Allied Design 2020-21
Mentor – Dipti Bhaindarkar
- Veeravali Vikram, Dipti Bhaindarkar
Participants: Aditya Panchal, Ankit Sharma, Avinash Jain, Bharvi Shetye, Darshan Dedhia, Dishita Galchat, Divya Vaidya, Diwakar Motwani, Divya Vaidya, Foram Shah, Janhavi Shinde, Kshitija Akre, Ninad Thatte, Nikunj Dedhia, Parth Solanki, Priyanka Neve, Rithik Mali, Ruchita Sarvaiya, Sanjana Habde, Vikram, Veeravalli, Yash Bhandari
A journey – the act of doing and engaging is many times preceded by the act of listing and structuring. This course began with a set of provocations – What are lists and itineraries? What are ranking and sequencing? How does one structure their understanding through these sets of lists and itineraries? How does one engage with information and structure?
Making lists and itineraries is often complementary to the experience and engagement and hence is often revealing. The world is perceived uniquely by an individual. And hence their observations, notations, annotations and experiences are going to be different from others. Each of these ways add new layers and complexities to existing systems.
An itinerary provides insight into the thought of an individual. It traces a process and paths to break experiences of a journey. Constructing one requires intuition and room for growth, both physically and mentally. It consists of various elements that are pieced together to form a cohesive set. They may exhibit adaptive, dynamic, goal-seeking resilient, self-preserving, evolutionary possibilities thus allowing each observer/reader to build their possible connections and smaller narratives.
In many instances, the journey is much more about the nuances of the in-betweens rather than the nodes or the actual instance. The course is premised on the argument that conscious itineraries may not only enhance journeys but also may provide valuable insights and reflections. This course explores possibilities of making such itineraries – not only as logistical instruments but also as philosophical tools. It opens up the idea of structured narratives, information visualization, categorization and alike. It attempts to move away from the structured logic of ranking and hierarchy to explore possibilities of establishing the nuances as the key nodes for an itinerary. Traditionally, the itinerary precedes the journey or is shaped throughout the duration of one. The course flips the idea to build an itinerary from a journey and hence explore various iterations of the same while breaking it down.
An itinerary is thus explored through the human body and its movements, through sensory perceptions and development of knowledge and skills. It becomes a constitution of place, narratives, stories, and the many relations between all the actors involved. It comprises bodily performances that include observing, monitoring, remembering, recollecting, repeating, listening, touching, walking, crouching and climbing. These performances thus buildup the individual’s experience through his/her emotions and journeys. An individual’s associative, non-linear, metaphorical and intuitive thinking can be stringed together as a reflection to this list/ itinerary.
Itineraries assemble disparate items into ordered classes of things thus curating the finer details of the enquiry. What is in a place that draws us in or repels us, that gets etched in memory or completely skips the mind, that can move someone to tears or leave one unfazed?
This course was an attempt to open up the idea of an individual’s journey of curiosities through the method of engaging with lists and itineraries. The method is then developed to focus on the nuances of the in-between and to relook at drawing as a format for itineraries. This course builds ten journeys by twenty students from the School of Environment and Architecture during their coursework for Itineraries Course in Allied Design for the year 2020-21.
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