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Journalism of Courage
It’s a showcase that strives to share with a broader audience from across the world, the treasure and marvel that Chandigarh boasts of — Nek Chand’s Rock Garden. On May 25, at the 15th Venice Architecture Biennale Exhibition, one of the most prestigious events in the world, the Rock Garden, its various dimensions, aspects of creations, elements, as envisioned and created by Nek Chand, will be presented at a site at the biennale. The idea and effort is to give visitors from across the world the feeling of being present in the Rock Garden and also understand the effort and philosophy of the Rock Garden and its unique concept.
Anuj Saini, Nek Chand’s son, and other members of Society for the Maintenance and Development of Rock Garden, Chandigarh, are neck-deep in work to make an impact, so that visitors can have an actual experience of being in the Rock Garden. “That’s why the various elements we are creating cannot be restricted to one style and medium, but have to be a combination of various elements,” says Saini, who has prepared the entire design for the showcase, and is working on 3D slides to show the artistic concepts, and Nek Chand’s half-finished work.
Saini has been invited by Alejandro Aravena, a Chilean architect and director of the Architecture Biennale, to ‘bring’ Rock Garden to Venice. In his letter to Saini, Aravena writes how visiting Chandigarh a few years ago was a pilgrimage for him as an architect, and being in the Rock Garden one of the most remarkable experiences of his professional life. Aravena says that as the curator of the biennale, his effort is to look for practices and projects that are exemplary cases and have improved the quality of the built environment, and what better example than the Rock Garden of Chandigarh.
Saini says the showcase will prominently display the important works of Le Corbusier, an introduction to the city of Chandigarh and its legendary architect. As part of the site, visitors will find a large map of Chandigarh, depicting the division of the city in sectors as planned by the architect, as well as models of the buildings designed by Corbusier. Other important places of Chandigarh will be shown for visitors to understand its exceptional layout.
“Slides on the works and landscaping of Corbusier will be shown through a projector, and we are using various mediums and materials for the work, including fibre glass, which is light,” says Saini, adding that a wall of waste plastic drums will be made which will be painted in cement colour to give it a concrete look, like the one surrounding the Rock Garden here. A cave will be created with the same drums, along with landscaping, as an entrance to the display site in Vienna, along with a waterfall representing the one in the Rock Garden, Chandigarh, along with the swings that are part of the Rock Garden.
“Everything will be created using waste material, tiles, slate, thermocol. We will put up a wall of wooden particle planks, with waste ceramic tiles to create a spectators’ gallery, where visitors can watch a 20-minute film on the life of Nek Chand and the Rock Garden, and we hope to dub it in Italian as well,” says Saini, looking forward to the experience of taking Rock Garden to the world.
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