Mumbai. The BMW Guggenheim Lab Mumbai has concluded six weeks of free programs and projects exploring the urban challenges and conditions of the city. The Lab, which was presented in collaboration with the Dr. Bhau Daji Lad Museum, operated at six sites throughout the city from December 9, 2012 through January 20, 2013, making programming and participatory studies available to a diverse range of audiences and communities. 23,861 visitors of all ages engaged in 165 programs over 29 days, including design projects, surveys, tours, talks, workshops, and film screenings. Mumbai was the third stop for the mobile project, following presentations in New York and Berlin.

The Lab’s programs were conceived by Mumbai Lab Team members Aisha Dasgupta, Neville Mars, Trupti Amritwar Vaitla, and Héctor Zamora, together with Guggenheim curator David van der Leer and curatorial assistant Stephanie Kwai, and developed with locally based program consultants Swati Abhijit, Sourav Biswas, Vikram Doctor, Naresh Fernandes, Ammar Mahimwalla, Alisha Sadikot, Surabhi Sharma, and Pooja Warier, along with Paris-based program consultant Aaron Pereira.

“By taking the Lab out into the city to satellite locations in Mumbai’s Fort, Malabar Hill, Mulund East, and Mahim neighborhoods and the Batliboy Compound in Mazgoan, we have been able to engage with and learn from audiences of many backgrounds and viewpoints,” said David van der Leer, curator of the BMW Guggenheim Lab. “But our work in Mumbai is not over. Findings from the Mumbai Lab are currently being compiled, and we look forward to sharing them with the public in the coming months. In addition, some of our programs and projects are expected to have a life beyond the run of the Lab.”

Programs were designed for audiences of all ages and ranged from high-level stakeholder discussions on Mumbai’s urban design and policy issues in the “Meet in the Middle” series; exchanges between professional and informal practitioners in a variety of fields in the “Bridging” series; interactive events and hands-on activities for families in the “City Dreams” series presented by the Dr. Bhau Daji Lad Museum; accessible and entertaining explorations of important social and urban issues, such as women’s comfort and safety in social spaces, in the “Unwrapping Mumbai”series; and workshops and activities for children and senior citizens.

Several projects are designed to continue after the Lab closes, including a research project and a visual survey examining Mumbaikars’ perception of privacy and its relationship to public space. The results of the studies, which were developed in collaboration with Partners for Urban Knowledge, Action and Research (PUKAR) and the Design Cell at Kamla Raheja Vidyanidji Institute for Architecture and Environmental Studies (KRVIA), will be made available in the coming weeks.

Among the design proposals developed by the Lab is Landlink, a project that explores ways to refit existing water pipe infrastructure. In addition, an international design competition in collaboration with Mumbai Environmental and Social Network (MESN) and administered by Lord Cultural Resources was launched to reimagine the Kala Nagar Traffic Junction, one of the busiest transportation hubs in Mumbai. The competition drew submissions from several countries around the world, including the winning entries by the teams of Ms. Mayuri Sisodia and Mr. Kalpit Ashar, Ms. Sweta Parab and Mr. Hrishikesh More, and Ms. Radhika Mathur, in the professional category. Mr. Andres Perez and a team from Dr. D. Y. Patil College of Architecture – Ms. Shreesha Arondekar, Ms. Gargi Thakur, Ms. Pooja Kudale, Ms. Anaya Patil, Ms. Snehal Sonawane, Ms. Asmita Rai and Ms. Sayali Potnis, were honored in the student category. Select elements of the winning entries will be considered by Mumbai Metropolitan Region Redevelopment Authority (MMRDA), one of Mumbai’s main city agencies overseeing the revamping of the Kala Nagar Traffic Junction, for implementation in the coming years.

“We are pleased to have collaborated on this extraordinary project, encouraged dialogue, and brought together new ideas for Mumbai,” said Tasneem Mehta, Managing Trustee and Honorary Director, Dr. Bhau Daji Lad Museum. “The BMW Guggenheim Lab has made an invaluable contribution to this city and, through their ideas and involvement, the people of Mumbai have made an invaluable contribution to the Lab. We look forward to continuing the important conversations we have begun, as the Lab continues its global journey.”

The physical structure for the Mumbai Lab, designed by Tokyo-based Architects Atelier Bow-Wow, working with Mumbai-based firm SDM Architects, will remain after the Lab’s run in Mumbai. An L-shaped structure made primarily of bamboo for the plaza at the Dr. Bhau Daji Lad Museum in the city’s Byculla neighborhood will stay at the museum and be used as an informal gathering space for visitors.

Major themes that emerged in Mumbai as well as in Berlin and New York will be explored in an exhibition at the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum in New York City this fall. Further details on the exhibition will be announced in the coming months.

About the BMW Guggenheim Lab

The BMW Guggenheim Lab is a co-initiative of the Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation and the BMW Group. The BMW Guggenheim Lab is curated by David van der Leer and Maria Nicanor of the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum. The project’s blog, Lab | Log, features interviews with BMW Guggenheim Lab contributors and includes coverage of the Lab’s activities. The public is invited to join the BMW Guggenheim Lab’s dedicated social communities on Twitter (@BMWGuggLab and #BGLab), Facebook, YouTube, Flickr, and Foursquare, and to subscribe to the Lab's e-newsletter for the latest project updates.

For complete press materials, go to bmwguggenheimlab.org/presskits
For publicity images, go to bmwguggenheimlab.org/pressimages
For publicity videos, go to bmwguggenheimlab.org/pressvideos
User ID = photoservice, Password = presspass

About BMW’s Cultural Commitment

For more than 40 years now, the BMW Group has initiated and engaged in over 100 cultural cooperations worldwide. The company places the main focus of its long-term commitment on modern and contemporary art, jazz and classical music as well as architecture and design. In 1972, three large-scale paintings were created by the artist Gerhard Richter specifically for the foyer of the BMW Group's Munich headquarters. Since then, artists such as Andy Warhol, Roy Lichtenstein, Olafur Eliasson, Jeff Koons, Zubin Metha, Daniel Barenboim and Anna Netrebko have co-operated with BMW. The company has also commissioned famous architects such as Karl Schwanzer, Zaha Hadid and Coop Himmelb(l)au to design important corporate buildings and plants. In 2011, the BMW Guggenheim Lab, a global initiative of the Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation, the Guggenheim Museum and the BMW Group celebrated its world premiere in New York. The BMW Group takes absolute creative freedom in all the cultural activities it is involved in for granted – as this is just as essential for groundbreaking artistic work as it is for major innovations in a successful business.

Further information: www.bmwgroup.com/culture and www.bmwgroup.com/culture/overview 

The BMW Group

The BMW Group is one of the most successful manufacturers of automobiles and motorcycles in the world with its BMW, MINI, Husqvarna Motorcycles and Rolls-Royce brands. As a global company, the BMW Group operates 29 production and assembly facilities in 14 countries and has a global sales network in more than 140 countries.

In 2012, the BMW Group sold about 1.85 million cars and more than 117,000 motorcycles worldwide. The profit before tax for the financial year 2011 was euro 7.38 billion on revenues amounting to euro 68.82 billion. At 31 December 2011, the BMW Group had a workforce of approximately 100,000 employees.

The success of the BMW Group has always been built on long-term thinking and responsible action. The company has therefore established ecological and social sustainability throughout the value chain, comprehensive product responsibility and a clear commitment to conserving resources as an integral part of its strategy. As a result of its efforts, the BMW Group has been ranked industry leader in the Dow Jones Sustainability Indexes for the last eight years.

www.bmwgroup.com

Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/BMWGroup

Twitter: http://twitter.com/BMWGroup

YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/BMWGroupview

Google+: http://googleplus.bmwgroup.com

For questions please contact: 

Dr. Thomas Girst

BMW Group Corporate and Intergovernmental Affairs

Head of Cultural Engagement

Telephone: +49 89-382-24753, Fax: +49 89-382-10881

Leonie Laskowski

BMW Group Corporate and Intergovernmental Affairs

Cultural Engagement

Telephone: +49 89-382-45382, Fax: +49 89-382-10881