IF.BE is a new art and architecture space and creative hub in Mumbai that opened on 17 April 2022
The 10,000 sq. ft. space conserves an old Ice Factory in Ballard Estate and houses multiple exhibition spaces, a gallery shop, cafe and restaurant, designed by Malik Architecture
IF.BE’s extensive programming launched with an exhibition curated by Arjun Malik and Parul Thacker titled Refraction: The Re(Making) of the Ice Factory
IF.BE launched their new experimental architecture and art space in a re-fashioned and conserved Ice Factory on 17 April 2022. Situated in Mumbai’s oldest dockyards in Ballard Estate, IF.BE has been revamped into a space that blends its past and the future. The space will house exhibition spaces, a library, a restaurant, a cafe and a performance venue.
The space launched a two week exhibition titled Refraction: The (Re)Making of the Ice Factory curated by Arjun Malik and Parul Thacker. The exhibition will feature the past and present architecture of the Ice Factory.
IF.BE have announced an exciting programme of events that include eminent filmmakers, sound artists and performance artists over the course of the exhibition. They include:
- –Film Screening of Chitrashala by Amit Dutta | 6PM, 6:30PM, 7PM, 7:30PM, 8PM and 8:30PM, 20 April
- -Sound performances by Isaac Sullivan | 8PM, 22 & 23 April
- -A Rudra Veena performance by Bahauddin Dagar | 6:45PM, 24 April
- -A talk by Udayan Vajpeyi of the Raza Foundation at 6:30 PM followed by a film screening of Amit Dutta’s Wittgenstein Plays Chess | 7:30PM, 8PM and 8:30PM, 25 April
- -Opium of Time, An analog photo exhibition by Sunhil Sippy | 6:30PM, 26 April
- -Cryofonicx, an immersive audio-visual performance by Ramya and curated by Abhinit Khanna | 7:30 PM, 30 April
Partners Kamal Malik, Abhijit Mehta and Amardeep Tony Singh hope that this initiative will enable them to preserve Ballard Estate’s industrial heritage by offering glimpses of the building’s past, be it ice freezing apparatus preserved under glass at the entrance or maintaining the building’s functioning overhead crane. IF.BE, designed by architects Arjun and Kamal Malik, will be made up of 5 spaces. The Substation will be used as a reading room for art, architecture and design material; The Cathedral will function as an exhibition space; The Banyan Tree Cafe situated under the shade of an ancient banyan tree is an all day café committed to wholesome and healthy eating; Native Bombay, a restaurant and bar, will offer a contemporary spin on regional Indian cuisine and The Ice Factory (pictured below) will be a performance venue which will be used for architecture-led exhibitions, film screenings and performances to conferences, workshops and private events. IF.BE has been designed to be fluid so the spaces can be easily reconfigured depending on the nature of the event or performance.
Kamal Malik says, “The acronym IF.BE was coined to pay homage to the location’s rich heritage. It also alludes to the independent words ‘IF’ [suggestive of endless possibilities and a sense of wonder] and ‘BE’ [a counterweight that provides balance and (re)solutions.] IF.BE represents: a platform where existing behaviours and perceptions are challenged, where open dialogue moves from the currently trending to the truly relevant, where pluralism, self-expression and innovation abound, where architecture, design and the arts finally move beyond their own aesthetically bound definition to becoming instruments that drive holistic and enduring change.”
The Ice Factory at Ballard Estate (IFBE) is an experimental laboratory for transdisciplinary work across modern and contemporary architecture, art, design and pedagogy. The conserved and refashioned structure, situated in one of Bombay’s oldest dockyards, is itself an historical object. With it Malik Architecture has created a centre that does not settle, one with spaces to breathe through a crystallization of traditional, modern, and contemporary praxes. Experimental architecture and art exhibition interact with pedagogical programming and open discursive atmospheres, nurturing a space of potentiality.