EDIT #4 An Idea of Space
Contemplative spaces, living inside a piece of art, freediving and more
Welcome to Edit #4 of ISLAND POST.
For those who just joined (nice to have you!): this is a mental escape in the form of a newsletter, in which I want to share bits of what I love: the stories of people I meet, unique places and design(ers) I encounter, tales of my travels, food, music, films and more. Delivered to your inbox monthly.
In this Edit: Experiencing space through inclusive architecture, a couple exploring how people live in a piece of art, a restaurant making space for mistakes, a chef bringing Indian flavours to Marseille and the fascinating world of freediving.
Francesca <3
STUDIO MUMBAI AT FONDATION CARTIER IN PARIS
I remember my first Studio Mumbai exhibition in 2017 and how it changed my understanding of architecture. Bijoy Jain founded the studio in 1995 when he returned to Mumbai after having lived and worked in the US. His architecture and approach almost stand in contrast to Mumbai’s emerging skyline that is all about modern skyscrapers and glass. It is integrating nature (the sun, the need for shade, the monsoon), how people actually live, the knowledge and skills that are rooted in local culture and materials that are available. He thereby takes on an experimental approach and a modern aesthetic lense. If you think about it, there are few countries with such stark divide between social classes coupled with a collective drive for innovation and aspiration to elevate one’s socioeconomic status. Through his architecture, Studio Mumbai encourages the upper classes to embrace local crafts and skills as a sign of quality and at the same time crafts an aesthetic that feels inclusive, with no line drawn between the architect and the artisan.
His current exhibition ‘Breath of an Architect’ takes place at Fondation Cartier in Paris. Among other installations, you’ll find somewhat of a mirror of his studio/workshop in Mumbai and will be looking at an accumulation of objects: jars of natural pigments, chunks of stones, sculptures, bamboo and so on. It’s a contemplative portrait of his work, that involves hours of manual labour by the artisans. His practice, as summarized by himself, fundamentally is about making and experiencing “a space of contemplation and calm, an invitation to slow time down”. This is a fantastic reason to spend a weekend in Paris. And if you can’t make it, here is a book about the exhibition.
FONDATION CARTIER exhibition
LIVING ARCHITECTURE BY BÊKA & LEMOINE
Ila Bêka and Louise Lemoine are two video artists, filmmakers, producers and publishers, best known for their ‘Living Architecture’ movie series that explores how people actually live and work ‘inside a piece of art’ - namely buildings designed by some of the most famous architects of our time. Their movies are very personal, intimate and funny, focusing less on the building itself but on how people experience it and the relationships shaped by and with it. Their movies became so cult that the MoMA acquired their entire work for its permanent collection. The latest is 'The Sense of Tuning’, an intimate portrait of an encounter with Bijoy Jain in Mumbai, So far, the movie can be viewed exclusively by the visitors of the exhibition, but soon will be available to watch on their website. In the meantime, you can watch their previous movies, for example “Koolhaas Houselife”, a movie about the famous ‘Bordeaux House’ built by Rem Koolhaas starring Guadalupe, the wonderful housekeeper. When I picture (or rather dream about) a housekeeper, she is it.
BÊKA & LEMOINE collection
L’ADRESSE A PARIS: A RESIDENCY PROGRAM FOR ASPIRING CHEFS
The chef-in-residence concept has really caught on (not to say hyped) in recent years. Fulgurances, l’Adresse in Paris was one of the first to do it. The restaurant focuses on residencies only, inviting current sous chefs who aspire to open their own restaurant and providing them with a space where they can be creative, test ideas, manage a team and make mistakes. It was founded back in 2015 by Rebecca Asthalter, Hugo Hivernat, and Sophie Cornibert. After seeing a lot of success, they opened another location in Brooklyn, NY, named Laundromat. Many of their previous residents have gone on to open their own restaurants.
CHEF ON THE MOVE ZURI CAMILLE DE SOUZA
My research into chef residencies started with Camille, whom I found out about from Numeroventi's residency program (mentioned in EDIT #2). She was born in Goa, to a father born in Nairobi and an Indian mother who lived in Trinidad and Zambia. She studied human ecology, focusing on the connection between people, nature, and sustainable food in cities. Her projects ranged from cooking in Palestine to developing community gardens in Greece, aiming to restore spaces of normality for refugees, before settling in Marseille. Feeling that Indian food was often misrepresented, in 2020, she opened a plant-based pop-up in Marseille to tell her story through food and showcase lesser-known Indian flavours. Our relationship with nature and how to keep traditions alive while evolving crafts are some of her central themes that she explores through her cooking. She's the first to win the Villa Medici chef residency in Florence, and interestingly, she's also a freediver.
ZURI CAMILLE DE SOUZA chef | ZURI CAMILLE DE SOUZA freediver
FREEDIVERS GUILLAUME NERY & JULIE GAULTIER
I find freediving to be one of the most fascinating at the same time terrifying sports. And be warned, you might get sucked into a tunnel after reading and watching this. I was. Also, after sharing a bunch of freediving videos with my friends, one of them got so hooked, she now wants to train to become a safety diver at competitions. Not quite my reaction when I think about the dark and what happens to the body under the insane pressure - I'm perfectly content watching videos from the sidelines.
Guillaume Nery is a world champion freediver. In his 2015 attempt to tackle the world record at the time and dive to 129m he ended up going down to 139m as a result of a mistake made by the organizers. He suffered severe lung damage and had to retire from competing. He however did not retire from freediving and together with his partner Julie Gautier, started capturing freediving in a new light. The couple shoots artistic underwater adventures , such as ‘One Breath Around The World’, a fascinating exploration of the vast space that is largely unseen (or quietly experienced) by humans. Nery can hold his breath for 7 minutes. In a TED talk he explores what happens to him in the absence of breath. How on one side it is about overcoming mental barriers but on the other side on how the mind becomes totally quiet. How it creates a profound connection with oneself and about the humbling feeling of becoming ‘a nothing lost in time and space’.
GUILLAUME NERY IG | JULIE GAUTIER Underwater Storyteller
(RE-)WATCH LE GRAND BLEU
Watch Luc Besson’s cult movie ‘Le Grand ‘Bleu’ starring Jean Reno, Jean-Marc Barr and Rosanna Arquette.