International Visitors Programme
On the occasion of Water Night on 30 June, the finissage of the Rotterdam Architecture Month, the Architectuur Instituut Rotterdam (AIR), the International Architecture Biennale Rotterdam (IABR) and the Nieuwe Instituut invited the researcher Shrishtee Bajpai to give a keynote lecture.
Bajpai’s keynote, The River Sings: Rights of Nature and Beyond, offered a generous insight into the discourse around the rights of nature, drawing on the approaches of Indigenous communities in India and placing the global movement in the context of current socio-political and economic challenges. Drawing on recent examples from Ecuador, Bolivia, Colombia, New Zealand, Bangladesh and many countries, Bajpai highlighted the nuances of the Rights of River movement, noting the various legal and societal concerns that constrain the movement. The lecture suggested alternatives to our current, dominant ways of being, embracing systemic alternatives and concepts in the form of degrowth, permaculture, establishing commons and more. Shrishtee Bajpai was joined by invited guests – Assistant Professor Taneha K. Bacchin, designer Ziega van den Berk and Henk Ovink, the Dutch Water – as contributors to the evening.
During her time in the Netherlands, Bajpai visited the Casco Art Institute in Utrecht and met with organiser and researcher Shila T. Ishwardat. She also took part in an organised tour of local initiatives in Rotterdam such as Tuin de Bajonet by Wolbert van Dijk, Essenburgpark by Catherine Visser and the Sponge Garden and Tidal Park by Dirk van Peijpe in the M4H area. The visit was rounded off with a lunch that brought together Dutch architects, designers, educators and researchers who are involved in various ways in living and working with water to exchange thoughts, ideas and visions for the future.
Shrishtee Bajpai is a researcher, writer and activist working on issues of environmental justice, systemic alternatives, Indigenous knowledge systems, trans-human governance and the rights of nature. She is a member of the environmental action group Kalpavriksh in India. She is also part of networks such as Vikalp Sangam, the Global Tapestry of Alternatives and the Global Alliance for the Rights of Nature.