Ever tried to make tiny origami crafts, only to mess up royally Pleat after pleat, we&rsquove ruined cranes, flowers, puppies, even simple boxes. We keep wondering whether increasing the size will help make it perfect. But soon, we&rsquoll be able to visit the Sunder Nursery in New Delhi for some gigantic inspiration.
The 90-acre park near Humayun&rsquos tomb will play host to a massive origami-style structure from January 30 to March 30, 2020. Titled The Song of the Earth and Sky, it will be a standalone pleated pavilion commissioned by the Gujral Foundation, a prominent art non-profit, to &lsquorespond&rsquo to the setting of Sunder Nursery. The first of a series of temporary public art projects, the pavilion will be created by architect and hexagram artist Ankon Mitra. He will be taking a leaf out of the arcade of Sunderwala Mahal (an early Mughal tomb) when creating the pavilion, and respond to it using origami forms. The pavilion will have dimensions of 4mx14mx4m and be built using mild steel arch frames and hand-folded sheets of aluminium. The base structure will be accentuated with a copper finish, pebbles, grass and LED lighting.
Once the installation is open for viewing, you can visit the Sunder Nursery on all days between 6.30am and 6pm.
&ldquoThis is an unprecedented opportunity, hopefully the beginning of an annual pavilion building project in New Delhi,&rdquo says Mitra &ldquo(one that is) comparable to the prestigious Serpentine Pavilion in London or the MoMA PS1 in New York.&rdquoThe curatorial advisor for the project is Reha Sodhi, who has experience in working with site-specific installations. Mitra is an award-winning origami pioneer, with work that is part of prestigious collections around the world.
With this inaugural installation, The Gujral Foundation &ldquoaims to examine the effect of design and architecture on cultural landscape as well as propose larger questions of the role of these within the spheres of nation building, ownership of public space, and sustainable futures&rdquo. The Foundation is associated with the Kochi-Muziris Biennale, My East is Your West (an event linked to the 56th Venice Biennale), the 11th Shanghai Biennale and the 8th Berlin Biennale, and was established by philanthropist and businesswoman Feroze Gujral.
