Category: Digressions

Expectations, Anxieties, Discoveries & Disappointments

Digressions, Participants, Siddharth Singh

Closure Review Feedback

Photographs: Sukhmani Brar, Siddharth Singh, Abhinav Pandey & Ketki Bhaskar Reviews: Kindness, Curiosity & Conversations In my engagement with the regular academic processes of interior design & architecture since the beginning of 2019, I have been emphasising on the use of the term ‘review’ instead of the prevalent ‘jury.’ Architectural pedagogy has for long adhered to a counter-productive closure of studio processes in the form … Continue reading Closure Review Feedback

Siddharth Singh
Digressions, Participants, Reflections, Siddharth Singh

The Creative Self and the Burden of Inadequacy

The reason most of us intertwine our identities with our work is because of catharsis. In the isolated individualism of the industrial and post-industrial societies, work happens to be our closest continual companion: weathering our grief, joy, exuberance and turmoil with us. A personification of this companion leads us to get infatuated or fall in love or get obsessed with our work, which we see as a reflection and image of ourselves. This condition is perpetuated by the pairing of hard work with success. Perhaps the expression of our deepest emotions in the stories, characters and situations of the pre-industrial context led to a catharsis of release. Today, however, we find ourselves unable to let go of this companion and catharsis has become a trap rather than a release. Continue reading The Creative Self and the Burden of Inadequacy

Siddharth Singh
Digressions, Participants, Reflections, Siddharth Singh

Design Pedagogy for a Place for Performance

This program carries a dual ambition made acute by the circumstances triggered by the pandemic: 1. Designing a place for performance2. Facilitating the design process through multidisciplinary engagements The realisation of both ambitions demands attention to the common constituent ecology of emotions and their embodiment within the self as well as with others. The process began with the application itself: preparing the participants for the … Continue reading Design Pedagogy for a Place for Performance

Siddharth Singh
Digressions, Participants, Reflections, Siddharth Singh

Summarising Phase-1

Working continuously online, without even sporadic occasions of sharing space tends to make us take for granted our accountability to the others that we work with. Online we also seem to miss out on opportunities of inspiration and improvisation, which otherwise could be readily available when we witness each other’s processes in person.  Continue reading Summarising Phase-1

Siddharth Singh
Digressions, Siddharth Singh

Surviving Covid

Perhaps the experience of this program would not be complete without catching the dreadful disease. How can one really talk about creating a place for performance amidst the pandemic without having suffered Covid oneself? The mishap was inevitable and always on the radar. As early as February, when the third wave was ebbing, there was a forecast of the fourth wave coming in around June and July. There couldn’t have been a foolproof way of scheduling the program to avoid a wave or chance infections. We had to work with an intuitive and unspoken preparation of dealing with it, if and when it hit. Neither can I munch on whether I should have been hit earlier or later. Either could have jeopardised the program more than it has now. We have made a decent beginning and completed the first phase; I also managed to initiate some embodied processes for the residency leg of the program. It’s only that about ten days of our in-person engagements have been taken away. So, it seems that the best time for both the good as well as the bad is now. Continue reading Surviving Covid

Siddharth Singh
Digressions, Siddharth Singh

Coordinator/ Facilitator’s Preparation

The four and half months – between approaching IFA with my proposal in August '21 and receiving the wonderful news of their acceptance in January '21 – involved intermittent yet elaborate exchanges with their panel of experts. Responding to the chain of questions, mediated through Program Officer John Xavier, helped me immensely in understanding and articulating what I was embarking upon. Following are excerpts of the said exchange.
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by Siddharth Singh Continue reading Coordinator/ Facilitator’s Preparation

Siddharth Singh