VISTARA CITY

Artistic Project for Marwadi University students

Seminars & Workshops on abstraction, geometric composition & color theory.

Summer 2020, Marwadi University, Rajkot (India)

Participants have designed & fabricated a mixed-media artwork inspired by their favorite place in town to be played together as a board game.

Check this video for more info: (Link){https://youtu.be/srBO3IYT26k}

WORKSHOP PARTICIPANTS ( M.U. students and faculty staff or external participants)

Abdul Karim Gharibyar, Ahmad -majama- Daoud, Ami Doshi, Anushkha Advani, Aschalew Alemneh, Bharat Motiani, Bhautik Dave, Chaitali Shah, Deepa Motiani, Dereje Tirfe, Harsha Satramani, Havugimana Providence, Jeet Marwadi, Mahima Pandey, Naresh Jadeja, Preeti Jha, Raneem Ali, Raghu Parmar, Rashmin Dave, Rohin Shah, Ruchita Sagathiya, Rutu Sanghani, Sachin Sigdel, Salama Darwish, Savan Santoki, Sona Satramani

Matteo Biella (invited Artist), Project Conceptualization/Realization

Rhea Shanghvi, Executive Producer & Supervisor

Jeet Marwadi, Artist-In-Residence Founder

Rashmin Dave, General Coordinator

Naresh Jadeja, General Coordinator

MU. Store and Purchase Department, Materials Supply

Admin Department, Logistics

Branding & Communication department, Logistics? Helped with certificates.

Pratik Munjani & Nancy Pandya, MakerLab Experts

Rohin Shah, Photo & Video Documentation & Editing

Anushkha Advani, Artistic Video Directions

Birju Solanki (Rajshri Prints), Fabrication & Material Supply

Sureshbhai Mistry & Alok Wooden works, Fabrication

VISTARA CITY — YOUTUBE VIDEO
01YOUTUBE VIDEOhttps://youtu.be/srBO3IYT26k A Design and Artistic Experiment based on abstraction, geometric composition & color theory where participants have designed & fabricated a mixed-media artwork inspired by their favorite place in town and to be played as a collective board-game.
VISTARA CITY — ARTWORKS
02ARTWORKSEvery student created a mixed media artwork representing a memorable part of their own hometown, with the goal to collectively create an ideal city that could be assembled in infinite ways. Every artwork utilize the same visual language of colorful stripes arranged according to personal taste.
VISTARA CITY — DESIGN PROCESS
03DESIGN PROCESSStudents digitized their handmade sketch with a CAD software and every single shape was then lasercut on the chosen acrylic tiles. Using a simple algorithm, a boundary was designed and then lasercut on transparent acrylic. Finally the mixed media artwork was assembled and completed by pouring epoxy resin.
VISTARA CITY — CHURCH
04CHURCHArtist: Dereje Tirfe “This cross shaped design represents a church, specifically Ethiopian church. Every piece of element putted on the surface of the cross has a meaning to me, which I have observed in the church building since childhood. Cross has a special meaning to all Christian communities, we Ethiopian carry the sign of the cross to remember Jesus’ sacrifices. When Matteo asked us to design something, immediately a church design came to my mind because in Ethiopia you will find a church almost every 5-6 kilometers in the capital city. So there is a high possibility to visit a church twice a day. When you get inside the church compound, you will see different kinds of painting styles on the walls of the church. I therefore tried to combine some of them, to symbolize the the Obelisk of Axum to represent human beings and the Rock-hewn Church of Labella as a holy temple which is placed at the center of the cross. Another piece of element like ankh cross symbol is commonly known as “TOW” in Ethiopia. It has so many meanings but generally it represents Jesus Christ. And also there are other pieces of elements which I used in the design, so I will let them to the people to figure out and understand in their way because the work is abstract.”
VISTARA CITY — COLOR SELECTION
05COLOR SELECTIONStudents selected their personal color palette to compose their design. They made a block stack of around 6 inches that was glued and later sliced.
VISTARA CITY — BLOCK SLICING
06BLOCK SLICINGThe blocks were sliced and students chose again their favorite colorful tiles.
VISTARA CITY — LASERCUTTING SLICES
07LASERCUTTING SLICESWhen student’s design were ready, shapes were lasercut.
VISTARA CITY — ASSEMBLY PIECES
08ASSEMBLY PIECESDuring the last workshop, students gathered to compose their artworks and to pour epoxy resin to make it solid.
VISTARA CITY — BOARDGAME
09BOARDGAMEOn July the 26th 2020, participants have played VISTARA CITY as a board-game, defining their own set of rules and dynamics.
VISTARA CITY — BOARDGAME 2
10BOARDGAME 2On July the 26th 2020, participants have played VISTARA CITY as a board-game, defining their own set of rules and dynamics.
VISTARA CITY — STADIUM
11STADIUMArtist: Majama “My work it’s my life mirror: on the right side of my home there are Shawama and falafel restaurants and a McDonald. The inner mosaic pattern refers to the mix of various cultures coexisting within each other in my hometown Jableh (Syria) which is surrounded by sea and close enough, by an iconic football stadium. I have too many memories about those places and I miss them too much.”
VISTARA CITY — BRIDGE ON THE SANGAM OF TWO RIVERS
12BRIDGE ON THE SANGAM OF TWO RIVERSArtist: Rashmin Dave “This abstract design created on my imagination of a dream place. In this design, you can see a bridge on a Sangam of two different rivers with Blue and Green water and surrounded by beautiful hills and sky.”
VISTARA CITY — VEGETABLE PARK
13VEGETABLE PARKArtist: Anushkha Advani “As part of Matteo’s acrylic workshop we were asked to pick a part of the city to design. With intention and excitement, I chose the marketplace, probably because I miss it the most during this quarantine time. As an illustrator, I began to visualize my design in a realistic manner. I thought about creating people, vegetables, shops and streets. However, at the lectures we were taught to think about our concepts in abstract form, exploring emotions and communicating them using shapes and lined sheets of colored acrylic. This contrast put me in a fix and got me to rethink my artwork. I couldn’t fully escape approaching this as an illustrator, so I decided to make my final work abstract by using repetition (inspired by some of the references Matteo shared) - many shops lined one after another, displayed as an aerial view. We are currently in the midst of monsoon in Gujarat, so I decided that each of my shops would have a unique protective cover. In order to make it appear more like a shop, I made baskets to display the shop’s goods and placed one outside each store. Given this golden opportunity to design the city’s only market I decided my market must be large scaled (as large as possible) and colorful, so I picked out a varied range of acrylic colored sheets, at least two of each kind and lasercut the shopfronts using these. For the baskets, I picked out two solid colors and made rings using these, then whilst assembling I decided to alternate the colors, one pink then purple then pink then purple. In order to experience the market, I felt that one must have a path to travel through it. Luckily I had 10 acrylic sheets from a (clear, pink & purple) block I made in the start, thus, I was able to have a consistent pattern flowing through my market, an obvious walkway. It seemed like a waste of material to fill my whole market with resin so Matteo suggested we use a large sheet of clear acrylic and cut out my designs from this instead. This worked wonderfully and I only ended up using a small amount of resin to stick my pieces together. “
VISTARA CITY — RECYCLING CENTER
14RECYCLING CENTERArtist: Savan Santoki ODE TO JOSH You are truly a center off-center Your presence breaks the symmetry Like a serene jungle by a Ganter Or a graveyard with a lone tree This is the truth, not just a fool’s banter Like the sun you radiate out But you are still humble without a doubt You smile, even though they pout And thus you have a strong clout Your conception was fluid like water you are only a little bigger than a quarter still you are dear like a son or a daughter You truly are the center off-center Center off-center
VISTARA CITY — MILITARY AREA
15MILITARY AREAArtist: Ami Doshi “There is no force in the world that can block the powerful March of our army and people, who are holding their heads high in the banner of the suns and continuing to advance under the leadership of the party and with strong faith in sure victory.”
VISTARA CITY — LAYERED PARK
16LAYERED PARKArtist: Jeet Marwadi “A sincere belief in the pursuit of a wholesome life led me to build the park for the Acrylic City mixed media art project. Ever since I visited the lush vast landscape of parks in cities like London, New York and Italy I have never failed to be amused and excited by the quality of life resembled by a park in any city. A park to me is an absolute essential to a fulfilling life. Based on my experiences and observations, the park sees people of all walks of life come together in a singular, yet undulating landscape. One may witness an old couple on an early morning walk, a nanny with kids playing on the grass basking the morning sun, a bunch of boys and girls kicking ball, or playing with frisbee, a couple on a picnic in the evening hours. I chose to build the park to recreate that experience since it has been over 6 months since I visited a beautiful park, brimming with sensory stimuli. My park has been derived as a layered cake in an abstraction, revealing variety of the experiences people and dogs along with the flora and fauna of the land in a layered form. I chose a layered cake to represent the emotions I feel and probably everyone feels when they visit the park; diversity, interaction between people, play, laughter, joy, peace, among many other, a park has space even for a lonely individual who may want to spend some alone time reflecting on his or her life/events in their life. The layered cake represents life in a park through my eyes, how I choose to see it. The top layer represents the sky, and the sprinkles on the top -most layer of the cake, the second layer represents the frothy cream, and the circle of all things life, whether it were humanity, or the ecology of a park (birds, trees, insects, air, and water). The third represents diversity in emotions, the ups and downs, therefore one sees no specific pattern other than the up and down. The fourth layer imitates, plants, leaves, and the trees. While the last one is the toughened yet cracked form of earth.”
VISTARA CITY — SHOPPING MALL
17SHOPPING MALLArtist: Mahima Pandey “Shopping malls are mainly for people to do something entertaining. As it is the one of the best source of refreshment and entertainment, I tried my best to make it attractive. In this artwork are depicted shops, parking area, selfie point, children section, etc etc”
VISTARA CITY — ART GALLERY
18ART GALLERYArtist: Rohin It’s a open space of art for different artist around the world displaying their creativity.
Matteo Biella
Copyright 2026 Matteo Biella