BUILDINGS AS IDEAS: THE UN-BUILT WORK OF CHARLES CORREA

Ex3.1

Date: 15 March – 14 May 2016
Venue: Gallery MMB, Goethe-Institut / Max Mueller Bhavan, Mumbai

Curator: Nondita Correa Mehrotra

Curatorial note:
Charles Correa’s built projects are recognized for their ingenuity and conceptual clarity. However, a collection of his unbuilt work: competition entries, commissions and public projects, are rich repositories of his ideas and occupy a significant portion of his oeuvre. This un-built work, though less well-known, contributed significantly to the clarity of his thought and design. Here we saw the seminal idea intact, unhindered by the pragmatic force of the building process. The exhibition highlighted these unbuilt projects, through the drawings and sketches of Charles Correa’s archive.

The intent of the exhibition was to present the body of Charles Correa’s unbuilt projects in a way that illuminated important continuities in his thought, bringing into focus key lineages, while keeping his prolific career in the background of the narrative. Within a broader timeline of his work and career, the exhibition positioned the unbuilt projects that are crucial milestones in the development and articulation of his concerns and issues right from housing to planning, and culture to politics.