Square Foot Project and Reconstructing (White)3 at The LOFT, Mumbai

Originally a printing shed in an old mill, and utilized as an experimental art project space since 2008, THE LOFT at Lower Parel will, as part of 'The Square Foot Project', be restaged as a studio apartment for one year.

Commenting on this metamorphosis, Ahmedabad-based architect Anand Patel, who visualized the space at its inception says, “We are all voluntary prisoners of architecture in that we are perpetually inhabiting architecture in all and any of its manifested forms. Our minds are tuned to the map of architectural topography through which we navigate and guide our destinies."

"The volume of space will be used in its entirety to create a place which will function as a studio, residence and gallery space. Beyond the functional aspect I would strive to bring the audience closer to experiencing nuances of architecture like proximity, scale, haptics and kinesthesis (as opposed to clutter, claustrophobia, disarray). The "domestic space" will be pristine white, to let shadows dominate the depth of field. Lighting will play a crucial component as will the eclectic mix of furniture items."

In keeping with the re-invention of the physical space, the inaugural exhibition, having opened on May 23, 2012 is titled Reconstructing (White)3 and is curated by Himali Singh Soin. The show will include nine 1 x 1 x 1 white cubes, interpreted by some of the edgiest names from the Indian art world, including Hema Upadhyay, Mithu Sen, Abir Karmarkar, Prajakta Potnis, Gautam Bhatia, Zuleikha Chaudhari, Niyeti Chadha, Pranee Soi and Chittrovanu Mazumdar.

Utilizing the shell of the new ‘gallery’, Soi will address this paradox of space and its foldability. About the notion of The White Cube, she says: "You close your ears to the sirens outside and enter these little dream worlds of image and ideas. Time frees itself from clocks and their shadows. This is the White Cube: a delusion of neutrality, a systematic context, a modernist shroud for Absolute Art--a blank slate, a grid for the laying out of impulse."

"The show deconstructs this perfect cube--and reconstructs it--giving artists an important constraint: to create a work of art that exists inside--or leaks outside--a 1 x 1 x 1 white box fabricated from a material of their choice. Big things can be contained in little space, by improvising known formulas with 'home-made' idiosyncracies. We welcome you into The White Cube, a space to navigate the formulas we have learned, and perhaps, do away with them, resigning to the shapeless white of naiveté." As the gallery morphs from one interior space to another, this show turns the cube over.

(Image courtesy:  THE LOFT)