Eternal Gandhi
DISMANTLE ALL BOUNDARIES
National Gallery of Modern Art, Mumbai, 2006
Eternal Gandhi
National Gallery of Modern Art, Mumbai, 2006
Eternal Gandhi
DISMANTLE ALL BOUNDARIES
Winner
ID Magazine Design Award,
New York
2002
Eternal Gandhi
Winner
ID Magazine Design Award,
New York
2002
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Creative Spirituality, Technology, Culture & Design
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The World of
RANJIT MAKKUNI
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The Unity Pillar installation focuses exploration into collaborative interfaces.
It requires people to hold hands to light up a pillar symbolizing the destruction of caste prejudices and social in justice. Here the computer has totally disappeared and people themselves have become the interface, touching each other, touching loving, human hands, not objects, dissolving the skins of their otherwise separate bodies into a single, unified collaborative body.
Eternal Gandhi
National Gallery of Modern Art, Mumbai, 2006
DISMANTLE ALL BOUNDARIES
Against the rapid rise of infrastructure building activity and urbanization in Asia, which has resulted in a exponential degradation of people’s health and environment, the Planet Health museum project commits to the urgent documentation of traditional Green Worldviews, Ayurveda and Yoga, indigenous systems of medicine and therapies, so that traditional knowledge, which has been ubiquitously available and passed down across many generations, remains forever free.
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Say No!
to
Toxic computing!!
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World's first walk-up
Health Dictionary!
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The Betrayal of the IT Revolution
For those of us who have missed the IT revolution, consider yourselves lucky,
we may not have missed a thing!
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Abstract
When the original vision of the Dynabook (later to become the laptop) was conceived by Alan Kay's team at Xerox PARC in the 1980s, computational tools were envisioned as a medium for creativity and leisure. Indeed the first slides of the Dynabook showed people freeing themselves from the shackles of their offices, lying in sprawling natural landscapes, pursuing their artistic creativity.
Nearly 50 years later, that vision had become a nightmare, with deep impacts on the society: at levels of connection, health, psychological well being, and, deep questions to privacy and fundamental freedoms and 'Truth' loom and await answers.
THE BETRAYAL of the IT REVOLUTION
Ranjit Makkuni
Talk at WSIS conference, Geneva, 2018
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The Crossing project, a multimedia exhibition shown across the world, was and still is a pioneering effort to unite the finest and the noblest in Indian tradition with the then, nascent multimedia and mobile computing technology.
The focus of the project was to create a unique idiom of Indian modernity where none of the streams of knowledge, technology or tradition were at variance, but integrated in a harmonious semblance. It is in this consciously innovated fusion that Banaras gets represented in a unique way, and the project becomes an important cultural preservation tool and a learning tool for audiences.
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Asia Society Museum,
New York, 2002
OK Center for the Arts,
Linz, Austria, 2002
National Gallery of Modern Art, Mumbai
Habitat Center, New Delhi
Indian Institute of Science, Bengaluru
India, 2001/2
National Gallery, Bangkok, 2005
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THE CROSSING PROJECT
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Winner
ID magazine
Design award, New York,
2002
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Ars electronica, Austria,
2002
Intellectual Traditions of Banaras
Throughout the centuries literature and cities have shared a special symbiotic relationship. Modern metropolitan cities carry the complexity and tension of modern life. The creativity they inspire bears a special genre of literature of discontent and tension conflict and existential angst. In comparison Kashi, Banaras, the ancient city of enlightenment, revels in a generative environment of traditional learning. As early as the 7th century B C, the sacred city became the focal point of increased intellectual and spiritual activity. And since then, has flourished as one of the greatest centers of traditional learning and of established theological and philosophical discourse.
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From Makkuni. R., and Khanna, M., "Banaras: The Crossing Project," Sacred Word Foundation, 2002.
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The Eternal Gandhi Multimedia Museum, one of the world’s first digital multimedia museums is located at Gandhi Smriti, New Delhi the site where Mahatma attained martyrdom, it not only preserves the historical events of Gandhiji’s life, but presents a spectrum of information technology visions inspired by Gandhian thought.
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Spiritually, the project was situated against the backdrop of globalization, polarization of communities, a growing urban-rural divide, rapid urbanization, and the degradation of hand-based skills and village-based art forms.
Winner
ID Magazine Design Award,
New York
2002
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See
Gandhian messages
animating
Product Design!
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Museum @ Gandhi Smriti and Darshan Samiti, i.e., at the site of Gandhiji's martyrdom.
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The Musical Landscapes and the Goddesses of Music exhibition, at the National Museum, New Delhi, in 2013, presented advances in interactive art through an exploration of the science, art and spirituality of music, and their reflections in the goddess images across Asian cultures.
The project represents one of the world’s first explorations showing the relationship between the sacred feminine and music.
Musical Landscapes &
the Goddesses of Music
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National Gallery of Modern Art
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Opening
In an era of rapid technology provoked changes, and an age of information anxiety, this exhibition shows healing alternatives of re-‘centering’ available in the practice of traditional music.
Newly designed musical instruments in the exhibition allow people to ‘tune in’ and recharge to brace for an environment of relentless technological change.
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Asian Art Museum,
San Francisco, 1989.
THE ELECTRONIC SKETCH BOOK OF TIBETAN THANGKA PAINTING
World's First Multimedia Learning system of any kind
At PARC, during 1985-7, my work explored visual, kinesthetic gestures as a means to interact with computers, and these gestural interfaces served as a way to humanize the then popular button pushing paradigm of interactions with computers. As early as 1985, I built a system in which one could wave a gesture on the screen and the computer would ‘understand’ what the gesture meant and translate it into parameters for the design of, say, a Tibetan deity.
Remember that these were designed in a period when the screen was text based. Gradually, my work added video representations on the screen and the Electronic Sketch Book of Thangka painting project developed one of the world’s first ‘multimedia leaning system of any kind.
Intellectual Traditions of Banaras
Throughout the centuries literature and cities have shared a special symbiotic relationship. Modern metropolitan cities carry the complexity and tension of modern life. The creativity they inspire bears a special genre of literature of discontent and tension conflict and existential angst. In comparison Kashi, Banaras, the ancient city of enlightenment, revels in a generative environment of traditional learning. As early as the 7th century B C, the sacred city became the focal point of increased intellectual and spiritual activity. And since then, has flourished as one of the greatest centers of traditional learning and of established theological and philosophical discourse.
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From Makkuni. R., and Khanna, M., "Banaras: The Crossing Project," Sacred Word Foundation, 2002.
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Classical Sitar Music
In parallel to his work in technology and design, Ranjit Makkuni is a Sitar virtuoso, and was emerging as as a rising star in the Indian classical music scene in the early 2000s before his design works on new museums consumed him entirely.
Having studied under the maestro Ustad Ali Akbar Khan, Ranjit carries jewels of composition from bygone eras. His early years spent on guitar allow him a unique modern musical style yet grounded in deep classicism.
His geometric compositions, Intricate fret work, cross rhythms produce deep exhilarating energies, and the audience is transported beyond the realms of “here and now” to higher states of consciousness. He has been interested in the connection between sound structures and visualisation structures found in Tantra Yoga.
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In addition to his visual works which focus on both abstraction and ornamentation, Ranjit has been searching for correspondences between scales and visual abstractions, especially looking at how how higher energies can communicate with human beings through economy and abstraction in music.
The Mahamaya Experience is a project from sitar player and composer Ranjit “Mahamaya” Makkuni. In a modern world that encourages instant gratification and constant stimulus, Mahamaya’s compositions offer ‘pause’ for transcendence. By fusing ancient musical traditions with a psychedelic mindset inspired by 1960’s musical styles, these compositions encourage the listener to unplug from the never ending stimulus of digital life and focus on finding their harmony in and with the universe.
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JP WIlson.
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People’s principal experience with living, work and creativity in modern, urban centric society is through interacting with metallic, plastic and glass surfaces, the outer forms of modern workstations and mobile devices, and software that enslave people with more and more automation and mechanized interactions.
If the forms associated with people’s work practice were derived from and based on forms which signify fullness and wholeness, the feminine forms of womb as fertile resource of creativity, this could lead to a resurgence of feminine values. If the forms were derived from natural organic materials, then interactions with new designs can create healing and transformative experiences!
World as Woman
Making the case for a theory of Feminine Design
Feminine Forms
Design for De-stress
Lying hidden in the practice of the world’s traditional art forms are the time-tested secrets of well-being.
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Over the past decade, people have been prone to deep physiological and psychological stresses induced by a 24/7, ‘always on’ culture of clutter and distraction, remaining addicted to ‘updates’ with no breaks for calm and solitude. As such, change has become the constant today, whereas traditional music practices, especially those from Asia, have, in contrast, illustrated examples of melodic and rhythmic technologies that have remained stable for thousands of years. They were handed down as collective inheritances that allow everyone to experience peace, calm and well-being.
Huggable Lotus installation anticipates stress levels of people and accordingly plays back calming melodies.
Design
Art
Well Being
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Detoxify Computing
hardware now!
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Laxmi and the Art of Happiness
The project attempts to bring together orthogonal dimensions of visualizing a rich human experience and economics: reconciling the spiritual, psychological and scientific dimensions of economics. The project presents interpretation and speculation on people’s aspiration for wealth and self-esteem, their vulnerability and liberation by means of a multimedia exhibition.
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Information devices' DESIGN,
MULTIMEDIA &
Cultural Computing
Legacy of Tech Firsts
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The body of work – from Banaras, Gandhi, Health to Goddesses – present a creative vision of Asian traditional cultures where cultural forms symbiotically meet and embrace futuristic technologies in a celebration of originality. The works speak to a new generation of innovations at the ‘edge’, lying ahead of the curve, originating from non-western nations, and a new generation of interactive art which brings the dimensions of touch, essential to the practice of traditional arts, hand based creativity, well-being and livelihoods, into the design of modern technology.
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Centeredness for the 'HIGH EGO'
professional
Up until now, we have been looking at how, through the strength of our ego, the designer's ego, we make and have made changes and contributions to the world.
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But, the designers' and change makers' contributions comes at a huge mental cost, at the level of their mental health, self esteem, the constant need for reaffirmation, --just think of the the downward spirals that could occur when clients abandon them. All of this success comes at the cost of spoiling relationships at home, and more.
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With the widening awareness of our blessings, comes an awareness of compassion for all. But before offering compassion for all, designers need to be compassionate to themselves!
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So the question is, how do we ensure that the 'deep self' in high ego professions gets replenished and nourished and not depleted? We need to learn how to balance the craving for non stop innovation with the corresponding investment in 'self' replenishment, compassion for the self and for all.
The project presents both traditional and new instruments based on
the Indian sitar, Burmese saung harp, Thai xylophone, Korean kayagum, Chinese guzheng and pipa, Vietnamese dan tranh, Javanese and Balinese gamelan, chanting, and others. New instruments with embedded computation demonstrate interactions through gesture, touch, pull, movement, gaze and kinesthetic action. Through responsive computing, people by their position, gesture, and movements in physical space control musical events in the exhibition environment.
Winner A Award, Design Italy
Musical Landscapes @
National Museum, New Delhi
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Lessons learned:
Gandhian
Thought, Technology &
Product Design
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ETERNAL GANDHI MULTIMEDIA MUSEUM
Gandhi Smriti, New Delhi, 2005
The Eternal Gandhi Multimedia Museum is one of the world’s first digital multimedia museums. Physically located at the site where Mahatma Gandhi attained martyrdom, it not only preserves the historical events of Gandhiji’s life but presents a spectrum of information technology visions inspired by Gandhian thought.
The project presents a language of physical interface actions derived from classical symbols of the spinning wheel, turning of the prayer wheels, touching symbolic pillars, the act of hands touching sacred objects, collaboratively constructed quilts, sacred chanting in the collective group, the satsanga, and the touching and rotating of prayer beads.
These tradition based interactions inspire a rich panorama of tactile interfaces that allow people to access the multimedia imagery and multidimensional mind of Gandhiji. The technology developed does not ‘merely scan’ Gandhian images. It extrapolates Gandhian ideals to newer domains of information technology and product design and, at higher levels, the creation of meaning in a globalized world. For example, the Gandhian commitment to hand-based production and its symbiotic relationship with nature is interpreted in the context of modern culture-conscious design.
Freedom from Digital Entrapment
Ranjit Makkuni
WSIS forum presentation, March 25 2022.
Ranjit Makkuni, multimedia artist, designer, researcher, song writer and musician will take the panel through some of his multimedia works which show bridges between technology and the humanities, and will look at ways in which we, as designers, can reduce the ‘entrapment’ facing participants of the digital society!
His works campaign for the design of a humanized technology, at the levels of user interfaces and device design, web architecture and media design, with the goal of creating health & wellbeing for technology users.
With the impacts that globalization economics have had on the environment in developing economies, at the larger level, the goal is to allow mankind to become rooted in the commitment to ecological awareness, in order to leave future generations with an abundant Mother Earth, especially as the world today lies at the cusp of irreversible environmental degradation.
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Bringing the world's first Multimedia documentation systems to India, circa 1990s.
THE GITA-GOVINDA EXPERIENCE
Indira Gandhi National Center for the Arts, 1997
The Gita-Govinda is a 12th century erotic-spiritual love poem expressed in the traditional ‘multi’-media of painting, music and dance, which have been developed in Indian culture for over eight centuries. The form of the exhibit (as a collection of multimedia kiosks) mirrors the interrelations among multiple dimensions and media of the Gita-Govinda. In order to understand the ‘whole’ of the poem, people travel from one kiosk to another exploring interconnections between the media of text, visual image, song and dance performance.
This project brought the footprints of multimedia computing to India (1993-7).
Mahamaya as Lens
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Mahamaya, the eternal trickster, is not just the mirage of existence, but the very lens through which we view our world. Like a pair of prescription glasses, she is an indispensable part of our existence, and to reflect upon her is to gaze not just at the spectacle of life, but also at the very instrument that brings the play into focus.
Reflections on Mahamaya
is an intricate exploration of the Goddess Mahamaya, weaving together themes of illusion, love, and the human experience. The exhibition invites viewers to engage with Mahamaya not only as a deity but as a transformative force that challenges perceptions of reality and self.
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The narrative opens with Conversations between Goddess Mahamaya and a Musician, establishing a dialogue that underscores the interplay between art and spirituality. This conversation sets the stage for the Mahamaya Experience Exhibition, highlighting how artistic expressions can bridge cultural divides and awaken a deeper connection to nature in an increasingly digital world.
Central to the text is the concept of Mahamaya as Illusion, where the Goddess embodies both nurturing and deceptive qualities. The exploration of outer conquests and domination reveals how societal identities often mask deeper truths, while sections like Liberation Through Illusion and The Dilemma of the Monk delve into the struggle for inner peace amidst external chaos.
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Mahamaya's teachings extend into various realms, including love, ego, attachment, and urbanity. The exhibition also addresses contemporary issues such as privacy in a digital age, environmental degradation, and the psychological impacts of modern life.
As the narrative unfolds, readers encounter reflections on Dopamine, exploring its role in shaping desires and behaviors, alongside discussions on mindfulness and education that critique the separation of knowledge from ethics. The exhibition culminates in profound insights about community, connection, and the importance of embracing slowness in a fast-paced world orchestrated by Mahamaya.
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