the Hashtag#Collective’s Kaalam is a collaborative, site-specific installation reflecting on Time in a rapidly shifting world
the Hashtag#Collective has launched Kaalam, a multisensory, site-specific art installation currently on view at Gallery OED Courtyard, Mattancherry, Kochi, until 30 March 2026. The installation was unveiled earlier this month in Kochi and continues to invite audiences to engage with Time as a lived, unstable, and deeply contemporary condition.
Rooted in the Malayalam word kaalam – a term that encompasses era, destiny, decay, and cosmic rhythm, the installation reflects on Time as it is experienced today: accelerated, fragmented, and shaped by global conflict, climate anxiety, technological velocity, and shifting social realities.
At the conceptual heart of Kaalam is the poem “Kaalam: Time’s ferocious timeline” by Parvathi Nayar, adapted into Malayalam by Saira Biju under the guidance of Rev. Fr. KM George. The poem functions as a structural and spatial guide for the installation, shaping its rhythms of repetition, rupture, shadow, illusion, and distortion.
Spanning the Gallery OED Courtyard, Kaalam unfolds through a layered vocabulary of neon signage, mural and graffiti interventions by Apoorv Dutt (Franklyapoooooorv), suspended acrylic Malayalam letters, conceptual text, and a three-dimensional anamorphic rendering of the word Kaalam. Together, these elements transform the site into a temporal landscape, one that oscillates between urgency and stillness, fracture and continuity.
Kaalam treats Time not as an abstract concept but as a condition felt in the body, embedded in memory, and constantly disrupted by contemporary life. Rather than offering conclusions, the installation poses questions around acceleration, repetition, collapse, and the possibility of imagining alternate temporalities.
Kaalam is a collaborative, interdisciplinary project by the Hashtag#Collective – comprising Biju Kuriakose, Parvathi Nayar, Abin Chaudhuri, and Saira Biju, whose practice spans architecture, art, design, and public space. This edition marks a significant collaboration with Apoorv Dutt, whose fractured, geometric visual language intensifies the installation’s exploration of rupture and instability. The project team also includes urban designer and architect VS Sindhura, a long-standing collaborator with the Collective.
The installation has been made possible with the support of Systopic Laboratories, Sayonara Printers, and Local Hands, with Gallery OED Courtyard as venue partner.
Kaalam remains open to the public until 30 March 2026.
THE HASHTAG#COLLECTIVE — ARTIST & DESIGNER PROFILES
Parvathi Nayar
Parvathi Nayar is a multidisciplinary artist whose practice spans complex drawing processes, video, installations, text, and photography. Known for her signature black-and-white graphite drawings, Parvathi explores the spaces we inhabit through the lens of science, technology, and environmental consciousness.
Her works delve into urban memory, sustainability, and particularly water — a recurring theme in her artistic narrative. Her notable installations include BreatheWater at The Esplanade Art Centre, Singapore (2022); Chicken Run at the Chennai Photo Biennale (2021–22); the iconic 20-foot “drawn sculpture” A Story of Flight at Mumbai Airport’s T2 Terminal; The Fluidity of Horizons at the Kochi-Muziris Biennale (2014/15); and the 30-foot mural The Music of the Spheres at the Chennai Mathematical Institute (2016). Parvathi is also a writer, poet, and TEDx Chennai speaker, known for talks such as Seeing the World Through Different Lenses (2016).
Biju Kuriakose
Biju Kuriakose is an architect, urbanist, and educator, and the co-founder of architectureRED, a Chennai-based architecture and urban design practice. A graduate of Mumbai and a Master’s degree holder in Architecture and Urban Design from Pratt Institute, New York, Biju’s work spans diverse scales — from large urban planning projects to institutional, commercial, urban, and rural housing developments. His practice engages with critical issues of architecture, sustainability, and urbanism. Biju has lectured extensively at esteemed international platforms such as the Metropolitan Waterfront Alliance (New York), Pratt Institute, and Columbia University, and he serves as an External Studio Critic at the School of Architecture and Planning, Anna University, Chennai.
Abin Chaudhury
Abin Chaudhury, a graduate of Jadavpur University, Kolkata and an Industrial Design alumnus of Domus Academy, Milan, is the founder of Abin Design Studio (ADS). He is also a participant of the 2014 Glenn Murcutt International Master Class. Over the past decade, Abin has engaged with an array of design challenges across architecture, urban design, interiors, and public art, consistently pushing the boundaries of design thinking.
He has been featured in the prestigious South Asian list of The 50 Most Influential Names in Architecture and Design (2014 & 2015). ADS has received numerous national and international accolades, including selection by the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA), New York, for its publication and travelling exhibition Uneven Growth: Tactical Urbanisms for Expanding Megacities (2014), as well as the International Architecture Award (2015) from The Chicago Athenaeum: Museum of Architecture and Design.
Saira Biju
Saira Biju is an artist whose practice has been shaped by her long-standing engagement with art from school through college, even while pursuing non-art academic degrees at Stella Maris College, Chennai. Her time at the School of Visual Arts, New York, strengthened her foundation in formal experimentation, particularly around the interplay of subject, medium, and technique — an approach that continues to inform her work. Saira is known for her bold colour palette and intuitive engagement with paint, focusing on texture, hue, and physicality. She has contributed to the art ecosystem through roles such as assisting in the execution of Art Chennai 2013, consulting with Gallery Veda on curatorial initiatives, and conducting art classes for adults and children.
OTHER ARTIST’S PROFILE
Sindhura VS
Sindhura VS is an architect and urban designer who uses spatial and visual storytelling to craft immersive, narrative-driven experiences. Her work explores cities, environmental impact, gender theories, and historical archives through exhibition, graphic design, and transitory installations.
Apoorv Dutt
Apoorv Dutt is a multi-hyphenated visual artist known for a distinctive storytelling style that blends philosophy, humour, and bold graphic discipline. As the founder of Vividiti Designs and principal artist of “Franklyapooooorv,” her practice transforms personal and societal chaos into visually structured narratives. Her work often features a signature animated alter-ego, meticulous line work, and fractured geometric forms that create a striking, “living comic book” aesthetic.
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