Le Corbusier and French style have long been synonymous with City Beautiful. However, if one was to dig a little deeper, there emerges a Polish connection—one that lives on in bits and pieces. The Chandigarh Art Gallery and Museum, Sector 10, celebrated the connection as an august team from Poland and Chandigarh looked back at the journey of the Polish architect Maciej Nowicki with an exhibition titled “Humanist Modernity: The Unbuilt Chandigarh of Maciej Nowicki”.
The exhibition showcases the life and works of Nowicki, whose visionary ideas contributed to the early planning of Chandigarh alongside American planner Albert Mayer in 1949. Through original drawings, master plans and archival material, the exhibition presents Nowicki’s unbuilt vision of Chandigarh centred on climate-sensitive planning, green spaces and community-oriented urban design.
What could have been a lesson on architecture was effectively turned into an entertaining evening with a short film highlighting Nowicki’s vision for Chandigarh. The six-minute teaser of the still-in-the-making documentary provided plenty of insight into the person that Nowicki was. And the inputs came from talking heads like eminent architect SD Sharma, Rajnish Wattas and Rajiv Lochan among others.
While Sharma commented on the “Indian-ness” in Nowicki’s designs, Wattas commented on the sketches of a temple Nowicki had visualised. The temple exists in the original form in Sector 23.
Piotr Antoni Switalski, Head of Mission, Embassy of the Republic of Poland in New Delhi, said Nowicki’s designs inspired generations of architects and reflected a deep sensitivity towards human values, culture and the environment. He observed that had Nowicki continued his work on Chandigarh, elements inspired by the philosophy of the Bhagavad Gita may also have found expression in the city’s architectural vision.
“Chandigarh might have had taken a different shape had Nowicki not met with an untimely demise, though traces of his vision can still be seen in Le Corbusier’s designs,” summed up Syed Abid Rasheed Shah, Secretary Tourism, Chandigarh Administration. It was a though echoed by all the speakers, both on screen and on stage.
The highlight of the evening was a live musical performance by a Polish singer Michal Rudas, who enthralled the gathering with his Hindi, Polish and Punjabi songs.
Organised by the Government Museum and Art Gallery, Chandigarh, in collaboration with the Polish Institute, New Delhi, and the National Institute of Architecture and Urban Planning, Warsaw, Poland, the exhibition was inaugurated by the UT Chief Secretary Rajesh Prasad.
Present on the occasion were Malgorzata Wejsis-Golebiak, Polish Institute, New Delhi; Isha Kamboj, Director Tourism; Dr Sangeeta Bagga, Principal, Chandigarh College of Architecture; and other distinguished guests from Poland.
The exhibition will remain open for public viewing till July 15 from 10 am to 4.30 pm.
