Graduation Degree Project Documentation (Volume 1) by swarnikanimje

DEGREE PROJECT Living Waters Museum A Digital Museum of Water Sponsor : Centre for Heritage Management, Ahmedabad University

Volume : 1 of 2 STUDENT : SWARNIKA NIMJE PROGRAMME : EXHIBITION AND SPATIAL DESIGN

GUIDE : TANISHKA KACHRU

2018 COMMUNICATION DESIGN FACULTY (EXHIBITION AND SPATIAL DESIGN)

National Institute of Design Ahmedabad National Institute of Design | Graduation Degree Project | Swarnika Nimje | 01

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The Evaluation Jury recommends SWARNIKA NIMJE for the

Degree of the National Institute of Design IN COMMUNICATION DESIGN (EXHIBITION AND SPATIAL DESIGN)

herewith, for the project titled "LIVING WATERS MUSEUM - A DIGITAL MUSEUM OF WATER" on fulfilling the further requirements by*

Chairman Members :

Jury Grade : *Subsequent remarks regarding fulfilling the requirements : This Project has been completed in ________________ weeks.

Activity Chairperson, Education

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ORIGINALITY STATEMENT I hereby declare that this submission is my own work and it contains no full or substantial copy of previously published material, or it does not even contain substantial proportions of material which have been accepted for the award of any other degree or final graduation of any other educational institution, except where due acknowledgement is made in this graduation project. Moreover I also declare that none of the concepts are borrowed or copied without due acknowledgement. I further declare that the intellectual content of this graduation project is the product of my own work, except to the extent that assistance from others in the projectâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s design and conception or in style, presentation and linguistic expression is acknowledged. This graduation project (or part of it) was not and will not be submitted as assessed work in any other academic course. Student Name in Full: Swarnika Nimje Signature: Date:

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COPYRIGHT STATEMENT I hereby grant the National Institute of Design the right to archive and to make available my graduation project/ thesis/ dissertation in whole or in part in the Instituteâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Knowledge Management Centre in all forms of media, now or hereafter known, subject to the provisions of the Copyright Act. I have either used no substantial portions of copyright material in my document or I have obtained permission to use copyright material. Student Name in Full: Swarnika Nimje Signature: Date:

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS This document is a consolidation of my learnings of the four years of education I have received at the National Institute of Design, Ahmedabad, India. I would like to take a moment to express my gratitude to my brother, mother and father who have been my pillars of strength. I would want to be appreciative of all members who make the Exhibition Design Department and my batch mates here at NID for imparting skillsets I would have never imagined to have. Jonak Das, Mayank Loonker and Tanishka Kachru for guidance and feedbacks throughout this journey of four years. My guide Ms. Tanishka Kachru for investing faith in my project and offering me a sense of clarity and direction whenever I was lost. I extend my thanks to our Director, Mr. Pradyumna Vyas, the academic department and the teaching staff at NID for an enriching educational experience during the years. I would like to thank the Living Waters Museum team, Dr. Sara Ahmed, Amit Tandon , and Priyanka Kumari.

Shalvi Suman for always being there as my support pillar. The staff at Centre for Heritage Management – Piyush, Phalguni, Sonal, Shahul ,Vijay, Prof.Neel and the CHM students for making the place homelike for me. I would also like to thank Mr. Surendrabhai Patel for his constant support and encouragement throughout the making of Water Varta Exhibition. And the Vechaar Museum Curator, Nurool Khan, and his team for helping with the visual documentation of the water utensils. In addition, I would like to thank Mitul Kajaria for his photography and the Navjeevan team for printing and installing the exhibition, and Rajoo Barot for directing and producing the film on Surendra Bhai. A big thanks to Mrs. Saptam Patel , Prof. Sara Ahmed and Ms. Tanishka Kachru for developing the water pot stories; Prarthi Shah, Yash Gelot and Anmol Shukal for doing the Gujarati translations for the whole Exhibition. Thanks to Jaydip, Sooraj and Yatharth for documenting the Water Varta Exhibiton in photographs. Vaishanavi, Sharyu, Aniket, Sooraj, Vyoma, Shriram, Samhitha, Ahelee and Shubham for their “words of wisdom” and for always being around.

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PREFACE I was introduced to the Living Waters Museum at NID Gandhinagar, where the founder of the museum Dr. Sara Ahmed was presenting it to the NID students. Later, I took up this brief to work on my Design Project 3, the Museum Design Project under the guidance of Tanishka Kachru. My further interest to explore the subject led to exchange of mails and a meetings with Prof. Sara Ahmed. Throughout this process, my guide Tanishka accompanied me and helped me understand the scope of work in this project. After we had defined the scope of work, I decided to pursue this project as my Graduation Degree Project.

Interacting with the faculties and students was very enriching.There was a whole new take on how I looked at heritage. The first day at the LWM Project Room, we were three members completely unknown to one another, Amit Tandon (Research associate) , Shalvi Suman(Research Intern) and me (Design Intern). We did a small exercise where we defined our expectations and visions for this project. And the journey began from there...

My first day at the Centre of Heritage management, where I worked through out, I fell in love with the outer façade of the building. It didn’t have the very strict and formal appearance of an Academic Institution. It carried the essence of a small bunglow, surrounded by trees, a beautiful lawn, overall a peaceful and quite space where people came together to work. A very enriching place where my perspective towards heritage changed. I was fortunate enough to attend various student presentations, guest lectures on heritage management, participate in various student initiatives like “Ankahee” by Khayaal .

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SYNOPSIS The Living Waters Museum portal was launched in September 2017, to collect and collate rich and diverse traditions of water practices in India and build a repository of visualised knowledge, which can commemorate the past, inspire the present and be a source of learning for the future. I began with understanding museums as a organisation, the changing rules and roles of museums around the world. Also the first few weeks went into understanding the Living Waters Museum. It was very interesting to understand the progressive and thoughtful approach of building the Living Waters Museum based on the 3C’s – Collaboration, Curation, Communication. As a student of Exhibition Design, my work involved developing outreach for the museum in the form of Exhibitions. Because “Water” as a theme relates to anyone and everyone, there was a wide audience group to target. During my time with the Living Waters Museum, I worked on two projects. We exhibited at The India Environment Festival in February, 2018 ; the theme of the festival for the year was “I AM WATER”. It was a unique initiative by the museum. The water festival was a very playful and informal space to exhibit the water stories captured in photographs

by the students of Photography Design, National Institute of Design, Gandhinagar. This platform was very apt to reach out to a wider audience in a more engaging and curious environment . This broke the notion of museums being a quiet and formal space to understand and learn. People appreciated the idea of the museum going out to the people and telling its stories. The second project I worked on is the design and development of the exhibition called Water Varta. Water Varta is a exhibition co-curated with The Vishalla Restaurant and The Vechaar Utensil Museum. The aim of the exhibition was to “build a value perspective on water by celebrating water wisdom and exploring the tangible and intangible heritage around water and food in Gujarat”. The curated exhibition on water, food and utensils was hosted at the Umang premise (outside Vechaar Museum) in early October2018. The exhibition was bilingual – English and Gujarati keeping in mind the majority of Gujarati speaking audience at the Exhibition. A short film on the history of the water utensils collections through the eyes of Surendra Bhai Patel, developed by Rajoo Barot was screened at opening ceremony of the Exhibition. A series of games and educational activities for children who visit the

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site as well as towards an outreach strategy for schools in Ahmedabad were also developed as a part of the Water Varta.

CONTENTS 01 INTRODUCTION • • • • • • • •

National Institute of Design...........................................................................14 Exhibition Design at NID................................................................................16 Centre for Heritage Management....................................................................18 Living Waters Museum ...................................................................................20 - Why Living waters - Why Museum Approach - Collaboration - Curation - Communication The Team..........................................................................................................23 Initial Project Brief............................................................................................25 Project timeline.................................................................................................26

02 RESEARCH UNDERSTANDING MUSEUMS........................................................31 International Council of Museums (ICOM) UNESCO's definition of museums Virtual Museums MUSEUMS - NEW DIRECTONS, NEW ROLES.....................................................................................33

NEW DIRECTIONS.......................................................................................34 • Changing Museum Culture – Past v/s Present • “Ssshhhhh!!!, you are in a museum!” - Changing behaviour code inside museums • “We are all curators” - People as curators • “Orphans of the Museum “– What qualifies as a museum collection? • City as a museum and museum as a city - The Omnimuseum Project NEW ROLES.................................................................................................41 • Museum outside its walls - museums as part of the civic society • Soft power of museums - museums building knowledge economy and developing intercultural skills • Be included and valued - personalizing museum collection • Museum schooling – educating underprivileged through museums. MUSEUMS + TECHNOLOGY........................................................................46 Museums embracing the Digital Age • From dig to digital – technology enhancing museum experience • Digital tools in museum learning ONLINE ONLY.............................................................................................54 Museums going completely digital • Are people going to stopcoming to the museum if we put more stuff online? – change in museum informatics • Museums without walls – online museums are open and free National Institute of Design | Graduation Degree Project | Swarnika Nimje | 09

POP UP MUSEUMS...............................................................................................58 •

Participatory culture in museums

UNDERSTANDING HERITAGE.............................................................................62 • • • •

What is heritage? Structure of heritage Intangible heritage Digital heritage

03 DEVELOPING VISION FOR LIVING WATERS MUSEUM

Ahmedabad : Exploring changing waterscapes , the dialogue.....................................................69 • • • •

Objective Some ideas and way forward Personal Input and outputs List of participants at the Ahmedabad water dialogue

04 LIVING WATERS MUSEUM AT INDIA ENVIRONMENT FESTIVAL

Let us takethe museum out to the people.....................................................................................77 • • • • • • • • •

About the IEF About the Exhibition Content Displayed Curated Photographs Space layout for the exhibition Budget The Outcome Audience response Team insights and feedback

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05 WATER VARTA

When digital meets analog.................................................................137 • • • •

About Vishalla and Vechaar The Restraunt The Vechaar Museum Water Varta – Aim of the exhibition

CONTENT RESEARCH - I....................................................................144 • •

Studying the Vechaar museum collection to develop water stories. Did you know? – a series of contemporary water facts.

CONTENT DEVELOPMENT – I............................................................154 • • • •

Categorising the collection through water lens Development of stories of the water pots Typography Panel Layout

FINAL OUTCOME - I..........................................................................178 • • • • •

Panels “Water stories” – takeaway “Guess the right vessel?” – a touchscreen game The process Game flow chart

CONTENT RESEARCH – II...................................................................195 • •

What is Water footprint? What is Water footprint network?

• • •

Why is virtual water footprint necessary? Food and Virtual water National Water footprint

06 SPACE LAYOUT OPTIONS..................................................225

CONTENT DEVELOPMENT - II.............................................................198

• • • •

•

07 SPACE PLANNING................................................235

• •

Who should be aware about virtual water? – Deciding the target audience Developing local content for local audience Exploring mediums of communication for a wider audience group Concept Development - Introduction to Virtual Water footprint (film) (a) Narrative for the film (b) Storyboarding Concept Development – Water in your Thali (activity/game) (a) Combining the learning experience with the dining experience (b) Gujarati Cuisine (c) Studying Vishalla thali meal (d) Data calculation table (e) Narrative for the activity (f) Activity testing feedback (g) Redefined narrative for the activity (h) Game flow chart

• • FINAL OUTCOME –II.............................................................................218 • • •

Film on Virtual Water Footprint A card game – “Water in your thali” Takeaways – “Water wise choices”

• • • • •

Space layout option 1 Space layout option 2 Space layout option 3 Space layout option 4

Elements of the Exhibition Message media matrix Bubble Diagram Finalised Space layout Visitor flow

08 BUDGETING ........................................................241 09 THE EXHIBITION..................................................253 • • •

Installation views Invites to the Exhibiton Water Varta - The Exhibition Opening Day – Oct 6, 2018

10 CONCEPTS FOR DIGITAL EXHIBITION................285 11 REFLECTIONS.......................................................300 12 BIBLIOGRAPHY....................................................301

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01 INTRODUCTION

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Foyer , The National Institute of Design, Photographed by Amlanjyoti Bora

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THE NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF DESIGN The establishment of NID was a result of several forces, both global and local. The late 1950s saw a confluence of these forces, and this time would be a significant one for Indian culture and education. This was a time of reappraisal and reconstruction in a newly independent India. A young nation was confronted with the mammoth task of nation building, of balancing age old traditions with modern technology and ideas. The Modern Movement, the philosophy of Machine Aesthetics, and revolutionary experimentation in the arts, architecture and design were all taking place at the same time. There was a search for the Indian identity across all aspects of life. In 1955 Pupul Jayaker, the noted writer on Indian craft traditions and the founder of the Indian Handlooms and Handicrafts Export Council (HHEC) met the renowned American designer Charles Eames at the Museum of Modern Art in New York. The Museum had organised a unique exhibition titled The Textiles and Ornamental Arts of India. This would be the beginning of a lifelong dialogue between these two eminent individuals. At the same time the Government of India was considering establishing an institute of design, under the advice of Pupul Jayaker and other like-minded people. The 1950s were a decade of rapid industrialization in India and clearly, the need for such an institute grew stronger. In 1957 the Government of India requested the Ford Foundation to invite Charles and Ray Eames to visit India. Charles and

Ray Eames travelled to all parts of the country, meeting and talking to writers, craftspeople, architects, scientists, industrialists, educators and philosophers. They took hundreds of photographs of their travels. On April 7, 1958, the Eameses presented the India Report to the Government of India. The Eames Report defined the underlying spirit that would lead to the founding of NID and beginning of design education in India. The Report recommended a problem-solving design consciousness that linked learning with actual experience and suggested that the designer could be a bridge between tradition and modernity. The Report called upon future designers to re-examine the alternatives of growth available to the country at that time.

Today the National Institute of Design is internationally acclaimed as one of the finest educational and research institutions for Industrial, Communication, Textile and IT Integrated (Experiential) Design. It is an autonomous institution under the aegis of the Ministry of Commerce and Industry, Government of India. NID has been declared â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;Institution of National Importanceâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; by the Act of Parliament, by virtue of the National Institute of Design Act 2014.

Based on the recommendations made in the India Report, the Government of India with the assistance of the Ford Foundation and the Sarabhai family established the National Institute of Industrial Design, as it was originally called as an autonomous all-India body in September 1961 at Ahmedabad. Gautam Sarabhai and his sister Gira were played a major role in the establishment and early years of NID. Gautam Sarabhai sidestepped the accepted wisdom and conventional method of education . He revived the philosophy of the Bauhaus design movement which was learning by doing. This unique curriculum and revolutionary educational philosophy remain part of NID to the present day.

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Batch of Exhibition Design, UG- 2014

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EXHIBITION DESIGN AT NID Exhibition Design is a synthesis of multiple design disciplines that come together to communicate objects, information and ideas across a range of threedimensional environments. Simply understood, it means communication and storytelling through environmental experiences that inform, entertain, and inspire. The discipline considers the exhibition from the perspectives of communication, design and fabrication that involve a mastery of spatial planning, image manipulation, narrative, color, lighting, and multimedia, and working knowledge of structures, typography, combined with an understanding of audience and human factors, to shape storytelling experiences across multiple exhibition venues. This can include staging of representative and experiential spaces; interior-design environments and scenography for festivities; museums, galleries and trade exhibitions; and cultural and theatrical events.

Aim of the discipline is to equip students with an

In a country that is becoming rapidly urban and metropolitan, Indians increasingly find themselves having to navigate through vast buildings, concrete cities and massive transport hubs, but there is a distinct lack of communication design (signage / way-finding) guiding them on their way.

understanding for planning of built or open spaces to provide an appropriate environment for communication, and to create a contextual / experience that supports communication / interpretation of ideas to audiences by

Too often, these spaces are designed with little empathy for users, and this is where exhibition designers can contribute to these public spaces by bringing an overall perspective of spatial communication to the table. Exhibition designers create experiences that are physical but also emotional and psychological and this is where they have something extremely unique to offer.

creating a multimodal and multi-sensory experience.

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Centre for Heritage Management, Ahmedabad University

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CENTRE FOR HERITAGE MANAGEMENT The Centre for Heritage Management (CHM) at Ahmedabad University is a unique institution in India, specialising in the niche but very significant study of heritage management. Through our research and study, we aim to promote the conservation and management of the invaluable heritage assets of our communities. India has a rich cultural legacy that includes an astonishingly diverse range of monuments and buildings, community spaces, arts and crafts, traditional dance and music, folklore, cuisine, textiles and ways of life. Even those of these assets that are recognised as precious tend to be neglected in various ways, however. The Centre takes as its goal the education of our generation, and those of the future, in taking responsibility for this culture and protecting and preserving it through professional, specialised management. Established by Ahmedabad University in 2011, the centre is particularly concerned with the culture of its home city, one of the most historic locations in western India. A bustling, entrepreneurial city that is a hub of commerce and industry, Ahmedabad is also a place of great cultural significance.

Recently designated India’s first World Heritage City by UNESCO, Ahmedabad’s heritage include 57 protected monuments in the walled city per central and state government lists, and a large number of traditional wooden ‘pol’ houses, of which about 10,000 survive now. Its historic places of worship, commerce and cultural spaces continue to be central to the city’s imagination. Its prehistoric heritage may be traced back to five thousand years when the Indus Valley civilization flourished in this region. The centre is energised by its location to promote and manage heritage assets, particularly through its educational programmes aiming at capacity building for professionals, entrepreneurs, public institutions, and community groups. The centre currently organizes various public awareness programems throughout the year, such as on World Heritage Day and World Museum Day, as well as several local and regional cultural festivals. It draws upon its wide network of professionals and institutions across the national and international level for various projects, and functions as a resource centre for Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation as well as for other state and municipal organizations. It offers management development programmes for entrepreneurs and organizations.

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THE LIVING WATERS MUSEUM The Living Waters Museum (LWM), a digital museum was launched in January 2017, to collect and collate rich and diverse traditions of water practices in India and build a repository of visualised knowledge, which can commemorate the past, inspire the present and be a source of learning for the future. The process of developing the web-portal is seen as collaborative and interdisciplinary engaging young people in project-based learning, essentially storytelling, around the many dimensions of water heritage, and its intersection with livelihoods, natural and built environments and the creative arts. The LWM is a part of the UNESCO supported Global Network of Water Museums, launched in May 2017 at Venice, with the objective to foster greater understanding of water justice and sustainability challenges towards SDG Goal 6, through its expanding network of water museum members.

Off the coast, a photo essay by Aayush Chandravanshi, Living Waters Museum

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WHY LIVING WATERS

WHY MUSEUM

The term ‘Living Waters’ reflects the diversity, dynamism, and continuity of water. Not only is water the source of life, the cultural services provided by water have shaped civilizations across India, inspiring art and architecture, stories, myths, folklore, rituals, poems, songs, movies, dance forms, etc. Timeless in nature, from the Himalayas to the oceans, flowing across rivers and plains, water sustains us, in our homes and communities, our faiths and ritual practices, through trade and navigation – water is our elixir.

The word ‘Museum’ is typically associated with the preservation of the past, old relics, stuffy and dusty spaces. Through this virtual platform, we aim to redefine the concept of a static museum as an interactive space with the use of web-based tools and technologies to engage youth and children. We hope to complement the virtual world with outreach activities at schools and public places to raise awareness of our water heritage. And in doing so, make the links with water justice and sustainability.

The Water Park, A photo essay by Isha Galot, Living Waters Museum

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The Living Waters Museum (LWM) recognizes the need to collect and collate our rich and diverse traditions of water practices as a living and dynamic repository of visualized knowledge, which can both commemorate the past, inspire the present and be a source of learning for the future. The museum will be built as an open access online platform, licensed under the Creative Commons, and housing both more permanent records (e.g. water archives on customs, laws) and periodic exhibitions featuring different aspects of water cultures, livelihoods and ecologies.

COLLABORATION

CURATION

COMMUNICATION

The Living Waters Museum believes in collaboration and through this virtual platform it aims to engage technical experts, water professionals and the creative arts community through a networked-approach, developing partnerships with individuals and institutions. The LWM also engages students by providing an opportunity for project-based learning.

Through its networked-approach the Living Waters Museum seeks to curate content that resonates with the youth and millennials. We aim to create an immersive experience around water and heritage, visualise water stories, and oral histories, using contemporary virtual tools and technologies.

The Living Waters Museum wants to re-imagine museums as social enterprises where the creative arts are used to replenish our water values, restore our water heritage and engineer social change for local communities. While the museum is a virtual platform it will be complemented by a series of travelling workshops in schools, citizen spaces and universities to advocate water sustainability through public interaction.

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THE LWM CORE TEAM DR. SARA AHMED, PHD, LEAD CURATOR

AMIT TANDON, RESEARCH ASSOCIATE

SHALVI SUMAN, RESEARCH INTERN

PRIYANKA KUMARI, PROJECT MANAGER

Sara has over 25 years of applied research experience on water, livelihoods and social equity. She has been actively engaged in teaching and mentoring young development professionals in India, managing large and complex regional research portfolios on water, food, security and climate change in Asia, and advising a range of development organisations and water network globally. Sara holds a PhD in Environmental Sociology from the University of Cambridge and is currently on the board of Water Aid, India. She has published extensively on water governance and her last co- edited book is entitled , Diverting the Flow: Gender, Equity and Water in South Asia (2012). Sara's expertise in Water and Food helped me understand this subject better. During the span of the project, her feedbacks were valuable on the ideas that were developed for the Exhibition.

Amit graduated as an Architect from Pune and did his post graduation in Water Policy and Governance from Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Mumbai. He gets his entrepreneurial outlook being a fellow at School of Social Entrepreneurs, India. He has an eclectic range of interests from volunteerism , travelling, photography, facilitation, exploring culinary skills etc. He has worked in various settings such as assisting research for post occupancy analysis, green building rating system, child rights, drought assesment etc. Working as Research Associate in the Living Waters Museum he combines his skills in architecture, water and entrepreneurship with his passion to work in the field of heritage. Amit was a part of the team till April 2018, he helped me understand the appoach and idealogies of LWM during my early days of the internship, his contributions were very valuable during the Exhibition at India Environment Festival. His feedbacks were very valuable in the initial phase of the collaborative project between Vishalla - Vechaar and LWM.

Shalvi Suman joined the team as a research intern in January 2018.She has a degree in Interior Design from Sardar Patel University, Anand(2017). She began her research journey at the Indian Institute of Technology, Gandhinagar while working on an architectural and anthropological research titled, 'Kutch Architecture : Merhing Borders.' Her curiosity lies in exploring the historical connection of heritage, both tangible and intangible, with people. During the coarse of the project I have had multiple discussions with her, have received constructive feedback during the research and ideation phase of the project. She was also my companion during field visits to Vishalla Restraunt and Vechaar museum.

Priyanka joined the Living Waters Museum team in September, 2018 as a Project Manager. She is a graduate from the National Institute of Design, Gandhinagar with a degree in Photography Design. Priyanka contributed to the to the production and management of the Water Varta Exhibition. Her energy, enthusiasm and the ease with which she managed the work was very inspiring.

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THE SUPPORT TEAM THE VECHAAR MUSEUM • Nurool Khan, Curator • Vechaar Museum Staff

PHOTOGRAPHY • Mitul Kajaria, Photographer

STORY WRITING • Saptam Patel, Faculty at Ahmedabad University • Tanishka Kachru, Faculty at NID • Sara Ahmed, Founder Living Waters Museum

PROOF READING OF GUJARATI TEXT • Phalguni Shah, Staff at CHM

TECHNICAL SUPPORT, BACK - END CODING FOR DIGITAL MEDIUMS • Shyam Patel, student • Shivam Patel, student • Harsh Doshi, student (Computer Science at Ahmedabad University)

GUJARATI TRANSLATIONS • Prarthi Shah, Masters in Heritage Management • Anmol Shukal, Student at Ahmedabad University • Yash Gelot, Graduate from Sardar Patel University

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ADVISORS TANISHKA KACHRU

Faculty, National Institute of Design, Ahmedabad

SURENDRABHAI PATEL

Founder, Vechaar Utensil Museum and Vishalla Restraunt

RISHI SINGHAL

Faculty, Photography Design, National Institute of Design, Gandhinagar

VALUABLE FEEDBACKS SHAHUL AMEEN

Faculty, Centre for Heritage Management, Ahmedabad University

O.P. SHARMA

Member, Water Harvest Organisation

MAMTA PANDYA

Consultant, Education and Communication

PURVI VYAS Organic Farmer

SAPTAM PATEL

Faculty at Ahmedabad University

PROJECT BRIEF 1. SCOPE OF WORK PHASE 1

1. Initial research and mapping to understand virtual museum 2. History and transformation of museums in the digital age.Research on virtual reality and mixed reality experience, existing technology. 3. Case studies of existing virtual museums and mixed reality experiences.

PHASE 2

Background research for the content curation of LWM with Sara Ahmed and Amit Tandon Secondary research An understanding of Ahmedabadâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s water history will have to begin from secondary, historical sources, available in various university and public libraries or private collections. In addition to printed sources, the student / intern will need to look for archives of photographs, grey literature and oral traditions (songs, music, folklore, memories). Primary research A network of key stakeholders will need to be identified,

both individuals and organisations, some of whom will form an advisory body for the proposed exhibition. They will in turn, help us in identifying local partners for physical outreach events and activities to coincide with the online exhibition.A preliminary list of such individuals and organisations is already identified by Sara. This list will need to be built upon as the background research progresses.

PHASE 3

Visualising the Exhibition Based on background research and in consultation with key actors and faculty guides, the conceptualisation and visualisation of the exhibition will be done.

2. DELIVERABLES 1. The Dialogue, Ahmedabad : Exploring Changing Waterscapes 2. The Outreach at India Environment Festival, Curation, Design and Implementation of the Exhibiton at the festival. 3. Co - Curated Exhibition with Vishalla restraunt and Vechaar Utensil Museum titled Water Varta. (Research, Design, Development and Implementation of a pop up exhibition at Vechaar Museum Premise in October, 2018.) 4. Content Curation Concepts for the Online version of Water Varta Exhibition.

PHASE 4

Designing the Exhibition Multi media exhibition will require technical support from the University or a collaborator for prototyping.

PHASE 5

Outreach activities Based on the background research, outreach activities will be organized in collaboration with the identified stakeholders.

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PROJECT TIMELINE January, 2018

February , 2018

• •

•

Understanding Museums Understanding Living Waters Museum The Dialogue - Ahmedabad : Exploring Changing Waterscapes

•

Living Water Museum at India Environment Festival Design, Production and Implementation of the Exhibition at IEF.

March, 2018

•

Initial meeting and planning of the Exhibition with Vishalla Restraunt and Vechaar Utensil Museum

April, 2018

•

Content Research - Section I

•

Content Development - Section I

May, 2018

•

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Visualisation and Design of the Exhibition - Section I

June, 2018

•

Visualisation and Design of the Exhibition - Section I

July, 2018

•

August, 2018

October, 2018

Content Research - Section II •

Content Development - Section II •

•

September, 2018

Documentation

Visualisation and Design of the Exhibition - Section II •

Refining the Design of the Exhibition - Section I and Section II

•

Production and Implementation

•

Documentation

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02 RESEARCH

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UNDERSTANDING MUSEUMS • International Council of Museums (ICOM) • UNESCO's definition of museum • Virtual Museums

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INTERNATIONAL COUNCIL OF MUSEUMS (ICOM) DEFINES MUSEUMS AS : A museum is a non-profit, permanent institution in the service of society and its development, open to the public, which acquires, conserves, researches, communicates and exhibits the tangible and intangible heritage of humanity and its environment for the purposes of education, study and enjoyment.

ACCORDING TO UNESCO (UNITED NATIONS EDUCATIONAL, SCIENTIFIC AND CUTURAL ORGANISATION) : Museums foster an integrated approach to cultural heritage as well as the links of continuity between creation and heritage. They also enable various publics, notably local communities and disadvantaged groups, to rediscover their roots and approach other cultures.

VIRTUAL MUSEUMS A Virtual Museum (according to the Virtual Multimodal Museums working definition) is a digital entity that draws on the characteristics of a museum, in order to complement, enhance, or augment the museum through personalization, interactivity, user experience and richness of content. Both the “physical” museum and the “virtual” museum share a common commitment to the institutional validation of content and quality of experience through curatorial process, inherent in the ICOM definition. As with a traditional museum, a virtual museum can be designed around specific objects (such as an art museum or a natural history museum), or can consist of online exhibitions created from primary or secondary resources (as, for example in a science museum). Moreover, a virtual museum can refer to the mobile or World Wide Web offerings of traditional museums (e.g., displaying digital representations of its collections or exhibits); or can be born digital content such as, 3D environments, net art, virtual reality and digital art.

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MUSEUMS - NEW DIERCTIONS • Changing Museum Culture - Past v/s Present • “Ssshhhhh!!!, you are in a museum!” - Changing Behaviour code inside museums • “We are all curators” - People as curators • “Orphans of the Museum - What qualifies as a museum collection? • City as a museum and museum as a city - The Omnimuseum Project

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Changing Museum Culture â&#x20AC;&#x201C; Past V/S Present In the past, museums were mouthpieces of hard power, displayed trophies of nobility, spoils of wars and colonialism. Exhibitions were based on hierarchy of civilizations, records of great men. Museums are landmarks, place makers, attract tourists and local schools and donors. They influence people through their exhibitions, their programs, collections and research and their network. Today museums are aiming to become a part of civil society. There is a possibility that the soft power of museums can be used in different ways such as - address the most serious ills affecting cities today.

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â&#x20AC;&#x153;Ssshhhhh!!!, You Are In A Museum!â&#x20AC;? - Changing Behaviour Code Inside Museums In museum culture we are silent. We are subservient. People at the museums are the reciepients of knowledge, they dont create knowledge. But what if we use museums in a different manner? What if the museums of today become a platform to address the issues of the city, like inequality and social exclusion ? Millions of people are at risk for being completely shut out, they are socially and culturally isolated. Where once museums were instruments of exclusion, can we make them into tools for inclusion. Museums are now becoming the tools to innovate and create.

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“We are all curators” - people as curators Museum of Broken Relationships - Museum of Broken Relationships is a physical and virtual public space created with the sole purpose of treasuring and sharing your heartbreak stories and symbolic possessions. It is a museum about you, about us, about the ways we love and lose. At its core, the Museum is an ever-growing collection of items, each a memento of a relationship past, accompanied by a personal, yet anonymous story of its contributor. Unlike ‘destructive’ self-help instructions for recovery from grief and loss, the Museum offers the chance to overcome an emotional collapse through creativity - by contributing to its universal collection. Museum of Broken Relationships is an original creative art project conceived by Olinka Vištica and Dražen Grubišić in 2006. It has since taken thousands of people on an empathetic journey around the world, challenging our ideas about heritage. Its original permanent location was founded in Zagreb. In 2010 it won the EMYA Kenneth Hudson Award as the most innovative and daring museum project in Europe.

Museum of Broken Realationship, Zagreb

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“Orphans of the Museum “– What qualifies as a museum collection? Monument was a work made from the waste of the British ceramics industry; it comprised a vast pile of ceramic waste – broken plates, cups, jugs, and other ceramic ware transferred from The Johnson Ceramic Tiles factory and installed in the gallery space. Firstly, as a site specific work at the Zuiderzee Museum in Holland and then to a gallery site at MIMA. The work discussed the value of objects, ideas of ownership and the domestic; it raised questions of what it is to care for things and to break things. The pile of ceramic waste had both a physical and emotional impact on the viewer in itsscale and visible wastefulness.

Monument, an installation by Claire Twomey

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The museum collection does not necessarily has to live inside a museum. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Foreverâ&#x20AC;? a project by Clare Twomey at the Nelson Atkins Museum in Kansas, USA was made in response to the historic Burnap collection; the collection comprises 1345 objects and one of these, the Sandbach Cup, was chosen by the artist and reproduced 1345 times with the help of Hartley Greens & Co. Leeds Pottery, a ceramics factory in northern England. The public were able to own one of these cups if they agreed to sign a deed from the Museum that stated they would keep it forever: 10,000 people signed this agreement highlighting issues of ownership, responsibility and the notion of time.

Forever , a project by Claire Twomey

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City as a museum and museum as a city The Omnimuseum Project The Omnimuseum project addresses the opportunities of a city becoming a museum or "city as museum". We live in a mobile world where we can easily go around. Our world also extends to the virtual world where our reality reaches well beyond our physical capacities.What if the city, is streetscapes, its parks, its theatres, its neighbourhoods, its palaces and its slums could become a actual museum; or atleast a significant part of the museum.One could curate its treasures as well as its embarassments on the streets, reset its spaces to expose the meaning of those spaces to different kinds of people in the past, present nad future.

Last October The Museum Of Vancouver held a conference called â&#x20AC;&#x153;City Museums: Collisions/Connections" which focused on city museums and their engagement in city life.

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"Heritage is not a luxury and the significance of heritage is determined by its visibility. You need to live it, you need to feel it." Erik Schilp

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MUSEUMS - NEW ROLES •

Museum outside its walls - museums as part of the civic society.

•

Soft power of museums - museums building knowledge economy and

developing intercultural skills.

•

Be included and valued - personalizing museum collection.

•

Museum schooling – educating underprivileged through museums.

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Museum outside its walls - museums as part of the civil society. Today museums are aiming to become a part of civil society. There is a possibility that the soft power of museums can be used in different ways such as - address the most serious ills affecting cities today. Museums help us innovate and create. It can create opportunities for people eg.artists. Eg. Rijksmuseum - the museum website has open access to all. They believe open museum is the way forward. They made their collection free accessible on the web, no restrictions, no copyright, no cost at all. In a recent project a group of young artists did a project where they co created the imagery of old masters in a contemporary feel.

The Rijksmuseum

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Soft power of museums - Museums building knowledge economy and developing intercultural skills.

The renegade tour guides of Museum Hack lead zany, high-energy, two-hour tours of the National Gallery of Art that expose participants to a side of the collections they never knew existed.

Museums have softpower. Softpower is the ability to influence people through persuasion, attraction or setting the agenda.Its about getting people to want what you want and act accordingly. Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s a term that was first coined by international relations expert Joseph Nye to refer to the influence that countries can have in global geopolitics outside of the military and economic might which is hard power. Museums decide how they use their softpower. For museums to develop the softpower that includes us all Ngaire Blackenberg and team have come with ways to activate softpower 1. Museums have to be free, they attract more people. 2. Museums have to be open, when we naeed them to be. eg. The long night of Museums in Germany. 3. Be diverse, cities are diverse, museums need to reflect the diversity of their populations. 4. Museums need to value their program. The programs are often not marketed. People dont associate them with museums often. 5.Museums have to listen and they have to respond.

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Be included and valued Museums can help us be integrated and valued. Eg. Museum of Broken Relationships in Zagreb, Croatia over 1600 people donated the exhibits and content for the museum.

Collection at Museum of Broken Realationships

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Museum schooling â&#x20AC;&#x201C; educating through museums The Watermenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Museum activities and exhibits are designed to illustrate and explain the importance of the efforts and accomplishments by those who work the waters of the Chesapeake Bay. These exhibits and the supporting programs are the most important means of educating the museum visitors. Parvarish where young 'children of lesser gods' learned lessons, is run by the Bhopal-based Shibani and Pradeep Ghosh, both in their mid-forties. "The school opens at 3 pm daily at any one of the city museums including those at Indira Gandhi Rashtriya Manav Sanghralaya, State and Tribal museums and Regional Museum of Natural History. Shibani started with students of ragpicker's colony at 12 Number Stop. Her idea was to take them to places where they could get complete knowledge.

Children participating in activities at Chesapeake bay.

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MUSEUMS + TECHNOLOGY Museums embracing the Digital Age • From dig to digital • Digital tools in museum learning

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From dig to digital – technology enhancing museum experience Dr. Scott Hocknull is senior curator of geosciences, a vertebrate palaeontologist and passionate science communicator at the Queensland Museum Realising that most of the museum’s collections were hidden from public view, he has been a strong advocate for bringing the behindthe-scenes of museum science to the public. Using new 3-D technology we can now visualise our vast natural and cultural history collections like never before. Using new and accessible technology we can create amazingly detailed virtual worlds of our past and present, whether it’s an ancient site, an extinct dinosaur, or even your favourite toys from your childhood. The virtual world is the best way to learn about our past, capture our present and imagine our future.

Queensland Museum introduced various digital technologies to enhance the museum experience.

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Digital tools in museum learning â&#x20AC;&#x201C;3D scanning , panoramic experience, imaging technology photogrammetry, etc Digital technologies are beginning to play a vital role in the work of museums and galleries, whether on websites and handheld devices or in gallery displays and many are using digital technology in innovative ways to support visitor experiences. They are becoming more embedded, and networked, and are changing the experience of visiting museums be providing more flexible and personalised information and to encourage interaction and discussion between visitors. The distinctions between real and virtual, are already blurred, creating a new set of relationships between objects, visitors and digital technology, in which museums are, above all, places of exploration and discovery.

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We can create precious objects in 3D and peer inside to see what we could not see before; and we can scan artworks at such high resolution that when we zoom in and we are still zooming, and still zooming when we zoom in, we can see more than the naked eye can see. But these new imaging technologies alone are not enough to bring heritage to life in ways that are profound and unforgettable. Sarah Kenderdine | TEDxGateway 2013

Technology is set to revolutionize the museum experience as institutions test immersive exhibits and look for new ways to engage visitors. Photo: The American Revolution Museum at Yorktown

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The Immersive Gulf Stream Experience was the first of the two ground-breaking, large-scale audiovisual interactive exhibits commissioned for the Patricia and Philip Frost Museum of Science in Miami, Florida. The immersive experience gives visitors an unforgettable walk-through of the Gulf Stream and its aquatic inhabitants.

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The Cleveland Museumâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Gallery One and the accompanying ArtLens app represent a major investment in new interactive technology designed to result in a larger audience with greater frequency of attendance.

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The Enemy by Karim Ben Khelifa, a groundbreaking interactive Virtual Reality (VR) exhibition and immersive experience, makes its North American premiere at the MIT Museum. Through 360-degree imaging and recordings, participants will encounter combatants on opposite sides of conflicts in Israel/Palestine, the Congo, and El Salvador. In their own words, each will offer personal perspectives on war, including thoughts on motivations, suffering, freedom, and the future. The exhibition incorporates concepts from artificial intelligence and cognitive science-based interaction models.

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Google Arts and Culture - Google Arts & Culture (formerly Google Art Project) is an online platform through which the public can access high-resolution images of artworks housed in the initiativeâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s partner museums. The project was launched on 1 February 2011 by Google

through its Google Cultural Institute, in cooperation with 17 international museums, including the Tate Gallery, London; the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York City; and the Uffizi, Florence. The platform enables users to virtually tour partner

museumsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; galleries, explore physical and contextual information about artworks, and compile their own virtual collection. The "walk-through" feature of the project uses Google's Street View technology.

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“ONLINE ONLY” Museums going completely digital • Are people going to stop coming to the museum if we put more stuff online? - change in Museum Informatics • Museum without walls - online museums are open and free.

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Are people going to stop coming to the museum if we put more stuff online? change in Museum Informatics Paul Marty says that museums today are keen on adapting technology to enhance the user experience in a museum. Museum Informatics is the study of socio - technical interactions that take place between people, information and technology of the museums. Past : What is the visitor doing in my museum? Present : What impact am I having on the visitors life? Digital presence of already existing physical museums 1. Louvre iPhone App 2. Streetmuseum - App for Museum of London

StreetMuseum - App for Museum of London

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Museum without walls - online museums are open and free. Wikimedia is a global movement whose mission is to bring free educational content to the world. Through various projects, chapters, and the support structure of the non-profit Wikimedia Foundation, Wikimedia strives to bring about a world in which every single human being can freely share in the sum of all knowledge. Flickr - almost certainly the best online photo management and sharing application in the world.

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In these confronting times we must find strategies not only to preserve our heritage, but to let its stories to be rediscovered and reinvented. Sarah Kenderdine

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POP UP MUSEUMS Participatory culture in Museums

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The Pop Up Museum format was created by Michelle DelCarlo, then a UW Museology graduate student, in 2011. The Santa Cruz Museum of Art & History loved the Pop Up Museum's simple yet radical framework for public co-curation and dialogue. In 2012, the museum invited Michelle to train us in hosting Pop Up Museums. Then, it started hosting Pop Up Museums throughout Santa Cruz County in partnership with artists, community organizations, and businesses. The core team includes a museum director (Nina Simon), an artist (Nora Grant), and a community organizer (Sandino Gomez). Nina and Nora launched the Pop Up Museums in Santa Cruz County.

A Pop Up Museum is a temporary exhibit created by the people who show up to participate. It works by choosing a theme and venue and then inviting people to bring an object on-topic to share, like a community show-and-tell. Each participant writes a label for his or her object and puts it on display. A Pop Up Museum usually lasts for a few hours on one day, and focuses on bringing people together in conversation through stories, art, and objects. There are many ways to have a Pop Up Museum. And anyone can have one.

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A model that Simon refers to is the Theory of Social participation- the “me-to-we design” which is summarisd here as it pertains to the visitor experience in interesting ways. The model describes the ways in which cultural institutions and platforms can scaffold social experiences among users. Simon claims that if you want to support social engagement among people, especially in an unfacilitated setting (i.e. no tour guides), you need to start by designing personal services for visitors, then linking up visitors through shared interests or objects to promote interpersonal connections. You don’t start by designing “for the crowd.” Instead, you design ways for each person to feel acknowledged and valued as an individual. You make them comfortable interacting on their own, and then start providing opportunities to connect with others.

The experience is event-based. • The goal is promoting conversations. • The design is humble and radical. • The format focuses on intimate experiences. The diagram has been taken from Nina Simon's article on Pop up museums.

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looks at the exhibit without label

picks a label and uses it to and respond to artwork of personal interest

see how many visitors have selected which label overall

see the label worn by other visitors in the exhibition in real time

talk to other visitors about their label, their personalities, and their exhibits

The diagram has been taken from Nina Simon's article on Pop up museums.

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UNDERSTANDING HERITAGE • What is heritage? • Structure of heritage • Intangible heritage • Digital heritage

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WHAT IS HERITAGE?

Heritage is something that can be passed from one generation to the next, something that can be conserved or inherited, and something that has historic or cultural value. Heritage might be understood to be a physical ‘object’: a piece of property, a building or a place that is able to be ‘owned’ and ‘passed on’ to someone else. In addition to these physical objects and places of heritage there are also various practices of heritage that are conserved or handed down from one generation to the next. Language is an important aspect of who we understand ourselves to be, and it is learned and passed from adult to child, from generation to generation. These invisible or ‘intangible’ practices of heritage, such as language, culture, popular song, literature or dress, are as important in helping us to understand who we are as the physical objects and buildings that we are more used to thinking of as ‘heritage’.

Another aspect of these practices of heritage is the ways in which we go about conserving things – the choices we make about what to conserve from the past and what to discard: which memories to keep, and which to forget; which memorials to maintain, and which to allow to be demolished; which buildings to save, and which ones to allow to be built over.Practices of heritage are customs and habits which, although intangible, inform who we are as collectives, and help to create our collective social memory. We use objects of heritage (artifacts, buildings, sites, landscapes) alongside practices of heritage (languages, music, community commemorations, conservation and preservation of objects or memories from the past) to shape our ideas about our past, present and future.

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What we decide to label ‘heritage’ and what view as simply ‘old’ or ‘outdated’. Heritage is a term that is also quite often used to describe a set of values, or principles, which relate to the past. So, for example, it is possible for a firm of estate agents to use the term in its name not only to mean that it markets and sells ‘heritage’ properties, but also simultaneously to invoke a series of meanings about traditional values which are seen as desirable in buying and selling properties. We can also think here about the values which are implicit in making decisions about what to conserve and what not to conserve, in the choices we make about what we decide to label ‘heritage’ and what view as simply ‘old’ or ‘outdated’. These values are implicit in cultural heritage management. Chand Baori stepwell in Jaipur

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Structure of heritage

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UNESCOS INTANGIBLE HERITAGE

Living heritage or Intangible cultural heritage refers to the practices, representations, expressions, knowledge and skills – as well as the instruments , objects, artifacts, and cultural spaces associated with them – that communities, groups and in some cases, individuals recognize as being part of their cultural heritage. This intangible cultural heritage, which is transmitted from generation to generation, is constantly recreated by these communities and groups in response to their environments, their interaction with nature, and their history, and provides them with a sense of identity and continuity, thus promoting respect for cultural diversity and human creativity.

It is manifested in the following domain; • Oral traditions and expressions, including language as a vehicle of intangible cultural heritage; • Performing arts; • Social practices, rituals and festive events; • Knowledge and practices concerning nature and the universe • Traditional craftsmanship.

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Definitions of heritage need to be seen in context. For example, UNESCO defines a world heritage made up of globally outstanding sites of cultural and natural value that should be preserved; many national and state legislatures also define their own national, regional or state heritage. However, heritage value may also be based on what is important at a group or community level. Heritage materials can exist well beyond the limits suggested by national legislation or international conventions. Anything that is considered important enough to be passed to the future can be considered to have heritage value of some kind.

Ganga Aarti on the banks of River Ganga.

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DIGITAL HERITAGE

Digital heritage is made up of computer-based materials of enduring value that should be kept for future generations. Digital heritage emanates from different communities, industries, sectors and regions. Not all digital materials are of enduring value, but those that are require active preservation approaches if continuity of digital heritage is to be maintained.

This digital heritage is likely to become more important and more widespread over time. Increasingly, individuals, organisations and communities are using digital technologies to document and express what they value and what they want to pass on to future generations. New forms of expression and communication have emerged that did not exist previously. The Internet is one vast example of this phenomenon. It is also likely that the development of tools to support greater multi-lingual and multi-script use of the Internet will lead to further rapid growth in digital heritage in parts of the world that are currently disadvantaged by the predominant use of English on the Internet.

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03 DEVELOPING VISION FOR LIVING WATERS

MUSEUM

Ahmedabad: Exploring Changing Waterscapes

The Dialogue hosted by the Living Waters Museum and the Centre for Heritage Management, Ahmedabad University on January 30, 2018

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OBJECTIVE

This first dialogue on Exploring Ahmedabadâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Changing Waterscapes brought together more than 40 stakeholders from diverse sectors across the city: academia and civil society, arts, architecture and the design space, heritage management and corporate social responsibility. Additionally, we had a Wing Commander, a medical doctor and two NGO leaders from Bhuj to share their experience of water, textiles, heritage and communities (see list of participants).

SOME IDEAS AND WAY FORWARD

The dialogue had three major objectives: 1. How can we as concerned citizens respond to the twin crisis of growing urbanization and increasing climate risks impacting our water resources? 2. How can socially engaged arts and science, using the Living Waters Museum platform of both digital content and physical outreach, contribute to improving the welfare of vulnerable communities? 3. How can we inspire a new water ethics in our youth and look for spaces to make water education more inclusive, experiential and interdisciplinary? A number of topics were discussed and a few short presentations were made. Here weâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;d like to just share some of the key points /insights on which there was broad consensus before engaging with next steps.

The challenge of water is multi-dimensional and complex, requiring work across disciplinary and institutional boundaries. And in order to engage citizens more broadly, particularly our children and youth, we need to celebrate water, combining facts with the power of narrative (storytelling) to convey a message, inspire action and seek respect and reverence for water. Some of the things we have identified from the bucket-list of ideas that emerged in the meeting: 1. Raising awareness on water: we will be setting up an exhibition space, under the LWM platform, at the forthcoming water festival, Ahmedabad Haat, Feb. 16-18, 2018 being organised by WAY (World Around You, a social enterprise). The main exhibition will be built around the work NID students did and which is currently on our website, on various aspects of living waters in Gujarat. 2. Reviving the step well in Bhavnagar and maybe 1-2 others in Ahmedabad: we were very touched by the efforts of our Wing Commander and will move ahead to connect him to Utthan and others in Bhavnagar to see what can be an effective strategy in terms of the step well regeneration.

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Additionally, it would be great if we could collaborate with some of the architects and hydrologists who were present to think of a stepwell we could work with in Ahmedabad and its environs. This would also mean looking at our urban watershed. 3. Co-designing exhibitions at Vishalla or Sabarmati Ashram: we are exploring ideas for content and space at places that are widely visited and can be used to tell a story, whether it is on water, pots and practices (and food) or water in the struggle for independence and the value of ‘salt’.

5. Water and livelihoods: there are many entry points possible here and we do see a long-term goal for the LWM in terms of water and social enterprise. We will be meeting with the SEWA Water, Women and Work campaign to explore what role is there for arts in strengthening the care economy around water? There were ideas for mapping the Chandola lake in relation to change and livelihoods, there are water walks that can be digitized, and a lot of other ideas in relation to the use of ICTs to create eco-entrepreneurship opportunities around water and heritage. Siddhi Syed Mosque

4. Collaborative interdisciplinary water lab: with faculty from AU, CEPT and NID to begin with and reaching out to water professionals in the city to look at how interdisciplinary water modules / courses and short programs. What kind of pedagogy can we use, where are the cases of good practices, or lessons of things that did not work and why… what are the analytical skills and value that we build in our youth around water and other resources?How can we use the creative arts to complement theory and conceptual frameworks? Vishalla Restaurant

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The different perspectives of looking at water heritage. This image was developed for display at the dialogue.

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PERSONAL INPUTS

PERSONAL OUTPUTS

I shared responsibilities of the organisaton and management of this event. As a new intern with the Living Waters Museum, this meeting helped me understand Living Waters as a museum platform, which later helped me later in the project. I contributed my analysis of the change in Museum Culture worldwide and the strengths of a digital museum platform such as LWM.

The dialogue helped me to understand different perspectives of water in good detail because I got a chance to hear from the stakeholders themselves. It also helped in building my further projects and identify possible collaborations for developing content for LWM.

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LIST OF PARTICIPANTS AT THE AHMEDABAD WATER DIALOGUE

S.no

Name

Organisation

Abrar Ali Saiyed

Assistant Professor, Entrepreneurship, AMSOM, AU

Amit Tandon

Research Associate, LWM

Apoorva Oza

CEO, AKRSP(I)

Arthur Duff

Faculty of Design, CEPT

Ashoke Chatterjee

Advisory board, CHM, Consultant on WASH, Crafts

Aswhani Kumar

Associate Professor, Faculty of Planning, CEPT

Bharatiben Bhavsar

Coordinator, Women Water and Work Campaign, SEWA

Devanath Tirupati

Dean, Amrut Mody School of Management (AMSOM), AU

Ghatit Laheru

Deputy Director, Khamir

Juhi Bansal

Associate Director, Learning Initiatives, AU

Mamata Pandya

Consultant, Education and Communication

Marcus Moench

Founder, Institute for Social and Environmental Transition

Mausmi Andhare

Principal architect, Indigo architects

Minal Pathak

Global Centre on Energy and Environment, AU

Nafisa Barot

Founder Trustee, UTTHAN)

Neel Kamal Chapagain

AU / CHM Director

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Nishith V. Shah

Doctor, Photographer

Pankaj Chandra

Vice Chancellor, Ahmedabad University

Parthasarathy

Director, Gujarat Institute of Development Research

Patrick French

Dean, School of Arts and Sciences, AU

Pedro Pombo

Assistant Prof., Anthropology, IIT, Gandhinagar

Piyush Pandya

Project Manager, CHM

Poorva Lalbhai

Lalbhai Foundation

Puneet Chadha

Wing Commander, South Western Air Command

Purvi Vyas

Farmer, sustainable agriculture

R Vasavada

Architect, Former Head of Conservation Studies, CEPT

Rajendra Joshi

Founder, SAATH, Social Entrepreneur

Rehana Riyawala

Vice President, SEWA

Renu Mittal

Post-grad student, CHM

Riyaz Tayyibji

Architect, Anthill Design

Saptam Patel

Assistant Professor, Communication, AMSOM, AU

Sara Ahmed

Founder and Lead Curator LWM, Adjunct Prof., CHM

Shalvi Suman

Research Intern, LWM

Sri Subramaniam

Director, Venture Design Studio, AU

Sudhir Pandey

Senior Lecturer, Communication, AMSOM, AU

Swarnika Nimje

Design Intern, LWM

Tanishka Kachru

Associate Senior Faculty, Exhibition Design, NID

Vivek Khadpekar

Urbanist and Consulting Editor

Yogesh Jadeja

Director, Arid Communities and Technologies (ACT)

P. Vyas

SEWA

Yash Sugandhi

Architect- Urban Planner

P.K.Ghosh

Ahmedabad Heritage Management Trust

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04 LIVING WATERS MUSEUM AT

INDIA ENVIRONMENT FESTIVAL

Let us take the museum out to the people. 16-18 February 2018 Ahmedabad Haat

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ABOUT INDIA ENVIRONMENT FESTIVAL India Environment Festival marked the beginning of India’s 1st community-dedicated multi-disciplinary annual ‘Festival of Environment’ that takes place at the world heritage city – Ahmedabad. IEF is envisioned as a national event to trigger a positive change, through celebration, fascination and love, amongst people towards the environment and for a dream of greener tomorrow. IEF celebrates environment through amazing and seamless blend of environmental themes with art, craft, music, design, literature, interactive media, education, science and technology done by its eco-passionate team – precisely this festival has something for everyone. IEF is conceived & delivered by WAY (World Around You) in close collaborations with local, regional, national & international partners from the public, private and community sector. The selection of festival curators, theme, activities, venue décor and eco-friendly brands reflects a sincere effort towards the need for a positive knowledge, attitude and practices of environment amongst people.

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ABOUT THE EXHIBITION

CONTENT DISPLAYED

The Exhibition aimed at showcasing the values and approaches of Living Waters Museum towards building a digital museum on water.

Art Installation:

We showcased the work done in collaboration with the students of Photography department from National Institute of Design, Gandhinagar. The students had worked on photo essays, which were collected from different parts of the country on a broader theme of water heritage of India. The Exhibition was curated from the selective works showcasing the different themes around water. The exhibition also posed questions for the audience by putting forth some of the issues on water crisis, using these photo essays.

a) The Nexus b) Story of Vav - Jyoti, Tom and Vijit ( NID open elective 2018 Where the Water Flows)

Documentaries : a) The Invisible Water - Sayali, Shweta , Milan and Manoj (NID, open elective 2018 : Where the Water Flows ) b) Crossing the River - Akshay Shete , Amit Tandon

Photographs : Students of Photography Batch 20182019.

Water Music

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CURATED PHOTOGRAPHS Students of Photography Batch 2018-2019.

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The ordinary Shahrukh Faquith

I spent some time looking at the less fortunate people who had limited access to water. Water is provided to these people for a few hours throughout the day with not many storage options. These people store water in buckets and utensils. The ones who are slightly better off economically purchase barrels or tanks for storage of water. But this comes with a higher price of installing a motor to pump the water out of the pipes and into these storage tanks. When water supply is limited to a few hours a day and especially when it's trickling out of these taps and pipes one doesnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t have a choice but to wait while it slowly fills up these storage vessels. Earlier there were community wells and rain water harvesting tanks which were sealed off when the city developed. The reason for this was water was being provided through pipes and people didnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t see a need to maintain wells and tanks as they initially received an adequate supply of water through the pipeline. I was looking at the ordinary and mundane use of water as a silent observer in the streets and gullies of the Pol (unique neighborhoods consisting of cluster of houses around common courtyards & community wells) within the Old Ahmedabad city. Photographing and documenting these activities within the heart of the city has been an experience. I have realized how fortunate most of us are to have access to water at a turn of a knob.

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Free drinking water Joel Fernando R

Water is a basic need for all living organism on the planet. Of the four basic elements found in nature, water is next to air for the survival of life. Water is essential for all day to day activities and the need for drinking water is the most prominent and dire of all. But it has become a commodity and is sold in pet bottles, plastic pouches, and in several other ways as drinking water. Even when it is sold for a cost, water is given for free around business organizations, communities, political outfits, religious places etc. for the thirsty public. This free drinking water is accessible to anyone irrespective of any segregation. The motivation behind the practice is said to be ‘Seva bhavo’ that is service to the society. The water that is filled in the pots, and the plastic coolers are either from the AMC supplied drinking water, or the water bought from local drinking water companies the cost of which is borne by the caretakers. I have tried to capture the practice of placing such a commodity in the public space and what we buy in the name of free drinking water. I went to more that 50 places in Ahmedabad and Gandhinagar starting from the old part of the city noticing the varying classes and the religious segregations and then moving on to the newer part of the city to find free drinking water places and photographed them. The right to Drinking Water has been recognized by the United Nations as a human right that is essential for the full enjoyment of life and all human rights in a resolution adopted by General Assembly in 2010. We have to remember that the right to water in India is equated to the right to life as per the constitution. For a basic necessity like water, there is a price to be paid for each sip we take. “Accha paani hai” this is the often heard words whenever I ask the people how the water is, in these free drinking places. The Autoricksaw wallahs, drivers, the poor school going children, and all those who cannot afford a Rs. 20 water bottle or even a Rs. 2 water pouch are the ones drinking from it. They are the ones who know where these places are and who takes care of them. It is interesting to note that these free drinking places are often thought to be unclean by the people who will rather buy a sealed bottle of the same water.

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Not just a pinch of salt Nalini B

Salt is an ingredient we cannot do without, as individuals, and as a country. India is among thetop salt producing countries. Out of which, 70% comes from Gujarat, produced by a rather unheard of community called Agariyas. Agariyas’ livelihood is solely dependent on salt farming and so it has been for centuries. Due to duality in ecosystem of Little Rann of Kutch which a mud desert and a wetland at different times, the salt farming season is limited to 8 months a year. Every September, Agariyas move from their villages to Little Rann of Kutch, set up temporary shelters that they call home for 8 months. The men and women of this community work day in and day out, in the harshest of conditions. Scorching heat, dust storms, no sanitary facilities, eviction notices from the government, not to mention the excessive exposure to salt, doesn’t seem to bother these people much. Through this project, I have tried to show the unspoken side of the lifestyle of Agariyas, and thetemporary shelter they live in most of their lives. These photographs are from Maliya, Haripar, and Patdi region of Little Rann of Kutch. The bleak lives of Agariyas seem to begin and end with salt. They have only learnt how to survive contently with whatever is available. Unlike us, to these people, it isn’t just a pinch of salt. This project was undertaken with the assistance of Agariya Heet Rakshak Manch. This work was partly funded by the Living Waters Museum, a project supported by WaterAid India.

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The men and women of this community work day and night, in the harshest of conditions / Malia Haripar and Patdi | Not just a pinch of salt 92 | Swarnika Nimje | Graduation Degree Project | National Institute of Design

Washing over an era Vamika Jain

Rivers to me are living entities which live over centuries, travelling thousands of kilometers from their source to the final destination. During their journey, they touch the lives of several people and interact with them. They’re the source of livelihood, emotions, travel, stories and survival to the people whom the water touches and flows. In Ahmedabad, river Sabarmati has been an intricate part of its history, culture,development and people. From being a perennial river in the 19th century to an almoststagnant water body in Ahmedabad now, Sabarmati has evolved dramatically. The Riverfront Development plan caused displacement of houses and the livelihood practices on the river banks were completely banned. The project aims to set a historical context of the river Sabarmati, the act of washing clothes on it and develop a time based narrative of how the situation has evolved from ‘In river washing’ to what exists now as a formal, organized work system. It looks at development and diversification of river Sabarmati in the context of the washer-men community and how they’ve lost/gained a new meaning of water. The people who have lived the profession for generations have now learnt to operate new machines in place of their traditional washing routine and their connection with water has changed. With a planned edge, the water has lost its place as a river and the relationship with water for a community which is entirely dependent on it for work has evolved over time.

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Jal nahi to kal nahi Pavithra

My work is a personal account of the things I saw and things I learnt about water from people in Gujarat. It focuses on our dependency on water, what we get from water and what we give back to water. The stories transition from one location to the other based on their connections either as material or geographical proximity. Through these peoplecentric stories, I would like to create associations with the otherwise ignored aspects relating to water: environmental impact of overfishing, waste disposal, working conditions of people, migration etc., in Gujarat.

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Off the coast Aayush Chandrawanshi “We are here because we can earn up to three times as much as we do back at home, that too in a fixed monthly salary structure unlike anywhere else” said Vasanth kumar, a fisherman from Srikakulam (Andhra Pradesh) sitting in the cabin of his old Boat, staring at his wife’s photo in the wallet and thinking about the last 10 years he had spent in Veraval, a port city in Gujarat. Every year since late 1980’s, 20,000-25000 fishermen like him migrate from the eastern coast of the country to the western coast so that they can earn more through the fishing skills they are known for. They also specialize in long fishing trips of 20-25 days during which they spent all their time on Boat and come back to land for just a day where they unload the catch and replenish their supplies and depart for another trip the very next day. Their memories of home and their belongings is what they have that keeps them connected to the land. These men are barely on land as they are at sea, sailing in the ocean, fishing to make a living. Thus the boat remains their home and the crew their family for most of the year. So what intrigues me is the question, “What is their Sense of Home?” Through this visual narrative I am trying to highlight this Invisible Workforce which is the foundation of the Fishing Industry. Their livelihood keeps them away from their family and the village. My intent here is to create a certain sense of familiarity with the community less known to the people outside the Fishing Industry.

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Architecture of the sea Amlanjyoti Bora

Mandvi is a city and a municipality in the Kutch district of Gujarat. It is an important port city of the region, which has been founded as a port town by Rao Khengarji I, King of Kutch, in the late 16th century. The city has more than four hundred year old ship building industry that still manufactures ships. The craftsmen of Mandvi shipmaking industry are working on the land, touching the sky and aims to the sea to conquer. Theage-old wooden shipbuilding industry is an example of extreme strength & handicraft skill, which is still there in the age of industrialisation. The craft is still surviving because of the strong will and their respect for it. The objective of the project is to document the hard work, patience and the intricacy of the craft that involves creating the giants. An emphasis is also put to highlight the environment in which they are working and the lifestyle around it.

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Maria Shreyasi Pathak

Alang, given its tidal variation, long coastline and gradual slope makes an ideal location for shipbreaking. MV Kota Tenjong was the first ship to be beached at Alang in 1983 and since then more than 7000 ships have been broken. Before shipbreaking began in Alang, the beach was untouched and pristine, but for the migrant work force and the locals, shipbreaking provides well paid jobs with a steady income to support their families. Popular media has dubbed Alang as a ship graveyard, but on the contrary ships come here to be born again, to be reincarnated into something else. Recycling about half the ships in the world has helped develop supporting industries like oxygen bottling plants, re-rolling mills, second hand ship items businesses, etc. As opposed to the abandoning and submerging ships in the ocean, recycling is considered a more sustainable and an eco - friendly solution to scrap retired vessels. Irrespective of the importance that shipbreaking and recycling industry has in todayâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s world, the brunt that the marine environment has been facing is far from being acceptable. My fascination with repurposing and upcycling of old things, and my curiosity to look at a coastal town where shipbreaking and recycling takes place on a humongous scale, brought me to Alang. Shipbreaking and recycling goes beyond the robotic, mechanical activity of cutting ships into pieces. It is not only about re-melting metals into rebar and ingots, or salvaging wood and fittings from the ship. The spaces inside the ship says a great deal about life on water. A retired or a dead vessel has spaces that seem to have frozen in time with all actions intact. The sentiments and stories attached to the ship also scatter as the structure is taken apart. The objects, and perception along with experience of people in Alang cannot be told in one word or one sentence. The spaces and objects evoke a strange sense of nostalgia which doesnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t belong to the witness, yet seems to have come from their own memories. The feeling of being in Alang can be described as walking around a huge anvil or being a voyeur in a cabin of a ship. Every object, every social media post, every news headline, every conversation, every sound, every observation from and of Alang has plenty to say and holds a universe of its own, subject to wonder (or concern). Maria is story of reincarnation on land of what water held like its own.

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Sangharsh

The water park

Sahil Saxena

Isha Gahlot

The blue container has become a significant repeating pattern in the landscape of the small village of

Monumentality and momentary are two words that describe water parks for me.

Bamanbore. The blue plastic water container is both a lifeline and a reminder of a dwindling future.

Monumentality, because of the scale of these gigantic structures and momentary, because of the

Bamanbore faces severe water crisis. Located in the parching state of Gujarat, it is of course rainfall

limited time of joy and feeling of being entitled. Seeking escape from the mundane the middle class

deprived. The local water sources have dried up. Running water from pipelines is a luxury which the

yearns for celebration and leisure of fantasy land. These huge candy colored structures, filled with

villagers can only dream of. The only source of

chlorine water and loud music provide that break from their reality. These man-made landscapes and

water is the two water tankers that supply water to the village everyday and their arrival spark brawls

slides provide momentary escape. These spaces allow one to feel privileged and experience leisure of

within the villagers. This photo series documents both the water scarcity in Bamanbore and its effect

being around water. But the irony lies in 4 feet big smiling animal forms with chipped paint and feet

on the people and their land. In the face of this everyday struggle for water, the lives of the villagers

covered of carbonated salts. Being here is like indulging in a street side magicianâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s trick of getting out

have changed significantly. The women of the family are assigned the task of fetching water and the

of reality for some time. â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;The Water Parksâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; is a project about gigantic constructed spaces which were

younger girls often drop out of school to help their mothers gather enough water for the family. The

designed to create affordable yet tropical escapes for people.

objective of this project is to focus on an altered landscape due to the shortage of water and look at a future which seems to be getting drier by the day.

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FOLD OUT ELEVATION - NOT TO SCALE

WALL 2C

wall 2B

wall 2C

Story 1 - The Ordinary Story 2 - Free drinking water

Story 3 - Not just a pinch of salt

Story 4 - Washing over an era

Plan view - not to scale

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Wall 2A

Wall 2B Wall 1C

Wall 1B Wall 1A

SPACE LAYOUT OF THE EXHIBITION AT INDIA ENVIRONMENT FESTIVAL

Wall 3B Wall 3C

wall 2A

Wall 3A

WALL 2B

Wall 2C

WALL 2A

FOLD OUT ELEVATION - NOT TO SCALE

WALL 3B

WALL 3A

WALL 3C

wall 3A

wall 3B

wall 3C

Story 5 - Jal nahi to kal nahi

Story 6 - Off the coast

Story 7 - Architecture of the sea Story 8 - Maria Stroy 9 - The water park Stroy 10 - Sangharsh

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Documentaries : a) The Invisible Water - Sayali, Shweta , Milan and Manoj (NID, open elective 2018 : Where the Water Flows ) b) Crossing the River - Akshay Shete , Amit Tandon

Photographs on display

1. Water stories - books and reading material by various publications. 2. 12 Magazine for sale (NID Pubications) 3.Bookmarks as takeawys from the exhibition

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Story of Vav - Jyoti, Tom and Vijit ( NID open elective 2018 Where the Water Flows)

Bookmarks - takeaways from the Exhibition

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BUDGET FOR THE EXHIBITION

Vendors

Services and items procured

Cost

Way Everything connect

Exhibition fees for stalls at Hara Pitara -IEF 18 at Ahmedabad haat

30000

Manish Framing Art

Photo frames prepared for the exhibition

465

Devi Krupa Traders

Misc. items for exhibition

300

Devi Krupa

Misc.items - carpenter

300

Anil Sharma

Labour charges - Carpenter work done at exhibition venue and misc. expenses

518

M.R. led rental

LED TV rentals

5310

Siddhi Photo Copier

Printing material

640

Candle stationers

Stationary items

1170

Raj Stationers

Stationary items

295

Surendrabhai Nagori

Soft board for Exhibition

1560

Total

Rs.86,593

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LWM at India Environment Festival National Institute of Design | Graduation Degree Project | Swarnika Nimje | 131

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AUDIENCE FEEDBACK

"Eye opening and delightful to see water from different perspectives." - Yogesh

"Very insightful. Like to share and contribute stories on rain water." - Amit K. Doshi (Vardhaman Envirotech)

"Great initiative to capture art around water governance." - Gurpreet Singh

"We would like to provide you a platform to represent your work. Thanks." - Dhaval Pandya

"Nice collection of photographs which itself narrates the past present future of relationship of man and water." - Anima Tinkey

"We work for environment awareness with schools and colleges,want to collaborate." - Vibhu Rakesh

"Great idea..keep up and grasp the depth of water. - Parul

"Living Waters Museum is a great way to explore water issue and connect with ongoing conservation work." - Kumar Manish

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TEAM INSIGHTS

•

People were interested in the idea of the technicality of the project being a digital museum.

•

As the photographs were from Gujarat, almost everyone related to them.

•

Families were keen on letting their kids explore the values on the stories.

•

People who were interested in collaborating or contributing had a little problem understanding ways to do that.

•

Kids were interested in the books displayed.

•

Giveaways made people excited.

•

People were interested in the contrast narratives.

•

Many were wondering about the larger impact that the museum is going to make.

•

The exhibition in a platform such as IEF gave us a wider audience group from different age groups and different backgrounds, and it was good to understand how people relate and appreciate the idea of LWM. People shared their stories of how their children use water in a different way than they did in their childhood.

•

Visitors were excited to know about the stories that they could relate too.

•

Parents were seen interacting with their children on the issues around water.

•

Teachers of few schools who visited were interested in collaboration.

•

Few visitors were looking for possibilities of collaborating with the Museum.

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KEY LEARNINGS AND TEAM FEEDBACK : •

There could have been a little write-up for people to

•

read about the stories.

Not everyone understands art , so audience needs to be understood before designing the installation. Abstract art might not work with common people.

•

More interactive spaces were required. •

•

Means of collaboration should be a little systematic.

•

More engagement with the physical and digital

Need more visibility on Social Media and engagement with people.

•

Optimize space usage.

•

Better planning for any event.

•

There should be different level of information

interface. •

Link between the projects displayed and LWM values should be visible.

delivery, and a clear idea about how a individual can •

Content design considering different age groups.

collaborate. •

•

Clear defined strategies for collaborations with individuals, institutions, etc needs to be done.

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We need to categorise our audience group.

05 WATER VARTA When digital meets analog As part of this process, and discussions at the Ahmedabad Waterscape Dialogue held at the Centre (January 2018) the LWM team approached Surendra Bhai Patel, founder and director of the Vishalla Restaurant and Vechaar Museum of Utensils, to explore a collaborative undertaking on water, food and cultural practices in Gujarat around the utensils, their history, form and function.

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ABOUT VISHALLA AND VECHAAR

Established in 1978 with a vision to change the way we see Gujarati food, Mr. Surendra Patel pioneered the idea of a restaurant that wouldnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t only serve food to the guests but would also give them an experience. Guests would escape the urban cityscapes and go back to their roots in a rustic and homely environment. Mr. Surendra Patel, one of Gujaratâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s most well-known architects and interior designers, designed the space, lending keen attention to every detail. Cozied within a lush green cover, Vishalla is home to a volley of local and migratory birds, rare flowers and two museums apart from a beautiful party plot and banquet.

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THE RESTAURANT

Mud flooring, bamboo walls, wooden tables, leaf plates and bowls and a dhinchanyu or a knee-support â&#x20AC;&#x201C; this is what encompasses a regular meal at Vishalla. We urge our guests to sit on the floor, cross-legged, for good digestion. Their meal times always begin with a Sandhya Aarti in our traditional village temple, by the kitchen staff. The cooked food is first offered to the Lord and is then offered to guests, as a sign of reverence. We believe that this is the reason why the food at Vishalla always tastes so good, so pious.

Dining area at Vishalla Restraunt

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THE VECHAAR MUSEUM

Vishalla prides itself on its presentation of Indian culture and tradition in its village-like environment with its museum of old utensils known as Vechaar. The museum found its way into Vishalla three years after Vishalla was itself started, on 27 April 1981. Vechaar is the only museum of its kind in the world, displaying such a precious collection of utensils. The designer of Vishalla, Mr. Patel, shares his success in the establishment of Vechaar with Mr. Jyontindra Jain, a well-known anthropologist. Mr. Jain fully supported and guided the cause and eventually helped in setting up the museum itself. His passion for the cause was so deep that his good work did not stop at that; he wrote catalogs for the museum himself. A walk around the hut-like museum makes one's heart skip a beat, marveling at the inimitable beauty of these utensils of old. These utensils have been handed down through the changing seasons and times, over the years. They speak of the unmatched art and genius of humankind during the days of old when people did not have the modern facilities of our times. The designer could not let our rich heritage pass with these vessels being lost in the fire kilns! He was determined to preserve them, and today, his dream is a reality in the form of Vechaar.

Vechaar Utensil Museum

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Water Varta AIM OF THE EXHIBITION "To build a value perspective on water by celebrating water wisdom and exploring the tangible and intangible heritage around water and food in Gujarat."

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The design of the exhibition involves: •

Primary and secondary research on the various water utensils at Vechaar.

•

Understanding virtual water or our water footprint in terms of a traditional thalli at Vishalla.

•

Development of interesting, short narratives on the form and function of selected water pots for fetching and storing water, or cooking and other functions, e.g. carrying water in the mashak by travellers.

•

Research on water facts related to these tasks for exhibition panels (e.g. how many hours women spend in fetching water, or water wastage, etc.)

•

Photo shoots of the pots as they are and in use by developing local site specific shots at Vishalla and its environs using the local community as ‘models’. Development of a short film on Surendra Bhai to understand how and why he started the utensils, focusing on his acquisition of water pots, and the stories they tell, as well as his vision for water. The film will be produced by noted Gujarati artist (theatre) and film producer, Rajoo Barot and will be in Gujarati with a voice over in English (separate version).

•

Development of simple interactive multimedia games and activities for children who will visit the exhibition and eventually, an outreach strategy for taking this to local schools (to be expanded).

Expected Outputs A curated exhibition on water, food and utensils to be hosted at the premises (outside Vechaar Museum) in early July (depends on the rains, as venue is outdoors). All exhibition panels will have text in English and Gujarati. (The exhibiton was hosted in October due to rains in the month of July, August and September.)

Raising awareness on various aspects of water and hygiene, e.g. handwashing before eating. Raising awareness on the relationship between water and food – water consumption (irrigation) by different food crops which constitute our daily diet. And how diets are related to specific agro-ecological contexts as well as cultural practices.

A short film on the history of the water utensils collections through the eyes of Surendra Bhai Patel, its main architect. Games and educational activities for children who visit the site as well as towards an outreach strategy for schools in Ahmedabad.

Expected Outcomes Raising awareness on the role of water utensils over time in the context of the care economy (women’s unpaid work).

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CONTENT RESEARCH - I • Studying the Vechaar Museum collection to develop water stories. • Did you know? - a series of contemporary water facts.

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A pot for fetching water

A pot for fetching and storing water

A pot for fetching water or milk

Bronze Eastern India 37x28 cm

Brass Central or Northern India 35X42 cm

Brass North Western India 31.5X26 cm

This elegant pot was constructed by joining together several cast bronze parts. Its melon like rounded belly , long delicate neck and wide projecting collar combined with the lustrous polish on the upper half and constraining rough texture on the lower , all put together ,turn into a highly graceful and sensuous object . The elements and proportions of the pot are conceived and designed keeping in mind its shape which fits the palm of the hand ,the curve of the hip and compliments to the rhythmic motion of walking or the static pose at the well. The pot was meant for fetching water from a distance and was carried on the hip and held in position by the embrace of the arm, exactly as the village woman carries her child. The long neck and the projecting collar accommodate the grip of the arm around it, which is absent in the modern pitcher.

The bell shaped pot has a broad base which helps in balancing when carried on the head while fetching water. Due to its unique shape, peculiar staining of the surface and chasing of parallel bands on surface and chasing of parallel bands on the surface, it stands out among Indian pitchers.

The pot was made from pieces of hammered brass sheet. It has a shallow base capped with an inverted cone forming the large upper half and culminating into a narrow neck topped with a bowl shaped collar. This pot was used for milking cattle and for transporting milk. The characteristics shape prevented the milk from spilling during transport.

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Gagar, water pot

Boghenu, Milking pot

Charu, a storage vessel

Copper Uttar Pradesh 27x30 cm

Brass Gujarat 25x27cm

Copper Western India 61x46 cm

The word gagar comes from the Sanskrit gargara meaning a pot. This pot of austere beauty was used for fetching water. It has a comparatively narrow neck to prevent spilling. It can be easily lifted, when filled, by grasping the rim and it is convenient enough for carrying on the head, or the hip, as well as on kauaad or the balance shaped bamboo carrier conventionally carried on shoulder by the professional water suppliers. The purity of form and the general functional value of this pot amply demonstrate that the Indian metal workers does not confuse materials in his mind and understands the strength and weaknesses of every material. The prominent central horizontal joint does not only exhibit the structural neatness bit is used as the dividing line between the upper part and the lower part. The upper part has finer staining resembling 'the scattered seed of pomegranate' and the lower one has roughly stained surface. The rough base provided a better grip on the pot while being lifted from the ground and placing on the head or vice versa.

The exceptional broad base pot has width that is more than usually its height. This gives it tremendous gravity which is essential for milking pot as it is kept tilted on the knees or on the ground while milking. In Saurashtra, the same pot was carried by mendicants who beg food, especially flour, from house to house. The bogharnas of Wadhwan in Saurashtra region are the most renowned.

This vessel of supreme sculpturesque beauty has a bowl shaped base, a steeply tapering shoulder, a double rimmed narrow neck and an inverted bell shaped handsome collar with a pair of solid copper rings attached as handles. The charm of this vessel is enhanced by its clear and prominent joinery and neat staining of the surface. This multipurpose pot was used for storage of grains or water. It is also likely that the pot was used for hiding treasures under the ground.

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Kothi , a storage jar

Goli, or Bhadarvo, a storage pot

Surai, a travellers water bottle

Copper Gujarat 84x87 cm

Brass Gujarat 56x61 cm

German silver Northern India 25.5x15cm

The word Kothi derives from Sanskrit koshtha, meaning 'storage'. The jar was used for storing grains and was made of finely stained copper sheet. It has a broad high shoulder and narrow base. The mouth is only slightly narrower than the base and the width of the high collar is almost equal in proportion to that of the base. By consciously combining these shapes and proportions, the craftsman has produced a neat sumptuous vessel.

The pot has cylindrical base, high shoulder line, comparatively narrow neck, high and fanning collar having two solid cast brass rings attached to it. Goli, along with dablo, katodan and karandio formed the four main vessels given as dory to the kathi bride by her parents. This vessel which was mainly popular in Saurashtra ,and was known as bhadarvo which is also the name of the 11th Hindu month.The rainwater collected during the month of Bhadarvo was treasured for the conventional cleaning of utensils before the festival of Diwali in the 12th month. It was believed that the utensils cleaned by this water remained bright ,shining and stainless for a longer time. One of the reasons for this may be that water collected during late monsoon month was unadulterated by salts and minerals when directly collected in a pot (without letting it fall on the ground).It therefore , reduced the process of oxidation of metals leading to stainless quality of the surfaces after cleaning. Similarly , Maghanu pani or water collected during the influence of Magha constellation (10th-11th Hindu month)is proverbially known for its various qualities of healing and cleaning. The pot under discussion was used for storing the collected water therefore also known as bhadarvo.

This neatly constructed bottle having a melon shaped pot and a minaret shaped lid was traditionally used in the orient as 'water bottle'. With the addition of the spout it becomes a bottle for alcohol and a few holes on top , a rosewater sprinkler. Clay pots of the same shape are in use since the time immemorial all over the Eastern world indicating that the metal version presumed a clay prototype.

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Water bag

Mashak, a water bottle

Travellers water jar

Brass

Brass Gujarat 32x29cm

Brass Northern India 27x15cm

This elegant water bag is constructed by hammering and joining cast brass parts together. Its conception, design and construction indicate that it was replicated in brass by a earlier softer material. Leather water bags of exactly the same design are commonly seen in dessert areas of Kutch, Sind, Jaisalmer. The pointed joint of the neck to the bottle and the leaf motif in the centre are reminiscent of leather work. Similarly, the solid wooden stopper and base of the leather bags, were replaced with heavy cast elements. Such bags were carried by horse and camel riders.

In many respects similar to figure , this brass sheet bottle is another example of translating a water bottle of soft material like leather into that of a hard material like brass. Here, the conventional piping or frill which is natural to the constructions in leather has been kept intact, even though the brass objects are fashioned differently. The customary embroidery of leather bags has been faithfully transferred onto the metal successor by means of incised patterns. Moreover, the bottle is called Mashak which is the traditional name of the larger leather bag used for supplying water to establishments by the bhistis, the professional water suppliers.

This water jar is cast in several parts. The base of the upper pot fits into the lower one by means of threading which indicates later origin of its design. While drinking, some water was taken out in the upper pot which was used as a tumbler so that water in the lower pot was not polluted.

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Doyo, a laddle for water

Bhaturo, the tumbler

Toili, the child feeder

Brass Gujarat 52x13cms

Brass Saurashtra 16x11cm

Brass Gujarat 9x7cms

The ladle comprises of a hammered brass pot and a cast brass

This object of sheet brass was placed upside down on the water pot hung under a bullock cart in such a way that the cylindrical portion gets fixed inside the mouth of the pot and the base of it becomes a tight lid.As the cart moves, the water splashes against this 'lid' but does not fall out. While drinking water the lid was used as tumbler.In tribal areas of Dahod, the same object is made of clay.

This exceptionally elegant miniature pot derives the shape of its fluted belly directly from that of the sugar melon. It was used for feeding water to babies.

handle ,the latter having ornamentation all over.

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Kamandal, a vessel for serving liquid items

Lota, a pot

Tambakundi, a bucket

Copper Gujarat 21x31.5cm

Copper All over western India 15.5x13.5cm

Brass Gujarat 33x18cm

This inverted bell shaped copper sheet vessel has a cast brass handle and a narrow projecting tube or spout of copper. This vessel was used for serving dal or any other liquid items of food especially during community meals.

This pot was constructed by joining together the bowl shaped base and the bell shaped upper prt made by hammering sheets of copper. The lota of this shape is known all over Gujarat as 'Parsi lota' probably because of its predominant association with the Parsi community. The design of lota was ideally suited for the traditional Indian way of drinking water pouring it into the mouth without the lips touching the vessel itself. In Gujarat, it was customary to use kalasya-pyala or a flat lota and a tumbler for drinking water, where water is poured from the lota into the tumbler to drink from. The Parsi lota seems to be the single composite version of the two.

The word Tambakundi literary means a copper bucket .This vessel was conventionally used for storing bath water and was usually made of copper. As evident from dozens of references in early Gujarati literature, Tambakundi was mostly found in aristocratic households.

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Badna , a spouted pot

Deg , a cooking pot

Goli, a pot for churning butter milk

Brass Bengal 25.5x13.5cm

Copper Gujarat 45x52 cm

Brass Western India 50x65 cm

This cast brass spouted pot has unique features and showcases the workmanship of Murshidabadi artisans. Such pots were used for pouring water to wash hands. A basin which went along with it resembled the conventional spitoon.

Constructed from pieces of copper sheet, this traditional Indian Vessel was used for cooking. It has a broad base which helps in catching maximum heat from the open fire. From the rim to shoulder, the shape narrows steeply towards its mouth, to which a thick copper collar with two solid copper rings(handles) are affixed. The pot is eminently suitable for cooking , not only because it concentrates the heat inside for a long time, but also because the water that gets heated at the bottom rises upwards and gets pushed downwards again by the tapering wall, thus creating a regular rotation of its content. This rotational movement is responsible for soft and even cooking of rice, beans etc. Another advantage of this shape is that the smoke rises along the wall of the broad base moves straight upwards and does not remain inside the pot.

This pot constructed from hammered sheets of brass has more breadth than height. It has a broad base, a narrow mouth and a slightly convex shoulder wall and is used for churning butter. Churning was done by a wooden churning rod, which when rotated leads to excessive beating of yoghurt against the convex wall, thereby enhancing the process of separating butter from butter milk. In certain regions, the same pot was used for gathering milk, heating it up, making it into yoghurt and churning it for obtaining butter. Churning pots of terracotta of exactly the same shape are found all over Gujarat, today.

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A pot for preparing special recipes

Doghli, a cooking pot

Pressure cooker

Copper Gujarat 56x93 cm

Copper Gujarat 21x23cm

Copper Gujarat 46x65cm

This large and sturdy, somewhat flat melon shaped copper pot having broad mouth and no neck was used for sugar coating tablets and candies. The vessel was filled with syrup and the tablets to be coated were attached to a wooden apparatus and continuously rotated until coated. The simple shape without any grooves, allowed unobstructed movement of the syrup inside and the wide mouth facilitated a controlled procedure of sugar coating.

The pot comprises of a shallow bowl and a concave high shoulder wall narrowing upwards. The rim of the mouth is strengthened by an additional thick copper ring. On two sides there are lobe shaped copper handles. The shape of the pot, is complementary to soft and even cooking of rice, dal, etc.

This copper sheet pressure cooker resembles the south Indian pot

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for making Idlis. Two or three items to be steamed were placed in separate containers ,inside this vessel ,which was then placed on fire for cooking.

DO YOU KNOW? - A SERIES OF WATER FACTS

Heritage is not a luxury and the significance of heritage is determined by its visibility. You need to live it, you need to feel it."

"Do you know?" a series of present day water facts were introduced in the exhibition. It would provide a context to relate to the values around water of the past and the present water crisis. It aims at bringing the intangible water heritage to life. Example 20 kgs - the weight of full water containers carried by girls / women on their heads, hips, or backs, for an average of 6 kms each day in India. Source - Plan International, 2012, WASH (Water, Sanitation and Hygiene)

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CONTENT DEVELOPMENT - I • Categorising collection through water lens • Development of stories of the water pots • Development of visuals and photographs • Typography & Panel layout

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CATEGORISING COLLECTION THROUGH WATER LENS

Pots for fetching water on head and waist

Gagar

A pot for carrying water or milk

Utensils for fetching water

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Charu

Bhadarvo

Utensils for storing water

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Kothi

Mashaq

Water bag

Traveller's water jar

Surai

Utensils for carrying water

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Bhaturo

Lota

Doyo

Toili

Kamandal

Utensils for serving water

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Tambakundi

Badna

Utensils for Utility purposes

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Pressure coooker

Goli

Boghenu

Doghli

Utensils for cooking process

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Deg

DEVELOPMENT OF STORIES OF THE WATER POTS

“Do you know who brings water home for hundreds of rural families across Gujarat? Made of bronze, my long neck and wide collar help girls like Jigna to hold me gracefully on the curve of her hip, as she walks back from the village well, carefully not to spill water she has spent several hours collecting. On her head, she confidently balances another broad-based, brass pot, while sharing local news and singing along with her friends. I know its hard work for Jigna, particularly in the dry summer months, but she doesn’t complain even when she has to miss going to school on some days.”

"શું તમને ખબર છે ગુજરાત ભરના હજારો ગ્રામીણ પરિવારોને રોજે પીવાનુ પાણી કોણ પોહોંચાડે છે? હું લાંબી ડોક અને પહોળા ગળા વાળો ઍક ઘડો છું જેની પહોળી બેઠકને ખૂબ સુંદરતાથી જીજ્ઞા પોતાના કમર ઉપર ગોઠવીને, ખૂબ સાવચેતીથી ગામના કુવેથી ચાલતી આવે છે જેથી કરીને કલાકોની મહેનતથી ભરેલુ પાણી ઢળી ન જાય. જીજ્ઞા પોતાના માથે કુશળતાપૂર્વક ઍક બીજો તાંબાનો બેઠો ઘડો લઈ અને ખૂબ સહેજતાથી પોતાની સહેલીઓ જોડે ગીતો ગાતી અથવા વાતચીત કરતી આવે છે. મને ખબર છે કે જીજ્ઞા માટે આ બહુ અઘરૂ કાર્ય છે, ખાસ કરીને આવા પ્રચંડ ઉનાળાના મહિનાઓમા. ઘણા દિવસોએ તો પાણી ભરવા માટે તેણે પોતાની નિશાળ પણ પાડવી પડે છે પણ જીજ્ઞાએ ક્યારેય આ બાબતે ફરિયાદ નથી કરી."

- Ghada, a pot used for fetching water

- ઘડો,પાણી મેળવવા માટેનું વાસણ

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“Bhairav smiles as he looks at all the gleaming utensils he has just finished cleaning, using the water stored in me, the family’s Bhadarvo. Also called Goli because of my round shape, I came from the neighbouring village of Mithi Virdi in Saurashtra at the time of Bhairav’s marriage to Lakshmi. I have two solid brass rings on my sides with which Bhairav carries me outdoors to collect the first rainwater received in the month of Bhadarvo. His grandfather had shown him how to clean all the pots before Diwali with this sweet water so that they can stay bright for longer.”

"હું કુટુમ્બનો ભાદરવો છુ. ભૈરવ મારી અંદર ભરેલા પાણીમાથી ધોયેલા વાસણોને જોઈને મલકાતો હતો. મારા ગોળ આકારના કારણે ઘણી વખત મને ગોલી પણ કહેવાય છે. હું ભૈરવની પત્ની લક્ષ્મી જોડે સૌરાષ્ટ્રના પાડોશી ગામ મીઠી વિરડીથી આવ્યો છું. મારી ગોળ ફરતે બે મજબૂત કાંસાના કડા છે જેનાથી ઉચકીને ભૈરવ મને ભાદરવા મહિનાના પહેલા વરસાદ નુ પાણી ભરવા લઈ જાય છે. ભૈરવના દાદાએ તેણે દિવાળીમા મારી અંદર ભરેલા મીઠા પાણીથી વાસણ ધોતા શીખવાડયુ હતુ જેથી વાસણો લાંબા સમય સુધી ચોખ્ખા અને ચમકતા રહે."

- Bhadarvo, a pot for storing water

- ભદરવો,પાણી સંગ્રહ માટે એક વાસણ

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“Aman steps down from his trusted horse, and walks towards the small step well in the distance. As we descend the cool, intricately carved interior levels, Aman opens my wooden stopper and stoops low to fill me with water. He quenches his thirst and fills me again before continuing his journey under the hot sun. Made of cast brass parts, I have been hammered together by artisans in Kutch and Jaisalmer for centuries. My contemporary, the Mashaq, is made from leather and used for supplying water to small establishments and individuals by the Bhistis, a fast-disappearing community of professional water suppliers.”

"અમન તેના વિશ્વાસુ ઘોડા પરથી ઉતરીને થોડી દૂર આવેલ ઍક નાની વાવ તરફ ગયો. જેવા અમે વાવના શીતળ અને બારીક નકશીકામવાળા પગથિયા ઉતર્યા, અમને મારી લાકડાની ઠેસી ખોલી અને મારી અંદર પાણી ભરવા નમ્યો. પહેલા તો તેણે પોતાની તરસ છિપાવી અને તડકામા પરત ફરતા પહેલા ફરી એક વાર મને પાણીથી ભર્યુ. તાંબા અને કાંસાને ટિપ્પી ટિપ્પીને કચ્છ અને જેસલમેરના કારીગરો મને કેટલાય, સદીઓથી બનાવતા આવ્યા છે.મારા જેવુ જ બીજું પાત્ર મશક, બિશટી સમુદાય દ્વારા વપરાતી ચામડાની ઍક થેલી છે જેમા પાણી ભરી અને આ જળ વાહકો નાના નાના વેપારીઓ અને મુસાફરોને પાણી આપે છે. બિશટી જળ વાહકોની ઍક લુપ્ત થતો સમુદાય છે."

- Mashaq, a water container

- મશક, પાણીના વાસણ

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“Seema picked up the brass Doyo and carefully lowered it in the pot to fill up two glasses of water for the thirsty visitors. She then proceeded to light a lamp near the paniyaru, the sacred water space inside the house where I hang from a hook above the water storage pots. Just then, one of Seema’s small sons rushes in from the playing field, hot and thirsty, and tries to pull me down to draw out water for himself. But Seema stops him in time, “wash your hands first!” she explains. Seema’s home is one of the few left in their neighbourhood which still follows these traditions of respecting water.”

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"સીમાએ તાંબાનો ડોયો ધીમેથી ઘડામા નાખ્યો અને તરસ્યા મહેમાનો માટે પાણીના બે ગ્લાસ ભર્યા. પછી તેણે પાણિયારાપાસે એક દીવો પ્રગટાયો. પાણિયારુ એ ઘરમા પાણી ભરવાનુ એક નિશ્ચિત સ્થાન છે જ્યા પાણીના ઘડાઓની ઉપર હું એક ખીલ્લી પર લટકુ છુ. અચાનક સીમાનો નાનો છોકરો મેદાનમાથી રમીને ઘરે આવ્યો, તપેલા અને તરસ્યા એ છોકરાએ સીધો મને ખેંચ્યો અને પાણી ગ્લાસમા ભરવાનો પ્રયાસ કર્યો.પણ સીમાએ તરત તેને રોક્યો અને ટકોર કર્યો, "પહેલા હાથ ધોઈ આવ!" સીમાનુ ઘર ગામના ગણ્યા ગાંઠ્યા ઘરોમાથી છે જે હજુ પણ આવી પાણીનુ સમ્માન જાળવે છે."

“I spend most of my days dangling under a bullock cart watching shadows go by. Amina always fills the water pot up to the brim and then fits me in the mouth of the pot. I make sure not a drop of water spills out as we move along the dusty roads. Some days we don’t find a water source for many hours. Every hour, Amina pours water from the pot into me and lets her children sip. I am quite multifunctional, which is a good quality for a frequent traveller like me.”

"મારો મોટા ભાગે સમય બળદગાડા નીચે લટકી આવતા જતા પડછાયા ગણતા વીતે છે. અમીના પહેલા પાણીનો ઘડો છલો છલ ભારશે પછી મને તેના મોઢા પર બેસાડી દેશે. રેતીલા રસ્તાઓ ઉપર પાણીનુ એક ટીપુ પણ ઢોળાય નઈ તે જોવાનુ મારૂ કામ. કોઈક દિવસોએ કલાકો સુધી અમને પાણી ભરવાની કોઈ જગ્યા નથી મળતી. અમીના દર કલાકે મારી અંદર થોડુ પાણી કાઢે અને તેના બાળકોને પીવડાવે. હું એક વિવિધલક્ષી સાધન છુ અને પ્રવાસીઓ માટેતો એક દેન છુ."

- Bhaturo

- ભટૂરો

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“Kulin’s mother calls out to him while pouring the hot water into my belly. Made of tamba (copper), I am good at keeping the water warm, but if Kulin takes too long, I am going to give him a shock with cold water! Kulin’s grandmother bought me many years ago from a kansara (a community of pot makers) who turned and hammered me lovingly into shape with a wooden mallet. My ears are two graceful rings which make it easy to carry me. I am sure I will be around to bathe Kulin’s grandchildren as well. Did you know you can bathe in half the amount of water using a bucket as compared to a shower! ” -Tambakundi

"કુલિનની મમ્મી રોજે મારા પેટમાં ગરમ પાણી ભરતી વખતે તેને બોલાવતી. હું તંબામાંથી બનેલો છુ ઍટલે મને પાણી ગરમ રાખતા ઘણુ સારુ આવડે છે પણ જો કુલીને થોડુ મોડુ કર્યુ તો હું તેને ઠંડા પાણીનો ચમકારો આપવામાં રાહ નઈ જોઉ. કુલિનની દાદી મને વર્ષો પહેલા એક કંસારા (તાંબા અને કાંસાના ઘડા બનાવતુ એક સમુદાય) પાસેથી લાવ્યા હતા જેણે મને લાકડાની મોગરી અને એક સુડોળ આકાર આપ્યો હતો. મારા કાન બે ઉત્તમ કડા છે જ્યાથી મને ઉચકવામાં સહેલાઈ રહે છે. મને ભરોસો છે કે હું કુલિનના પૌત્રોને પણ નહાવડાવા હાજર રહીશ. શુ તમે જાણો છો કે ડોલમાં નાહવાથી ફુવારા કરતા અડધા પાણીમાજ નહીં શકો છો?" - તાંબાકુંડી

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“While we use this to warm water only, Rahman’s mother cooks food in it” said Alka pointing at me. Adding further, Alka said, “Rahman’s mother, Fatima, prefers this copper utensil called Deg to cook mouth watering rice dishes like pulav! My elder cousins, who are bigger in size and age, are used to cook delicious meals during the community celebrations. I love to be the cook’s favourite because I can capture heat within me for a long time which allows soft and even cooking offering richness of taste to the food. I am always hand-made you know!” - Deg, a cooking pot

"આપણે તો આમા માત્ર પાણી ગરમ કરીયે છે પણ રહેમાનના મમ્મીતો આમા રસોઈ પણ બનાવે છે" અલકાએ મારા તરફ હાથ કરીને કહ્યુ. તેણે કહ્યુ, "ફાતિમા, રહેમાનની મમ્મી દેગ નામનુ આ તાંબાનુ વાસણ વાપરે છે જેમા તેઓ પુલાવ જેવી ખૂબ સ્વાદિષ્ટ વાનગીઓ બનાવે છે." ઉમર અને માપમા મારા કરતા મોટા ભાઈઓ સમાજના મોટા પ્રસંગોની રસોઈમા વપરાય છે. મને રસોઇયાનુ મનગમતુ વાસણનુ ખિતાબ મળે છે કારણકે હૂ બહુજ લાંબા સમય સુધી ગરમ રહું છુ જેથી ખાવાનામા કુમળાશ રહે છે અને સ્વાદની અક્ષુનતા જળવાય છે. અને હા, મને હમેશા હાથેથી બનાવામા આવે છે!" - દેગ, રસોઈ વાસણ

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“ Hari and Gopal love milk. This white nectar is what makes their mornings and evenings so fascinating. Every day when their grandfather would clean me and take me to his favourite cow Bhuri , to fill me up with this warm foam-covered sea of whiteness and purity, both Hari and Gopal would wait with their gleaming eyes for this milk to touch their taste buds. I feel I am home to the source of life…milk. I feel proud to be called a Boghenu! Do you know that out of all the sources of milk, Goat milk has 88 percent water content and Sheep milk has of 80 percent of water content!” - Boghenu, a pot used for milking

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"હરી અને ગોપાલને દૂધ બહુજ ગમે છે. દિવસની શરૂઆત અને અંત આ સફેદ અમૃત સાથેજ થાય છે. દરરોજ જ્યારે તેમના દાદા મને સાફ કરી અને ભૂરી (તેમની મનપસંદ ગાય) પાસે આ ફિણ વાળુ સફેદ અમૃત ભરવા લઈ જાય, ત્યારે હરી અને ગોપાલની સ્વાદ સ્નાયુઓ તરત સક્રિય થઈ જતી. મને લાગે છે કે હું આ અમૃત રૂપી પ્રવાહીનુ ઘર છુ. મને ગર્વ છે કે હું ઍક બોઘણુ છુ. શુ તમને ખબર છે કે બકરીના દૂધમા 88% અને ઘેટુંના દૂધમા 80% પાણી હોય છે?" -બોઘેણું, દૂધ દોહવાનું વાસણ

DEVELOPMENT OF VISUALS AND PHOTOGRAPHS

Vishalla Restraunt

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Pot Category

Pot name

1. Collecting and Fetching pot (a. and b. together)(c. and d. together)

2. Storage pots

3. Carrying water

4. Serving pots

5. Utility vessels 6. Food Prepartion

Photograph size/type

Details(use)

a. A pot for fetching water

Full Panel (50"x 28")

A woman carrying the pot on waist

b. A pot for fetching and storing water

Full Panel (50" x 28")

A woman carrying the pot on head

c. Gagar (brass)

Full Panel (50 inch x28 inch)

A woman carrying a stack of gagar on head

d. Gagar (copper)

Full Panel (50 inch x28 inch)

A woman carrying a stack of gagar on head

e. Pot for fetching water and milk

Pot image (25x28 inch)

A man using the pot to collect milk while milking a cow

a. Bhadarvo

Full Panel (50 inch x28 inch)

A pot used to store water indoors

b. Charu

Half panel (25x28 inch)

Image of the pot

c. Kothi

Full Panel (50 inch x28 inch)

Kothi, a pot used to store grains

a. Mashak

Full Panel (50 inch x28 inch)

A travellers water carrier

b. Traveller water jar

Full Panel (50 inch x28 inch)

Form and function, process in multiple photographs

c. Water bag

Pot image (25x28 inch)

Image of the pot being used by a traveller

d. Surai

Half panel (25x28 inch)

Form and function, process in multiple photographs

a. Doyo

Half panel (25x28 inch)

Used for drawing out water from a pot, serving water

b. Kamandal

Full Panel (50 inch x28 inch)

Used to serve liquid items like kadhi to guests during meals

c. Toili

Half panel (25x28 inch)

Used to feed babies, tiny in size (size in relation to human hand)

d. Bhaturo

Half panel (25x28 inch)

Bhaturo is kept invertrd on the pot to cover the pot and draw small quantity of water from it for drinking purpose.

e. Lota

Full Panel (50 inch x28 inch)

Used for drinking water

a. Tambakundi

Half panel (25x28 inch)

Used as a bathing bucket

b. Badna

Half panel (25x28 inch)

Used for pouring water while the other person is washing his/her hands

a. Charu or Deg

Full Panel (50 inch x28 inch)

Used as a cooking vessel

b. Goli

Half panel (25x28 inch)

Used for churning buttermilk

c. Pressure cooker

Half panel (25x28 inch)

Used for cooking multiple items together by placing them in different containers inside the pressure cooker

d. Doghli

Half panel (25x28 inch)

Used for cooking food on chulha

e. Boghenu

Half panel (25x28 inch)

Used for milking cows

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Image

Props Required

Location of shoot

Time of shoot

Model

Dress - simple attire

outdoors

morning

Female , Non gujarati attire, simple dressing

Dress - simple attire

outdoors

morning

Female , Non gujarati attire, simple dressing

Face Jewellery, dupatta to cover head

museum + outdoors

morning

Female head,Non gujarati attire, simple dressing

Face Jewellery, dupatta to cover head

museum + outdoors

morning

Female head , Non gujarati attire, simple dressing

Cattle

cattle area

morning

male model holding the pot, simple attire

Water storage setup

???

evening

...

Face jewellery, dupatta

museum

evening

...

Grains , storage setup, other storage pots in background

indoor setup

evening

Gujarati lady , Female model cleaning grains in simple attire

traveller attire , potli (luggage)

outdoors

morning

Male, bishtis

Luggage, under the tree sort of setup

Restraunt area near museum turning

morning

male

museum

morning

â&#x20AC;Ś

museum

morning

male hands (anyone)

a pot to keepby its side , indoor kitchen setup

museum

evening

...

serving setup, thali, recipes on thali, and liquid recipe to be served

Vishalla Restraunt area

evening

server(male or female)

museum

evening

...

A pot to keep the bhaturo inverted on it

outdoors

evening

male drinking water outdoors

serving area at restraunt

morning

...

bathroom setup or outdoors

outdoors

morning

...

outdoors, restraunt area, hand wahing area

morning

...

other cooking utensils, vegetables , grains, wppd, chulha

Kitchen area , chulha

morning

...

handle to churn buttermilk

restrauant outdoors

morning

...

smaller vessels used to keep food inside the pressure cooker

mueum

morning

...

chulha, boiling water vapour, cloth to hold the pot

chulha area

evening

model - moving the pot from chulha to ground

cattle , fodder

cow shelter

morning

male model milking cow

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Image trials during the photoshoot 172 | Swarnika Nimje | Graduation Degree Project | National Institute of Design

Image trials during the photoshoot

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PANEL DIMENSIONS

Panel Dimensions - 7' x 4'2" The panels structures were provided from Vishalla as their contribution to the exhibition.

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Number of divisions - 2 Size of each part - 7' x 2'1"

Number of divisions - 3 Size of each part - 2'3" x 4'2" This size and orientation of the panel was finalised because : 1. It can be easily handled by one person. 2. It can be easily packed and transported. 3. It is easy to install and dismantle.

PANEL SAMPLING

Panel 1 - Image of the pots in while in use. Panel 2 - Water story of the pot (first person narration) Panel 3 - A water fact related to the context. For eg. The struggle that women face to fetch water for their family.

Panel 4 - Small description about other pots in the same category. eg. Gagar is another pot in fetching water category.

Panel -5 Image of the pot while in use.

Panel 6 - Combination of pot description and a water fact.

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TYPOGRAPHY

Open Sans*

Nirmala UI

Open Sans*

Nirmala UI

PT Serif

Nirmala UI

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Baloo Bhaina Regular

Pompiere Special Elite Regular Hind Vadodara

McLaren Happy Monkey Bungee Inline Arima Madurai Boogaloo Regular

Rasa

પાણી Nirmala UI

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FINAL OUTCOMES - I • Panels • Takeaways - "share water stories" • A touchscreen based game - "Guess the right vessel "

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Water stories as takeaway from the exhibition

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"CAN YOU GUESS THE RIGHT VESSEL?"

A touch screen based quiz game which is aimed at testing the learning and understanding of the form and function of the exhibited water related utensils.

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THE PROCESS : DEVELOPING A QUIZ GAME FOR THE YOUNGER AUDIENCE AT THE EXHIBITION Developing mediums of communication for youger audience at the exhibiton was a challenge. In order to understand their learning process, I delved deeper into understanding the tools that are used to teach them at school. While in a conversation with Mrs. Saptam Patel, I got a direction to got through the text books that are used in schools to teach kids. This helped me in two ways: 1. I became aware of the various tools that are used to communicate or teach children. For eg. storytelling, role playing, class activities, etc.

A chapter from a NCERT textbook.

2. The age group I should be majorly targeting sholud be children 9 -12 years of age. At this age similar concepts are taught to them in schools. It will be very easy for them to instantly relate to the subject and understand it.

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A chapter from a NCERT textbook.

VISUAL LANGUAGE FOR THE GAME

ADDITION OF ELEMENTS AFTER FIRST TESTING

The visual language is simple line drawings, which is similar to the language of the childrens book or text book.

1. A instructuion screen was added in the beginning of the game to guide the player. 2. A score screen was added at the end to provide a feedback of the players performance at the end.

INTERFACE FOR THE GAME The interface of the game is inspired from the "match the following" exercise that are a part of every text book. The player need to select the correct answer from the left column and match it with its other half in the right column.

First round of game testing at CHM.

The game has a 30 seconds timer for each question.

CODING : DEVELOPING THE BACK END OF THE GAME The back end (coding) of the game was developed by Shyam Patel, Shivam Patel and Harsh Doshi , students of Computer Science at Ahmedabad University. One of the screen added after first testing

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Game flow chart 194 | Swarnika Nimje | Graduation Degree Project | National Institute of Design