As part of an initiative to address urban infrastructure and planning issues all across the world, the BMW Guggenheim laboratory will be present in Mumbai from 9th December 2012 to 20th January 2013. It is a mobile lab that has been started from the Guggenheim museum in New York, so that innovative ideas can be used in everyday urban life. In India, Mumbai has been chosen since it has a large population, with a mixture of myriad cultures.
The Mumbai lab's main site will be located at Bhau Daji Lad Museum, and it will be travelling across several locations in the city. At the museum, the programmes are to be presented from 3 pm to 9 pm (Thursday to Monday), and other activities are to be held from 5-9 pm in different parts of the city. Programmes at the labs will be present in six different series- some of which will be professional, and others would be entertaining.
Commenting on the great initiative, Mumbai lab's curator said, “The most important outcome of the BMW Guggenheim Lab is for people to begin thinking about and discussing their urban environments. We want to inspire forward-thinking approaches to city life through the engagement and participation of the public and large, not just experts, city leaders and officials.”
BMW Guggenheim aims to address the major challenge faced by bigger cities that is balancing between individual (ME) and community (WE) interests. After New York and Berlin, Mumbai is the 3rd city in the world where this laboratory has been sent.
Design projects, participatory studies, tours, walks and film screenings are part of this programme. City tours would help individuals to understand the psychological basis of crowding in public spaces. Interestingly, design projects would include opportunities to design de-congestion plans for traffic in Mumbai.
