Projection art hall in a heritage godown
A storehouse of art becomes a theatre.
Concept · in development, not yet built or bookable Concept · AIA spice godown in Kochi keeps its walls, its roof and the memory of the trade. Inside it, a freestanding hall is mapped on all six surfaces, and over a 24-minute loop it becomes Kerala’s art: the monsoon sweeping down the roof, mural compositions drawing themselves line by line, a salon of paintings in Raja Ravi Varma’s manner, today’s Kerala artists, one backwater painted four ways, and a flower carpet that blooms from the floor to the ridge. The show is wordless, so there is no language barrier.
What visitors experience
- 01
Monsoon on the roof
Rain sweeps down the gable and puddles ripple wherever someone steps: the first monsoon as the hall’s own season.
- 02
Murals that paint themselves
Kerala mural compositions appear as a painter works, red-ochre outline first, then the five colours of the tradition.
- 03
The Ravi Varma salon
A salon hang of paintings in Raja Ravi Varma’s manner, and one figure steps out of its frame. Works are made in the style, not reproduced.
- 04
The living collection
A chapter commissioned from Kerala’s contemporary artists, with their consent, that changes each season.
- 05
One backwater, four ways
The same view painted in turn as mural line, academic oil, modernist colour and now.
- 06
The flower-carpet finale
An Onam flower carpet grows from the floor, climbs the walls and closes over the ridge.
- 07
Two mirror rooms and the archive
Brass-lamp light reflected to infinity, a walk-in kaleidoscope of flower patterns, then a learning gallery about the collection and where to see the originals.
One story, start to finish
- 01
The godown doors open in projection: eyes adjust and phones go quiet
- 02
Twenty-four minutes in the hall, walking or seated on scattered cubes
- 03
The lamp room: brass-lamp light reflected to infinity
- 04
The kaleidoscope room: the photograph moment
- 05
The learning gallery: how the collection was digitised and where to see the originals
The technology and the space
- About 21 laser projectors mapping the floor, four walls and the gabled roof
- LiDAR floor tracking, so the floor answers footsteps and nothing records faces
- Spatial audio and a wordless show; captions in Malayalam, English and Hindi only in the learning gallery
- A curatorial advisory panel approves every animation, and living artists are commissioned with consent
- A 40 × 16 m godown with a freestanding 24 × 10 m inner shell under a 7 m ridge
- No fixings into the heritage fabric; a sealed shell with its own cooling and dehumidification
- Entry of 40 every 15 minutes, at most 80 in the hall
- Custodian, rights and heritage permissions come before anything else; the first sites to survey are the Fort Kochi and Mattancherry godowns
Planning figures from the concept design, not forecasts. Every dimension and capacity is confirmed by a site survey.
Ways to work together
No prices or revenue shares are set. Terms are agreed for each venue after a site survey and costing, and what will be measured is agreed before opening.
Host the projection art hall in a heritage godown.
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