Mohile Parikh Center for the Visual Arts

The Mohile Parikh Center for the Contemporary (MPCC), will screen two documentaries on Italian architecture and design on September 30, 2009 at 6.00 pm at the Little Theatre of the National Centre for the Performing Arts in Mumbai. Free passes are available at the Mohile Parikh Center.

Summary: A series of portraits from which comes out the wealth of meanings of the term design, which avoids any definition that claims to be univocal and conclusive. The author’s story has been collected in video interviews which are filled with spontaneity and immediacy of the conversation, in which the expression of experiences, reflections and considerations about life and work of planning is free flowing.

Achille Castiglioni (Architect): Achille Castiglioni was a renowned industrial designer. He was often inspired by everyday things and made use of ordinary materials. He uses the minimal amount of materials while creating forms with a maximum effect.

In 1982 Castiglioni created the cutlery design called “Dry” for Alessi, Alessi’s first cutlery line and a seminal product. The design was something of a reaction to the over-formalist, over-functionalist decades of particularly Scandinavian design. Castiglioni’s method, to have “a constant and consistent way of designing, not a style” led him to help create new products to restore Italy’s quality of life in the post-war years and to innovate upon the household object.The New York’s Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) has his most important designs in its permanent collection.

Richard Sapper (Designer): Richard Sapper is a German industrial designer located in Milan, Italy. He has received numerous international design awards, including 10 prestigious Compasso d’Oro industrial design awards, the first being in 1959, and 15 of his products are in New York’s Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) as a permanent collection.

In 1980 he became the IBM corporate industrial design consultant and began designing portable computers, including the first ThinkPad 700C in 1992 and follow-on models such as ThinkPad 770. Sapper continues today to influence the iconic ThinkPad brand as design consultant to Lenovo after it acquired the IBM PC Division in May 2005.

The Mohile Parikh Center for the Contemporary (MPCC), will screen two documentaries on Italian architecture and design on August 13, 2009 at 6.00 pm at the Little Theatre of the National Centre for the Performing Arts in Mumbai. Free passes are available at the Mohile Parikh Center.

Summary: A series of portraits from which comes out the wealth of meanings of the term design, which avoids any definition that claims to be univocal and conclusive. The author’s story has been collected in video interviews which are filled with spontaneity and immediacy of the conversation, in which the expression of experiences, reflections and considerations about life and work of planning is free flowing.

Andrea Branzi (Architect): Branzi was born in Florence, where he also graduated in architecture. Currently he lives and works in Milan, Italy. His work and interests relate to industrial design, architecture, urban planning, and cultural promotion. He also works as a professor of industrial design at the Politecnico di Milano University.

Ettore Sottsass (Designer): One of the most significant counter-forces to modernism in the history of design, Ettore Sottsass made monumental artistic contributions to every decade since 1945. His remarkable career produced a provocative body of work, including architecture, furniture, industrial design, glass, ceramics, painting, photography and a wealth of writings. With this work he intellectually and aesthetically challenged the conventional wisdom of forms and proportions for over 65 years.

Sottsass was continually driven by a personal search for a new language of modern design. His rigorous pursuits led to the creation of such groundbreaking movements as radical design, anti-design, post-modernist architecture, and the founding of Memphis in the early 1980s.

The Mohile Parikh Center for the Contemporary (MPCC), will screen the film Arthur C. Clarke - The Man who saw the Future (Documentary) directed by Philip Smith on June 25, 2009 at 6.00 pm at the Little Theatre of the National Centre for the Performing Arts in Mumbai. Free passes are available at the Mohile Parikh Center.

Arthur C. Clarke has been hailed as ‘one of the true geniuses of our time’. His novel, 2001: A Space Odyssey, was one of the greatest space adventures ever written, and the film of the book won Clarke and director Stanley Kubrick cult status. A one-man think tank, Clarke is listened to by the United Nations, US Congress, Microsoft and NASA.

In a rare interview from his tropical paradise home in Sri Lanka, he talks about his life, from his upbringing in rural Somerset in England, to the writing of his latest best-seller, 3001: The Final Odyssey. This is a unique profile, amply illustrated by specially-filmed extracts, CBS coverage of the Apollo moon landing and exclusive behind-the-scenes footage of 2001.

We will host a film screening titled Art 21: Art in the Twenty-First Century on June 19, 2009 at 6.00pm at the Little Theatre of the National Centre for the Performing Arts. This program is organized in association with Art, Resources and Teaching, Bangalore.

Art: 21–Art in the Twenty-First Century is a series that focuses exclusively on contemporary visual art and artists in the United States. Fascinating and intimate footage allows the viewer to observe the artists at work, watch their process as they transform inspiration into art, and hear their thoughts as they grapple with the physical and visual challenges of achieving their artistic visions. Art:21 takes viewers into the artists’ lives, unfiltered, for a rare encounter with the creative process in action and an exciting opportunity to hear what cutting-edge artists are thinking about as they work.

Place & Contemporary Art

How does contemporary art address the idea of place? How do artists working today reveal and question commonly held assumptions about land, home, and national identity? The Art:21 documentary “Place” explores these questions through the work of Laurie Anderson, Richard Serra, Sally Mann, Barry McGee, Margaret Kilgallen, and Pepón Osorio.

Consumption & Contemporary Art

How does contemporary art address the idea of consumption? How do artists question commonly held assumptions about commerce, mass media, and consumer society? The Art:21 documentary “Consumption” explores these questions through the work of the artists Barabra Kruger, Michael Ray Charles, Matthew Barney, Andrea Zittel, and Mel Chin.

The Mohile Parikh Center for the Contemporary (MPCC), will screen the film Man on Wire (Documentary) directed by James Marsh on April 2, 2009 at 6.00 pm at the Little Theatre of the National Centre for the Performing Arts in Mumbai. Free passes are available at the Mohile Parikh Center.

On August 7, 1974 a young Frenchman named Philippe Petit stepped out on a wire illegally rigged between the New York World Trade Center’s twin towers. After dancing for nearly an hour on the wire, he was arrested, taken for psychological evaluation, and brought to jail before he was finally released. This extraordinary documentary incorporates Petit’s personal footage to show how he overcame seemingly insurmountable challenges to achieve the artistic crime of the century.

The Mohile Parikh Center for the Contemporary (MPCC), will screen the film God, the Universe and Everything Else (Documentary) on March 5, 2009 at 6.00 pm at the Little Theatre of the National Centre for the Performing Arts in Mumbai. Free passes are available at the Mohile Parikh Center.

God, the Universe & Everything Else (1988) is an educational colloquium, attempting to uncover a grand unified theory of the laws that govern the universe. This enlightening program delves deep into topics such as the Big Bang Theory, the expansion of the universe, black holes, extraterrestrial life and the origins of creativity. This gathering of perhaps the three greatest scientific minds of our time, gives the viewer a unique opportunity to share their thought provocative insights.

Stephen Hawking is a British theoretical physicist who has dedicated much of his life to probing the laws of time and space described by Einstein’s Theory of Relativity.

Carl Sagan was an American astronomer who played a major role in the development of the American space program, as well as his contributions to planetary science and his acclaimed television series, Cosmos.

Arthur C. Clarke is a British author, most famous for the science fiction classic, 2001: A Space Odyssey, and his optimistic vision for mankind exploring the galaxy.

We will host a film Screening and discussion titled Ateliers of Love - A Journey of Poets, Painters, Patrons directed by Harsha V. Dehejia on February 5, 2009 at 6.30pm at the Little Theatre of the National Centre for the Performing Arts. This program is free and open to all and a interactive discussion will follow with the director after the screening.

The Mohile Parikh Center for the Contemporary (MPCC), will screen the film Sketches of Frank Gehry (Documentary) directed by Sydney Pollack on January 22, 2009 at 6.00 pm at the Little Theatre of the National Centre for the Performing Arts in Mumbai. Free passes are available at the Mohile Parikh Center.

We will screen three films on the artists Georgia O’ Keeffe, Mona Hatoum and Anish Kapoor on December 26, 2008 at 6.00 pm at the Little Theatre of the National Centre for the Performing Arts in Mumbai. The program is free and open to all.

1) Georgia O’ Keefe- A Life in Art (15 mins)

2) Mona Hatoum (26 mins)

3) Anish Kapoor (29 mins)

The Mohile Parikh Center for the Contemporary (MPCC), will screen the film Russian Ark (Drama) on December 11, 2008 at 6.00 pm at the Little Theatre of the National Centre for the Performing Arts in Mumbai. Free passes are available at the Mohile Parikh Center.