At the much-awaited South Asian premiere of the Architecture and Design Film Festival (ADFF) at the National Centre for the Performing Arts, Mumbai, the intersections of design and cinema will offer a plurality of ways to engage with the various creative fields. From January 10-12, 2025, at ADFF:STIR Mumbai, a selected list of international films is set to be screened alongside a comprehensive curatorial programme which will ensure tangible ways to engender dialogue between audiences, practitioners and enthusiasts alike, along with the intangibility of the realm of storytelling. Apart from a novel talks programme that invites participation and site-specific pavilions and installations that navigate through Frames of Reference, intimate conversations and moments of surprise are bridged in the Special Projects planned for the design festival, insisting on modes of participation beyond the passive. Of the Special Projects slated to be showcased at the event, Chromacosm, a special collaboration between New York-based architect Suchi Reddy and Asian Paints, plunges viewers into a three-dimensional world of unending colour.

The immersive installation by Reddy is envisioned as part of the launch of Asian Paints' initiative of creating “the world’s largest architectural colour system”. Described by Reddy as “an experiential journey through the cosmos of colour”, the project invites viewers into a metaphorical world full of riotous colour. Chromacosm, also the name for the extensive colour system, claims to “revolutionise the way architects, designers and industry professionals engage with colour”, as Asian Paints states in an official release. The company explains how the colour library, featuring over 5300 colours that the installation is pivoted on, was derived from over a decade of careful research and documentation of colour in India through photography, oral storytelling and film, drawing inspiration from our traditions of craftsmanship and everyday life.

Partnering with Reddy, the project harnesses her studio Reddymade’s exploration of innovative materials and inclination towards formal experimentation in their designs. Reddy’s concern with the human-centric dimension of design—also vital to Asian Paints’ brand ethos—turns into an installation that syncopates an infinite universe of colours into a three-dimensional void.

A forest of black reeds faces the viewer. Deceptive in its introverted form, the darkness gives way to a cosmos of colours as one steps inside the space. While it appears black on the outside, from within, the space opens up to reveal the colours that are a part of the recently launched library. The surprising opening out of the darkness into a multiplicity—of hues, forms and experiences associated with every colour—is meant to be a material exploration of what happens when spectral associations of colour are formed. The immensity of black contains every colour within it that turns to a brilliant white when treated with light. Similarly, variegated pixels make up images on our screens, only to fade to a uniform black. In between these dual perspectives, the installation construes a somewhat surreal world, in part inspired by ancient tantric paintings, as Reddy explains.

Through the tangible refractions presented in Reddy's design, Asian Paints showcases how the colour library presents a unified and accessible repository for the design industry. By using a combination of algorithmic and visual methods, the system offers a nuanced understanding of the possible choices within a colour family, streamlining the decision-making process for designers and ensuring that the final selection aligns closely with their vision.

The special project is, as Reddy affirms, "an ode to dimensional colour". Expanding on her poetic vision for the installation, she notes, “‘Chromacosm' looks at multitudes, diversities and experiences that split our world and bring it back together.” Multitudinous perspectives, multiple colours, plural conversations, encounters and stories coalesce in the space of the installation at ADFF:STIR Mumbai. Through the possibilities of Chromacosm, Reddy opens out avenues for dialogue and a reminder that there is always a cosmos within the mundane.

For more information, visit the ADFF:STIR Mumbai website for key highlights of the festival, including the 20+ films, 10 cinematic pavilions, special projects the ~log(ue) programme, media and press coverage and more. Stay tuned and keep an eye out for ADFF:STIR Mumbai 2026.