Conceptualized by principal architect Akshat Bhatt in creative collaboration with fashion designer Amit Aggarwal, ‘Parade of Souls’ is a pop-up installation in a gallery in New Delhi, that celebrates the launch of the globally acclaimed fabric brand Jakob Schlaepfer in India. A celebrated name in bespoke and custom-made textiles and fabric, Schlaepfer’s incredibly transformative oeuvre of work led to the idea for the installation: the ‘Parade of Souls’ – a reflection of the collective human march through the day, as we inhabit and experience space, wearing sundry masks to exhibit interactions.
It comprises a set of mannequins that stand dramatically within a glass box with exaggerated drapes in nine handpicked Schlaepfer fabric pieces and are a reflection of the collective human march through days, months, and years, where one seldom gets the chance to stay static or deliberate. The mannequins are assembled in a manner that they either appear to ‘kill’ or ‘captivate’ the viewer, nothing in between.
Although motionless, they appear to generate a sort of dynamism that provokes contemplation. Aiming to epitomize this experiential journey, the installation intends to invoke a corporeal dialogue over a visual one, juxtaposing human emotions in a spatial context.
The space is an orchestration of the reflections that craft an event space, by the mannequins, thus curating a hybrid of experiences.
