In the early 1950s, Nepal opened to the world beyond its borders, extending arms to the possibilities of tourism. With the flow of all kinds of tourists from the late 60s, Nepal gradually evolved into a hub for cross-cultural interactions and exchanges. Among the travelers were researchers, architects, anthropologists, photographers, heritage professionals, and enthusiasts who documented Nepal in different contexts. Beginning with a few countable heritage projects in the late 60s and 70s, the heritage sector in Nepal witnessed an increased flow of grants for documentation, conservation, rebuilding, and research projects from the 80s.

These projects focused on documenting and conserving our art, culture, and heritage while also raising local awareness of their importance beyond religious reasons. Most project completions were celebrated with an exhibition or a talk program as a standard practice. Simultaneously, the research documents were published as books. The local media, too, covered these projects and activities.

This exhibition explores such projects in Kathmandu Valley that began in the late 1960s and created a buzz around media and culture, influencing our perspective towards our cultural and architectural heritage.

“The Gossip Table” is an idea of extracting interesting facts, notes, and quotes from the books we read and archiving them for future reference. It provides an exciting perspective on archiving information, activates the archive library, and makes the reading and sharing process fun, easy, and accessible to a larger audience. The table discussion is recorded and archived for future access.

In our first session, “The Gossip Table #1 Bouncing the Courtyard Through Many Windows,” we will unfold Nepal through the eyes of different characters from different backgrounds.

For more than a century (1846-1951), Nepal was a private courtyard that only Nepalese had access to. After it opened to the outside world, this courtyard became a space for people from different backgrounds and cultures to immerse in the local setting while sharing and exchanging ideas of their own and building their own faith around it. The courtyard was eventually surrounded by windows of varying cultures. Many eyes gathered around it with their own dreams, intentions, and expectations. Some eyes reflected adventures and mystery, while some were grounded in reality. In this session, we will view this courtyard through the eyes of characters looking out those windows of time and circumstance.

Following our annual lecture series at Taragaon Next, organized by the Saraf Foundation since 2013, we are presenting Lecture Series #9 with Wolfgang Korn this year. Wolfgang Korn first arrived in Nepal in 1968 and has worked on several projects since then. In this lecture, he will give a visual presentation on “Green Valley VS Concrete Valley: Then and Now,” which will be based on the surveys he carried out in Nepal since the late 1960s. He will also briefly discuss the survey of Kasthamandap, one of his principal works.

Many of his works are now being safeguarded and preserved at the Nepal Architecture Archive. His collection is one of the largest that the Saraf Foundation looks after. In the lecture, we will discuss his contributions to the archive, what they mean to him, and why he chose to donate them to us. We will also touch upon the importance of archiving materials he and many others have produced over 50 years.