritage. The larger aim of the project would be to increase community ownership and participation in the process of promoting sustainable

tourism practices and policies in Goa. An extension of this mandate, this fellowship looked at mapping at a conceptual level, aiming eventually, to develop a multilayered map that isn’t just a topographical reference, but can also help local communities, traders and tourists to connect with one another.

UnMap anchored by Cultural Resource Conservation Initiative The challenge of this fellowship was centered on developing new media content for cultural and historical sites along the Grand Trunk Road (one of the world’s oldest thoroughfares) and build interactive ways of giving users that information about. The team concentrated on Sirhind, a small town along the GTR,

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where they have collected visual and audio narratives of people, histories and existing multicultural practices that will augment the data that CRCI has been collecting. Their next challenge is also to develop ways of presenting this information that are interactive and engaging.


fellowships

UnPlay anchored by Quicksand UnPlay has been part of a unique development process that aims to build video and kinect-based games that can be used as educational tools. The fellows have been involved in researching, developing, pitching, and presenting different elements that go into the process of making a kinect based game from scratch. At the festival, they will be

showcasing a sub-level of this game for the audience to interact with. It will be part of the TechPlay Lab that will have other elements of gaming, technology and music interacting with one another to create a user centered experience.

UnTill anchored by Digital Green The UnTill fellowship’s mandate was to bridge information gaps between urban users or consumers of food and rural agricultural practices and farmers.The fellows chose to develop a concept for an online game that will enable them to get closer to this goal.The narrative of the

game itself, after significant field research, has been identified as one that will use empathy to connect urban and rural communities. For this, the team has chosen to focus on food as the central character, and trace the journey of a complete recipe from its inception at an agrarian level.

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fellowships

UnVeil anchored by PRS Legislative Research The focus of the fellowship is to use creative ways to present governance and law-based information in a simplified, easy-to-understand form. This digital output would seek to inform the audience on the nuances of law making and good governance. The current fellowship team has conceptualized a larger project for their host organization which would

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enable citizens to engage with legislative processes and bills through their own relation and interpretation of it in everyday activities. The project will be led by users who would like to capture these stories visually, through animation and film and has been aptly titled ‘legit.’


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quicksand Quicksand is a multi-disciplinary design and innovation consultancy. The bring expertise in business, design, technology and research to partner organizations in the innovation process. They believe that human-centered design is intrinsic to robust product & service development and is thus the guiding principle for all innovations that emerge from their practice. Quicksand’s work spans product and service innovation, design for social impact, technology environments and brand strategy along with thriving independent practices..

codesign BLOT! also known as The Basic Love of Things, is a mixed media performance collective that creates memorable experiences by transforming spaces through live performances comprising of sound, light, imagery and art. Using several techniques touching traditional film making, stop-motion animation, motion graphics and new media technology, the central aim is to create contemporary visual music pieces and independent cinema that breaks traditional approaches to creation and publishing in India.

BLOT! BLOT! also known as The Basic Love of Things, is a mixed media performance collective that creates memorable experiences by transforming spaces through live performances comprising of sound, light, imagery and art. Using several techniques touching traditional film making, stop-motion animation, motion graphics and new media technology, the central aim is to create contemporary visual music pieces and independent cinema that breaks traditional approaches to creation and publishing in India.

BLINDBOYS Blindboys uses free and open means to share photography. In addition to being a platform for new visual perspectives from the continent, Blindboys also dreams of creating a community for a better synthesis of art, media, and Asian cultures leading to a holistic meaning of new Asian visual identities.

ANCHORS

Partners

Sponsors

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