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Tramjatra is a collaborative public project exploring a dialogue between two former British colonial cities through the medium of tramways to manifest a network of temporary public art works, participatory events and publications in both cities, including a book titled tramjatra.

tramjatra: imagining Melbourne & Kolkata by tramways, edited by Mick Douglas, Delhi: Yoda Press and Melbourne: RMIT University Press, 2005. <a href=”http://www.mickdouglas.net/tramjatra%20book%20sample.pdf” target= “blank”>(see a sample)</a>

Essays by Suzie Attiwill, Dipesh Chakrabarty, Soumitra Das, Mick Douglas, Gayatri Spivak, Catherine Murphy, Fazal Rizvi and Bruce C. Wearne.
304pp colour, soft cover, 120 x 160mm.
AUD$30 ISBN 0 86459 364 3

purchase here

“exhilarating” – Fiona Capp, ‘tramjatra review’The Age, Saturday 29 April 2006, p25.

“sets out to map … the collective consciousness of tram users and workers, the system’s reflection of the life and image of the city, and hence the actual thought and art it fosters” – Sukanta Chaudhuri, book review of ‘tramjatra’ in Biblio: A Review of Books Vol. XI NOS. 5 & 6, May- June 2006, (Delhi based journal) www.biblio-india.com

“ a unique initiative’ – The Hindustan Times

304pp colour, soft cover, 120 x 160mm.
AUD$30 ISBN 0 86459 364 3

South Asia – Foundation Books: www.fbindia.com
295 Indian Rs ISBN 81 902272 4 6

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Follow the way of the tram through two cities with tracks of a shared past. Welcome to networks with promise for the future. Tramjatra undertakes a journey between Kolkata (India) and Melbourne (Australia) through the medium of tramways. This form of creative and critical globalisation from below, built on friendship and dialogue, shows a way forward.

In the context of increasing debates about sustainability and the impacts and processes of globalisation, tramjatra makes new connections through a public arts practice of inter-cultural dialogue. Over the past decade Kolkata’s struggling tramways have faced a persistent threat of closure and the operation of Melbourne ‘s tramways has been privatised and automated. By traveling between two different urban realties, tramjatra provokes both a local and global engagement in the challenges of moving and being moved in contemporary urban life. The book explores the poetic relationship between the practical movement afforded by tramways as a mode of public transport, and the contemporary social, political, economic and creative forces of movement brought to tramways. Essays discuss historical links between Melbourne & Kolkata; examine relations between memory, tram travel and ticketing; locate tramjatra in the context of debates on transculturalism, international education and notions of public art; and unravel issues of translation in inter-cultural arts practice.

Essays by Suzie Attiwill, Dipesh Chakrabarty, Soumitra Das, Gayatri Spivak, Catherine Murphy, Fazal Rizvi and Bruce C. Wearne.

Artworks by Jayashree Chakravarty, Sarna Chitrakar, Dukhushyam Chitrakar, Moyna Chitrakar, Mick Douglas, Amanda King, James Legge, Andy Miller, Mark Misic, Sanjay Mitra, Jogi Panghaal, Mahadeb Shi and Lisa Young.

Tram conducting by Roberto D’Andrea and Prabir Kumar Goswami.

Passengers contributions by Anirban Basu, Paul Bateman, Ranjita Biswas, Keith Butler, Aparna Das, Lyall Johnson, Malcolm Just, Mary Kalantzis, Paul Molyneux, V. Ramaswamy, S.R. Rajen.

After the book about the project ‘tramjatra: imagining Melbourne & Kolkata by tramways’ was published in Australia and India, Mick Douglas and tramjatra founding friends walk the tracks of both cities at night and talk of their journeys.

 

reviews

Sukanta Chaudhuri, book review of ‘tramjatra’ Biblio: A Review of Books Vol. XI NOS. 5 & 6, May- June 2006, (a Delhi based journal) www.biblio-india.com

Marie Sierra, ‘tramjatra: book review’ in Art Monthly, no. 191, July 2006, pp18-20.

Mantej Singh, ‘Indian home cooked dinner and the CCD cuisine’, in Scott O’Hara (ed.), Artwork issue 56, 2003.

Suzie Attiwill, ‘tramjatra’ (daily p3 newspaper column) The Statesman – Kolkata, from 20 Feb to 31 March 2001.

John Thackara, ‘Speed’, in John Thackara In the Bubble: Designing in a Complex World, Cambridge Massachusetts: MIT Press, 2005, pp29-50.

Kevin Murray, ‘tram ways’, The Age Saturday Extra, 3 Nov. 2001, p3.