A one-day event that will be held at a soon-to-be demolished warehouse will bring together musicians, artists, sculptors, authors, designers and innovators

Pop goes the culture

A one-day event that will be held at a soon-to-be demolished warehouse will bring together musicians, artists, sculptors, authors, designers and innovators

Modelled around art fairs that are held in old factories in Cockatoo Island, Sydney, Mumbai will have it’s first pop-up museum held at an old Godrej warehouse in Vikhroli. The 60,000 square foot factory that will be demolished the next day, makes an unlikely venue for a day-long cultural fest. Parmesh Shahani, head Godrej India Culture Lab explains, “My colleagues pointed out this space that was going to be brought down soon and I thought it would make a great venue for artistes and performers to showcase their work. It offers a big space and is surrounded by greenery all around. It also plays with the concept of permanence and transience, as the premises will not exist the following day.” The event is also co-organised by theatre group Junoon, Visual Disobedience, and will feature performances by musicians such as Geetu Hinduja, Gaurang Shetty, Jahnvi Shrimankar, Trance and Beginner’s Luck. Visitors (anyone aged 13 years and above) can also check out the racing cars and robots by KJ Somaiya college, a fashion installation by Little Shilpa, hair sculpture by Adhuna Akhtar, readings by Prajna Desai, Amrita Choudhary, dances by Amrita Bagchi and much more. In fact while putting this project together, Parmesh says they realised they had much in-house talent as well. “We wanted to play with the idea of a museum and hence there’s a Godrej archive section with vintage typewriters. We also asked citizens to send in their memories. The idea was to have a mix of talents from different fields come together at a platform where they could share their work,” he adds. As for the location, he says, “We wanted to bring people to a different part of the city, as most cultural events are otherwise restricted to South Mumbai. We really hope to convert an old warehouse into something magical.”