TAKE on art Magazine - January - June 2018

In this issue

Civilization and architecture are perhaps synonymous. As much as built architecture is a ubiquitous model to tame and direct space, air, and light in their most utilitarian sense, the lived qualities that it enables, such as the experience of natural phenomena, memory, history and the relationships it nurtures are what distinguish it. Yet, as Walter Benjamin suggests, it may not be possible to ‘get hold’ of a building, at least not in the way that it might be possible to get hold of a painting or a sculpture. But through photography, one might be able to get hold of architecture. While a physical building is owned and used, a photograph of it is able to isolate, define, interpret, exaggerate or even invent a cultural value for it. The cultural value of buildings is what we call ‘architecture’ and that it is inseparable from photography. Often, what we end up equating with the essence of the original structure is merely the quality of the photograph. However, as a publication, we are capable of generating discourse around architecture only through its representation — in words, images and sketches, and our focus on photography have been one way to remain self-aware of this symptom and limitation.
Excerpt from editorial by Bhavna Kakar, contributions from: Adwait Singh || Anushka Rajendran || Ashok Ferrey ||Asim Waqif || Avni Doshi || Bharath Ramamrutham || Bharti Lalwani || Bhavna Kakar ||Dayanita Singh || Devika Singh || Diwan Manna || Dominic Sansoni Fabien Charuau||Gunjan Gupta || Hera Büyüktaşçıyan || JJ Valaya || Madeleine Klett || Manisha Gera Baswani ||Martand Khosla || Mila Samdub || Nityan Unnikrishnan || Peter Nagy Premjish Achari || Radhika Chopra || Rahul Sharma || Rajeev Lochan || Randhir Singh || Rattanmol Singh Johal || Samar Jodha || Saryu Doshi || Shalmali Shetty || Shanay Jhaveri Sharmini Pereira || Shaunak Mahbubani || Shrinjita Biswas || Shrinkhla Sahai Sumesh Sharma || Skye Thomas || The Phantom Lady || Thukral and Tagra || Vir Kotak