Back in the winter of 2016, Madhavan Pillai welcomed me with open arms and warm conversations in the mountainous tranquility of Ooty, Tamil Nadu, India. He was new to the city and we talked about the kinds of projects in art and photography that he hoped to make a reality for the community.
4 years later, Maddy’s creativity and commitment is as contageous as ever.
Today on the podcast, Madhavan Pillai speaks about his experiences over these past years, and his current project called “People of India”, a project that brings together artists from around the nation, as part of the ongoing effort to decolonize photography in India.
The city of Amsterdam is famous for many things, among them, the great movement of creative people who occupied abandoned buildings over the past 30 years. Yet slowly the movement is changing, as are the laws, and squatting has become increasingly difficult. OT301 is performance space, restaurant, printshop, cafe, cinema, and much more; a unique example of a building and a group of people who have found a way to keep their dream alive amidst the wave of buyouts and evictions sweeping the city. One of the original founders, Colin, sat down with me to discuss what they’ve done and more broadly – what is happenning to such a famous movement in this town.
we talk about:
– The initial squatting of the building
– Relations with the local community
– Functions of the building
– Negociation with the local government
– The squatting scene historically
– Changes in the scene in the past decade
– The politics of squatting
– other European squatters and cities
– to know more you’ll have to listen…
