From February 08 - 23, 2024, the STIR Gallery in New Delhi hosted an iteration of the travelling exhibition Good News: Women in Architecture, which was originally showcased at the MAXXI in Rome in December 2021. Promoted by the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation in collaboration with Fondazione MAXXI, the showcase as per the curatorial note "seeks to document and in some way repay, the contribution made by female designers, couples, female teams and collectives to the achievement and quality of modern and contemporary architecture in Italy." The Delhi edition, titled Buone Nuove: Women Changing Architecture presented a modular version of the host exhibition, supported by digitally printed architectural ephemera and video content that articulated the curatorial narrative in four chapters.

From voices of Lina Bo Bardi to Gae Aulenti, 97-year-old Phyllis Lambert who commissioned Mies van der Rohe to design the Seagram Building in 1954 to some of the most relevant figures on the current scene such as Maria Giuseppina Grasso Cannizzo—not leaving the emerging and young practitioners in the list—the architecture exhibition conveyed the essence of the words Buone Nuove, an Italian phrase that translates to 'Good News'. Describing why the title carries a certain significance in the curation, Pippo Ciorra, Senior Curator at the MAXXI Architettura and one of the three curators of the exhibition—alongside Elena Motisi and Elena Tinacci—told STIR, “Good News is important because in Italian it has a double meaning. It not only means good news but also something new and good.” With the idea of providing international audiences with a new and more inclusive point of view on architecture, the idea was to capture the inherent goodness in exploring stories, visions and narratives of women’s presence and contribution to the discipline.

One of the highlights of the Delhi edition of Buone Nuove was a talk organised on the concluding night of the showcase. A key aspect of the travelling exhibition is to establish a dialogue with local architects and allied creatives; Critical Practices was thus hosted along this intent as a panel discussion delving into what makes a practice critical in the societies we live in today. Curated and moderated by Mumbai-based writer and educator Kaiwan Mehta, among the speakers were Chitra Vishwanath (Founder, Biome Environmental Solutions, Bengaluru), Shimul Javeri Kadri (Principal, SJK Architects, Mumbai), Arpita Das (Editor, Independent Publisher), Paromita Vohra (Filmmaker, Writer), Andrea Anastasio (Director, Italian Embassy Cultural Centre, Delhi) and Pippo Ciorra.

Inspired by a pool of distinguished practices that the exhibition spotlights, the discussion centred on the inquiry of ‘what role does a practice play in the scenarios we occupy where cultural and political fields are undergoing challenges at unprecedented levels?’ “It is necessary that we see practice as a ground of action and not simply as a ground of production,” said Mehta, who emphasised that our everyday engagements in what we do lend themselves to what defines our practices. The hour-long discussion deliberated on themes of gender in practice, the role of individual particularities, interconnections, social biases, the value of slowness and sensitivity and stories of empathy, power and resolve.

One could sense the intertwining of narratives, as the exhibition also highlighted the stories of the presence of women in Italian architecture and voices unpacking gender equality in the architecture profession, illustrated through its four chapters—Stories of Italian women architects, Practices in Italy and Narratives and Visions. The set-up was composed of large white tables and vertical stands placed within the STIR Gallery’s central exhibition space. The tables, as per the curatorial note, were dedicated to articulating the evolution of women’s contribution to architecture in a chronological progression: 'from The pioneers of the discipline in Italy at the beginning of the 20th century, to L'age d’or of design—in which women architects rethought domestic space and furnishing elements in a modern and functional way—to the conquest of space outside the home to Designing in the context—historical, urban or natural—up to The new generations, which currently produce architecture of great quality.’ The vertical stands, on the other hand, showed the works of some most important international women architects in Italy which include Zaha Hadid (designer of MAXXI), Grafton Architects and SANAA (both with building projects for Bocconi University), and Elizabeth Diller’s Parco Romana in Milan. Integrated within the stands were digital presentations of interviews with relevant voices of pioneers such as Phyllis Lambert, long-standing scholars such as Mary McLeod or Beatriz Colomina, to young practitioners like Liz Ogbu and Manon Mollard. Another video-based project was embedded on the stands in which five videos dealt directly with gender issues in architecture today. “It’s important to see how the presence has changed. In the beginning, it was difficult for women to establish their role as designers in architecture. In our research, we found out that in the early times, it was easier for them to be critics and academics but by only growing, fighting and struggling they really made their space. One of the secret reasons for doing this show is that I want to acknowledge that a large percentage, maybe most of the young talents that are emerging from architecture in Italy and somehow in Europe are women,” shared Ciorra with STIR, during a walkthrough of the exhibition.

Navigating the themes of individual sensitivity, environmental issues and social and technical constraints, both the exhibition and the talk pegged on assimilating perspectives to help negotiate some of the difficult spaces that practitioners, particularly women are subjected to. While Vishwanath reminisced about her early years of relentless working despite the searing criticism that didn’t deem her practice as a practice of architecture, Javeri Kadri described the everyday rituals of her working space that add value and immense meaning to her women-oriented practice. Mehta pointed out how a lot of introspection has flown into Vishwanath’s practice despite her claiming she spent her early years being busy delivering a large number of projects unbridled by criticism. For Kadri, someone who he has known for many years, Mehta observed a slow sensitivity and the warmth of a democratic workspace culture as key traits of her practice.

Paromita Vohra described her journey as something that was spent "working while not really pausing to think, or thinking, as one worked and work becoming one’s thinking." The filmmaker emphasised the value of play and discussed how power works in unspoken ways. “When you are outside of a structure, you recognise the architecture of it,” she said, amplifying the contrarian voice that guided her to daringly thrive in her multifaceted work.

Arpita Das shared a frequently received comment on her Delhi-based independent publishing venture Yoda Press that deems it to be a "space without a focus". Leading a company of over 20 years of existence, the editor says she takes pride in pursuing an alternative to the mainstream and a practice that is rather intersectional and upholds nurturing relationships with authors even after a certain book has come out. Collaboration that involves real, honest and continuing conversations, she said, is key to the survival of a publishing setup such as hers.

Resonating deeply with the diverse stories and opinions, Anastasio reflected on the question of slowness and sensitivity, and how one brings meaning to one’s work, as put forth to him by Mehta. The designer looked back to a critical subconscious transition from his own life where a tendency of "running away from hustle and staying away from stillness" got replaced by savouring slowness in the rush. “It's not the quantity of things, it's the inner space that is generated to listen to others or what life is asking you, that makes all the difference. And I value that a lot,” he said while agreeing with Mehta that it’s the thinking cycle that produces what we are and the work that we do.

Suffusing some humour to the dialogue, Ciorra declared himself to be the bad guy who only produces under pressure. “The more pressure, the better production,” he said with a smile. As the evening grew darker, the distinguished voices and perspectives found a luminous alignment: of celebration of differences, diversity, sensitivity, and slow but steady conquest in obtaining meaning in the virtues and practices that sustain us. 

Watch the full conversation by clicking on the lead banner.

'Buone Nuove: Women in Architecture' is currently on view at the Italian Culture Institute in Berlin. From there, it will travel to Toronto Metropolitan University, and then to Montreal, UNAQ university.