"Exploring the evolution of cities from ancient roots to present complexities, this project envisions the future through the lens of bamboo, a material often overlooked. Challenging stereotypes, it seeks to redefine bamboo's potential, offering eco-friendly alternatives for futuristic architecture. Aiming to inspire architects and reshape perceptions, the project propels bamboo into a forefront of innovative construction solutions."

The city-dwellers themselves always felt “advanced” and always had a high opinion of themselves. It was in the cities that culture moved forward most rapidly and it was there that new and supposedly better ways originated. The city dwellers even controlled the development of the language and used it to praise themselves.

Through most of history, city dwellers were a small minority of humanity, and considered themselves as elite. About three hundred years ago, however, cities began to grow as more and more people flocked into them. Cities are still growing, more rapidly than ever and they have changed greatly in the process. The opportunities in cities, the excitement and the problems have increased enormously. Now more than half the people in the world live in cities. What will life be like in future cities?

The cities of the future are already taking shape. How will they look? Will they have mile-high buildings cutting into the sky or will cities blowup? Will new houses look like their predecessors built centuries ago? Technology and artificial intelligence have already started affecting man. We are trying to look at possibilities and speculating on the material and the art of bamboo. Is itself realization or collective conscience?

What would your dream city look like?

Many artists have asked themselves this question. Some have started building their dream cities from their personal experiences and attachments.

Bamboo is one of the most widely used building materials in the world, but mainly by poor people. It’s labeled as ‘poor man`s wood’ and as soon as the poor people have enough money they will build a house of steel and concrete.

The aim of the project is to transform the bad reputation of bamboo and inspire people and architects by showing this fascinating material which is suited for making futuristic modern architecture.

The rising global concern is pointing to bamboo as one of the most environment friendly building materials and a critical resource as it is very efficient in isolating carbon and helps in reduction of Green House gas emissions. When forest cover is fast depleting and availability of wood is increasingly becoming scarce, bamboo could be a viable substitute of wood.

With the rising need of housing, buildings and roads, the country requires a variety of alternate building materials and construction systems and advancements in bamboo technology could offer several cost effective and environment friendly options.

Like the bamboo plant the artworks perhaps are rhizomatically interconnected. It started with the artist thinking about the city, his immediate neighborhood and their own collective art space -‘Chander Haat’ and finally about their own journey.

Participating Artist:
Bhabatosh Sutar, Nirmal Malick, Prasun Ghosh, Mallika Das Sutar, Sujata Mukherjee, Raju Sarkar, Pintu Sikder, Pradip Das, Smita Das, Suvro Ranjan Das, Samar Barik, Arpita Das, Ayan Saha, Dhiman Sutar, Avik Das.