Multipolis Mumbai: Museums and the City

Kruti Saraiya is a graphic designer/ typographer based in Mumbai. The focus of her practice has been to allow for a contemporary Indian design narrative to emerge to fill the gap between mtv kitsch and traditional Indian crafts. As a typographer, she sees her role in infusing context into letters and bringing the written word alive. Her strengths lie in working with scripts of Indian languages to create an equal space for them alongside English in urban India. Her commercial and experimental work celebrates the Indian aesthetic in a fusion of east and west. 'The key', she says, 'is to change our mindset from an either-or to an AND.’ Besides this her portfolio includes branding, packaging, editorial web and app design across verticals. Her client list includes Westland Publishing, Sula Wines, Rujuta Diwekar, Melange, Shiro, Hard Rock Café etc. She has been a speaker at the Indian Design Forum – IDF 2013 in Mumbai, the Behance Portfolio Review in Surat, a conference exploring ‘Design as a Global agent for social development’ in Amsterdam, the #Redefine conference by CII IWN MP in Bhopal and a panelist at the ‘Smart Cities, Art Cities’ summit in Mumbai. She has conducted several Typography workshops – ‘What’s Your Type’ at Dr. Bhau Daji Lad Museum and Type Talk at Design Day, to list a few. She was also a part of the core team to set up Design Museum Dharavi (2016) as the creative co-ordinator. Her work has also been published in International design magazines like Creative Review (UK) & Visible Language (USA) and on the online magazine – Desi Creative. She has also been interviewed for a podcast on Audiogyan about ‘Language and Typography’. She has exhibited in a group show ‘Pushpa Patha: The Flower Trail’ in gallery BMB, Mumbai. She graduated from the London School of Printing. She has worked with Rabia Gupta Designs, Mumbai and taught at Srishti School of Art, Design and Technology, Indian School of Design and Innovation (ISDI) and Ecole Intuit for several years. She currently has an independent design practice, works on projects for social change and conducts typography talks and workshops.

Avehi Menon is an Oral Historian and Museologist. Previously she was Curator at the Centre for Public History, Srishti School of Art, Design and Technology, Bengaluru where she created oral history archives for institutions such as the Indian Institute of Mathematical Science, the Economic and Political Weekly and the Indian Museum. She led public history projects including historical walks in Bengaluru that aim to make local history and culture participatory and accessible. Avehi contributed as a writer on an archival book, The Story of Sasha on a pioneering craft organization in Kolkata. She was vice president of the International Oral History Association from 2014 to 2016. A Chevening scholar, Avehi received a Masters in Museum Studies from the University of Leicester with a stint at the Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery. Avehi worked for ten years as a television producer, developing content for NDTV, Star Plus and others.

Choiti Ghosh is an Object Theatre practitioner, actor, puppeteer, singer, writer and the artistic director of Tram Arts Trust. Born into a family of theatre-wallahs, she was initiated early onto the stage. In 1998 she started her career as a theatre professional in children’s theatre, as a performer, facilitator and manager. She worked in alternative education with the well-known educationist Prof. A.K. Jalaluddin; besides performing with various theatre companies including Habib Tanvir’s Naya Theatre, Ashish Ghosh’s ANANT, Sunil Shanbag’s Arpana and various others. In 2004, Choiti was initiated into puppetry by Anurupa Roy's Katkatha Puppet Arts Trust and in 2010 into Object Theatre under the Belgian Object Theatre artiste Agnes Limbos at the Institut International de la Marionnette in Charleville Mezieres, France when she found herself hooked! Tram started the following year. Choiti has been an artist & researcher-in-residence at the Deutsches Forum fur Figurentheatre und Puppenspeilkunst at Bochum, Germany & at the Institut International de la Marionnette, Charleville Mezieres. She was the recipient of the Sahitya Rangabhoomi Vinod Doshi Fellowship in 2011 and the Ustad Bismillah Khan Yuva Puraskar, Sangeet Nataka Akademi for puppetry in 2015.

Dr. Tejas Garge, the present Director of the Directorate of Archaeology and Museums, Government of Maharashtra is working in the field of Archaeology and Heritage Management for past two decades. Specializing in Harappan Civilisation and Firearms, his other areas of interest are Museum and Exhibitions, Indian Art and Architecture Forts and Fortifications, Marine Archaeology, Heritage Management and Legislation. Dr. Garge completed his PhD from the Deccan College, Pune and PG diploma in Field Archaeology from Institute of Archaeology, New Delhi. He worked as Research Associate in Indian Archaeological Society, then in ASI as an Assistant Archaeologist from2003 and signed off as a Deputy Superintending Archaeologist in April 2017 in various parts of the country. He directed excavation at Koloshi, and participated many excavations of national importance. He was deputed to China as Curatorial Associate for International Exhibition - ‘Treasures of Ancient India’ and to Paul Getty Museum, LA, USA for an International Workshop on Buddhism. Dr. Garge has presented papers in various seminars and delivered talks. He is associated with various Universities as a resource person and visiting faculty. He is member of several academic Societies, the Governor of MMR Heritage Society and Trustee at CSMVS, Mumbai. He has authored 2 books, 7 joint monographs, 31 research papers and popular write-ups in newspapers as well as magazines in English and Marathi.