Site Specific  I  Making Space  I  1After320, Delhi
2016
Black Paint on Wall

1After320, Delhi, an alternative space, invited me to use their space as a studio for three months as a part of their ‘Artist Process’ programme in 2016. The space had previously functioned as a storage area to keep artworks and still retained the characteristics. I approached this condition as an opportunity to think of the entire architecture as my canvas- not merely as a two-dimensional surface, but as a three-dimensional space that could be drawn into and engaged with. Dividing the entire area into two sections- one a multi-dimensional canvas for spatial intervention, and another as my thinking space. Titled ‘Making Space’, the project encompasses five different engagements with the architectural site, out of which the ‘Line Drawing’ depicted here was the first one. Developed as an exercise in understanding the poetics and spatial narrative of the space, the aforementioned site was transformed into a sketchbook page when viewed from a distance, and akin to a cardboard model when one physically enters it.

Since working with lines has been central to my practice, I began by looking closely at the existing lines within the architecture- its structural edges, corners, and composite elements, both fixed and temporary, all of which were highlighted with black paint. Through this act of simply outlining what was already visible, the solid concrete architecture began to lose its sense of permanence and appeared to be transfigured into something lighter and provisional, creating a strange confusion of materiality. The work explores how a minimal intervention can potentially and fundamentally alter our entire understanding and experience of how we perceive an architectural space.

Link to the project https://parulguptastudio.com/work/project-making-space/