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“Civilization is based on water. It is an ever-changing world, a culture that constantly ebbs and flows. Air, light and water are our basic structures. Man and nature, nature and man are inseparable.” said Bijoy Jain, founder of award-winning Studio in Mumbai, India. His exhibition “The Breath of the Architect” at the Fondation Cartier in Paris, which runs until April 21, 2024, demonstrates a deep concern for the relationship between man and nature, in which time and gesture are key elements. The exhibition explores art, architecture and materials, and transforms Jean Nouvel’s iconic building into a contemplative space. At the suggestion of Hervé Chandès, curator of the general exhibition and artistic director of the Fondation Cartier, Jayne also invited Chinese painter Hu Liu and Turkish-born Danish ceramicist Aleph Ebzi Alev Ebüzziya Siesbye presents their works together, creating a dialogue with his creations. I sat down with Jain to delve deeper into his program, which invites me to breathe, wander in tranquility and rediscover silence.
How do you feel about hosting the exhibition “The Architect’s Breath” at the Fondation Cartier?
What I felt after spending three weeks putting it all together was a feeling of hope. I would like to thank the Fondation Cartier, all those involved in the production of this exhibition and my collaborators who have worked together to build hope. This idea of breathing, not just my breathing as an architect, but our collective breathing as something we can build. The space to breathe is a space of vulnerability, but it is also a space of resilience and strength. So for me, the beauty of seeing and being with it is that even in the midst of everything around us, in the midst of all the noise and conflict, there is a sense of hope that can be lived, in the midst of , in the space of hope, there is still something in human nature. and beautiful. I think this is what our breathing feels like. I discovered and learned so much throughout this journey to achieve this wonderful collaboration. It was a wonderful experience, the things that were exchanged, the conversations that were had, the sheer generosity of Jean Nouvel towards this place, this absolutely wonderful structure because it’s not just a building, it’s a place that was conceived as this Something that brings vitality to a city. In and out, between city, garden and forest. So it’s such an honor to have the opportunity to be here.
What does the red line in Kalyani’s abstract water painting on the floor symbolize?
It can be blue. We chose red because I like the color red in this particular case. It’s okay to like something that day, it doesn’t have to have a symbol. But red and white also have this idea of, over time, when you look at it through different cultures, fertile space, fertility, it’s male and female. It’s embedded in the idea of a very primordial primordial substance, and this very primordial nature is symbolically painted in the two colors of white and red that, I think, you would see universally in all civilizations in South America or the Far East This, or for that matter, even in Europe, you see this over and over again and you may see it in different shades, but this is certainly the color that comes closest to representing this. This is grounding. I think this symbol came very late, it wasn’t the beginning. As long as red brings a sense of pure pleasure, that’s enough. And then whatever it brings to mind, you can make up enough stories about it, which is great, but there’s a choice to be made.
Tell me about the devotional sculptural element of Naza Battu or the “Guardian of the Evil Eye” located at the entrance.
There are sentries, not even gatekeepers, they are columns, markers marking east, west, north and south, indicating the direction, grounding the sky, they can also be defensive, they are more protectors. They become a larger protective structure of space, but you can look at it from another angle because if you turn it upside down, it’s also a kind of protection, not necessarily looking inward but looking outward because you do Experience it from the outside, so use Paris as a mirror reflection within. They become things that sit or stand on the threshold. They are more like thresholds.
The bird sculpture hanging in the center of the room is an iconic figure from the Surpa Sutra associated with the architecture of fire altars in Vedic religions. What does it represent?
This is actually a series of mathematical numbers that make up a geometric figure. That particular symbol was the fire altar, which was the map they used to draw a city, plan a city, or plan a civilization. It predates Euclidean geometry, so that’s exactly what it is. This is not an invention, but something that goes back a long time. That was the first thing we hung in the space as a marker and then everything was measured from that spot, although there were many times when I wanted to take it out and relocate it. After going around in a circle, we came back and found that it was the resting place. So it’s a mathematical map, they’re like fractals. It embeds geometry in a mapped manner.
How would you describe the monument of tazia carried on the shoulders of Shiite Muslims during processions shown in the exhibition?
I call it a floating structure. They are about celebrating our spiritual sense of something, rather than being spiritual. So for me, I imagine them as floating cities, like a big zeppelin, or parts of a zeppelin. The idea is that these things are like floating structures that can rise into the sky. This is my intention in how I explain this source and what you can do with it, so they are not rooted in what is listed here. It’s just the nomenclature from which they come.
What are your current projects?
We are building a winery in the south of France and it will be ready this year. A residence in Chennai will also be completed in a few months. A house and music space on the ground floor of Williamsburg, Brooklyn.Not started yet, but spa in Japan. The last Greek island, on Kastellorizo, we are building several houses. They are very diverse. I often forget how many projects there are. There are not many projects. But I guess, for me, because they’re all rooted in the same space, they’re just expressions of different places. I have just completed a house in northern Italy. I want to have my own bronze foundry soon so that I can work with bronze as I want to work with fire as a material in Mumbai. I have a studio in Milan, but I want to travel less and move around less. Having a studio somewhere requires me to be there for a period of time, not unlike what I’m doing here, like I’m in my studio for three weeks, working every day. For three weeks, every day has been from 8:30 am to 8:30 pm.
Do you specifically limit the number of projects you work on so as not to spread yourself too thin?
I will use my energy well. So whatever it is that allows me to make the most of my energy, I’d love to be a part of. It’s not about quantity or size, it’s about how the energy is harnessed and what its potential produces. I think that’s really what I strive for.
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