Museum Of Red-Gold

The Subliminal Alchemist Of Fragile Landscapes

Pranav Kalyan

BArch Hons 2022

Supervisors:
Unit Leader: Craig McClenaghan
Unit Tutor: Ruby Mungoshi
Unit Assistant: Azraa Gabru

UNIT 21
Phantom Cartographies

The project is aimed at uncovering the ephemeral narratives of people to gain a comprehensive study governing consequential moments that are embedded in their landscapes. Through methods of sampling, mapping and atlasing, the project uncovers the impact that these ephemeral narratives have on the livelihoods and narratives of people,

The Museum of Red-Gold, is an archive of lost narratives, themed around politics, economics, religion, culture, and environmental factors that defines intangible spatial design all of which are formulated through the commodity of saffron. Saffron, also known as Crocus Sativus Linnaeus is an ancient commodity that has migrated into various landscapes and has been adapted accordingly by these various dynamic factors.

The subliminal nature of what this new commodity provides to the landscape is what glorifies its nature of being a Veblen commodity. The research illustrates that over a period of time, an artificial sublime is manufactured through saffron’s usage and eventually, the cultivation of this commodity is displayed through how it is governed within new landscapes landscape and its relation to the global context.

Keywords:
Red-gold, Saffron, Consequential Fragility, Impostor, (Iim)migran, Stigma, Agronomics, Culture, Tapestry, Infrastructure, Capitalism, Landscapes, Trade