Supported by

February 24-27, 2011

New Delhi. India

A Festival of
Action at the
Intersections
www.unboxfestival.com
Design Thinking and
Inter-Disciplinary Collaborations
for Innovation

UnBox is a festival celebrating

action at the intersections of
different disciplines. It is an
attempt to build momentum
around design thinking and
inter-disciplinary collaborations
as the means of driving more
sustainable and impactive social
and cultural change in India.
Together, we’ll rethink and
stretch design practice through
imagination, provocation and
stimulation.
A cross-section of established
and emerging Design Thinkers,
Entrepreneurs, Professionals,
Educators & Enthusiasts from
India and the world, lead
and inspire conversations for
innovation at the UnBox festival.
John Thackara MP Ranjan
Design-Thinker. Independent Academic,
Founder and Director of Educator, Design-Thinker &
Doors of Perception Author

Nico Macdonald Aditi Ranjan

Design thinker, consultant & Weaver, Textile Designer,
author. Head of Innovation— and Design Educator at the
Creative Industries iNet National Institute of Design

Richard Eisermann Ashish Rajpal

Service Designer and Founding Director—
Strategist. iDiscoveri
Co-founder—Prospect

Lakshmi Murthy Pooja Sood

Communication Designer. Director—Khoj International
Founder—Vikalp Design Artists Association

Meena Kadri VK Madhavan

Community Manager— TED Fellow,
Open IDEO Executive Director of
CHIRAG (Central Himalayan
Rural Action Group)
The UnBox Experience:
+Fellowships
+
+Conference
+
+Public
+ Events
Fellowships IMMERSE Travel to different parts of the country For Fellowship
FEB 2011 with multi-disciplinary teams to learn, inform and Awardees
(Pre-conference) share the new contexts for social, cultural and
business innovations.

Conference Cross-disciplinary reflections on bringing about At The British

25 & 26 Feb 2011 cultural change. Council, New Delhi
For Registered
Morning Session LISTEN The UnBox conference brings together Conference
200 practitioners, academics, and tinkerers from Participants
art, design, entrepreneurship, and other fields & Fellowship
for intimate, cross-disciplinary reflections on Awardees
bringing about cultural change.

Afternoon Session INTERACT Afternoon workshops offer smaller,

interactive sessions that let you get your hands
dirty making in new ways, debating issues,
getting mentorship, and picking up new tools for
cultural change.

Public Events OPEN to all UnBox brings the spirit of cross- At multiple
27 Feb 2011 disciplinary cultural experimentation to the city, locations in Hauz
All day inviting the public to join in Make-a-thons and Khas Village, New
Open studios that show the city at work. Delhi and Gurgaon

Partner Festivals draw inspiration from three parallel cultural Across multiple
festivals, also organized by the UnBox team: locations in New
TechnoDrome: A festival of emerging electronic Delhi
music, visual arts and performances.
BeatRepeat: A festival bringing interdisciplinary
perspectives to the spoken and written word
using electronic music, cinema & new media.
EyeMyth: A festival of visual music and
experimental film.
UnBox Conference
Calendar

24 F 2011
Draw inspiration from three parallel

partner festivals
cultural festivals, also organized by
the UnBox team, alongside the unbox
conference & events:

25 E NEW DELHI »»TechnoDrome

A festival of emerging electronic music, visual
arts and performances.

26 B INDIA »»BeatRepeat
A festival bringing interdisciplinary perspectives
to the spoken and written word using electronic

27
music, cinema & new media.
»»EyeMyth
A festival of visual music and experimental film.

2 4 • F eb • 2 0 1 1 • T h u r s day
»» At The British Council Welcome Performances and Cocktails 6.30 PM onwards
»» For Conference A night of meeting fellow travelers, drinking, eating, and seeing Indian cultural
Participants & performances.
Fellowship Awardees

2 5 • F eb • 2 0 1 1 • F r iday
Morning Session Registration & Chai 9:00 AM - 9:45 AM
Design at the Intersections 10:00 AM - 10:30
»» At The British Council
Talk: Ayush Chauhan AM
»» For Conference
The intersections of multiple skills, passions and people of the Box Collective—
Participants &
at work and play, and the evolution of the UnBox platform.
Fellowship Awardees
Embedding Design 10:30 AM - 11:15 AM
Talk: MP Ranjan
The necessity of embedding design education in the contexts of intervention,
and what it means for policy, design, and entrepreneurship
Design for Communities 11:15 AM - 12:45 PM
Panel: Quicksand, Lakshmi Murthy (Vikalp Design), VK Madhavan (CHIRAG -
Central Himalayan Rural Action Group), Aakash Sethi (Quest Alliance)
Panelist from business, design, development, and education reflect on
embedding social change efforts within communities.
Lunch 12:45 PM - 2 PM

Creative Platforms 2:00 PM - 3:30 PM

Showcase: Blue Frog (Ashutosh Phatak), The GreenHouse (Avinash Kumar),
OpenIDEO (Meena Kadri), iDiscoveri (Ashish Rajpal), Khoj (Pooja Sood)
Organizations that create interdisciplinary platforms that have demonstrated
the power to create alternate paradigms of experiences.
Chai Break 3:30 PM - 4:00 PM
Afternoon Session An afternoon with MP Ranjan and John Thackara 4:00 PM - 6:00 PM
Participants can join these design thinkers for a conversation about design
»» At The British Council thinking intersecting with different disciplines.
& Max Mueller Bhavan
Clay Futures with Chintan Jani 4:00 PM - 6:00 PM
Brainstorm and develop future scenarios around sustainable, medicinal, and
»» Choice of workshops &
air filtering material bentonite.
and intimate sessions
for Conference Design in the Social Sector with D-Impact 4:00 PM - 6:00 PM
participants & Collaborate to define and explore the value of design processes in the social
Fellowship awardees sector for non-profits
Storytelling in New Media with filmmaker Varun Mathur & 4:00 PM - 6:00 PM
visual artist Avinash Kumar
Conceptual principles & techniques of telling stories about complex systems
Organic Food & Farming In India: The Road Ahead 4:00 PM - 6:00 PM
Panel discussing the organic food ecosystem in India—the roadblocks, and the
opportunities for innovation that exist
2 5 • F eb • 2 0 1 1 • Satu r day
Morning Session Life’s Work: Design Opportunities in a Restorative Economy 9:30 AM - 10:15 AM
Talk: John Thackara
»» At The British Council The need for a new kind of change agent—holistic leaders tuned to resilience,
»» For Conference restorative economies, ethics, and learning from other cultures.
Participants &
Chai Break 10:15 AM - 10:25 AM
Fellowship Awardees
Sustainability 10:25 AM - 11:05 AM
Talk: Harsh Purohit
The power of design thinking to create sustainable organizations, institutions,
and businesses
Limits of Design Thinking 11:05 AM - 11:45 AM
Talk: Nico MacDonald
Appraising the promise and the limits of design thinking, as well as ideas on
the ways forward.
Design Thinking and Business 11:45 AM - 12:25 PM
Talk: Richard Eisermann
Design thinking is an emerging theory & practice that provides new tools
to creatively negotiate the complexity that’s inherent in today’s business
environments.
Lunch 12:25 PM - 1:25 PM
FutureForms 1:25 PM - 2:10 PM
Eight, 5-minute pitches for possible future interventions by curated innovators
Documenting Culture 2:10 PM - 3:40 PM
Panel: Aditi Ranjan (co-editor Handmade in India), Parmesh Shahani
(Godrej Culture Lab), Rajesh Dahiya (Codesign)
The process, the challenges, and the possibilities of documentation to
instigate social and cultural change
Chai Break 3:40 PM - 4:00 PM
Afternoon Session H-School with John Thackara 4:00 PM - 6:00 PM
Co-design the content and form of Doors of Perception’s upcoming H-School
»» At The British Council initiative to train future leaders
& Max Mueller Bhavan
Hacked Electronics with Andy Guhl 4:00 PM - 6:00 PM
Take inspiration from German musician Andy Guhl’s instruments made of
»» Choice of workshops &
hacked, everyday electronics
and intimate sessions
for Conference Five Steps to Designing Classrooms for Real Learning with 4:00 PM - 6:00 PM
participants & iDiscoveri
Fellowship awardees Methods to making the teaching & learning process effective and engaging
for children.
Typocentric: Bazaar with Meena Kadri & Rajesh Dahiya 4:00 PM - 6:00 PM
Create typography from objects and forms available at local markets
Self-Publishing Platforms in India 4:00 PM - 5:00 PM
Panel: Nikhel Mahajan (AudioAshram), Shani Himanshu (CellDsgn), Arpita
Das (Yodakin)
Building off of the energy to document culture and create new kinds of
expression, panelists discuss emerging trends in self-publishing as a way of
creating new spaces for interdisciplinary practices.
Cultural Funders Panel 5:00 PM - 6:00 PM
Funders of cultural activities in India like Goethe Institut, Pro Helvetia, and
Austria Culture Forum, will reflect on their role in shaping projects and trends
by discussing projects past and future
Re-Imagining Digital Learning with Quest Alliance 4:00 PM - 5:00 PM
Experiment and brainstorm with new technologies such as tablets and
iPhones and develop concepts to spring digital learning in India ahead.

2 7 • F eb • 2 0 1 1 • Sunday
»» All Day Open Studios in Hauz Khas Village and Gurgaon
At GreenHouse, Jamun Studios, Ishan Khosla, Fatta Box, Cell Dsgn, People Tree, Quicksand, CoDesign
»» Public Events—Open Spend the morning visiting a variety of studio spaces, offices, and alleys where new cultural forms
to all are always in the making.
Make-A-Thon at The GreenHouse, Hauz Khas Village
»» At multiple venues
An all-day, all-night platform for hacking, tinkering, learning, creating, and playing. Bring your own
across New Delhi
project and tools to Greenhouse, Hauz Khas Village to create shoulder to shoulder with others.
(Hauz Khas Village) &
Gurgaon Theater Skill-share with Jeff Goodchild
Sharpen your skills of observation, adaptability, and creative play across fields in this introduction to
improvisation drama
Basics of Film Making with film-maker Varun Mathur
Learn technical skills and conceptual approaches to telling stories
ANCHORS
Talks, Panels, Workshops
Aakash Sethi is Executive Director of Quest Alliance, a multi-disciplinary NGO working
to make education relevant, exciting, and sustainable in underserved communities.
Aditi Ranjan is a weaver, textile designer, design teacher, and co-editor of the
compendium Handmade in India.
Ashish Rajpal is the co-founder and CEO of iDiscoveri, an advocate for experiential
doing classrooms, and one of the top 50 leaders changing education in India according to
Education World magazine.
Ashutosh Phatak is a founding partner at Blue Frog, an integrated platform
with a performance club, recording studios, an independent record label, and artist
management.
Avinash Kumar is co-founder of acclaimed audio-visual collective Basic Love of Things,
as well as innovation studio Quicksand.
Ayush Chauhan is the Managing Director of Quicksand, a multi-disciplinary innovation
consultancy whose clients include Google, IDEO, and Gates Foundation.
D-Impact is a non-profit design organization that has provided design services to NGOs
in India and the US since 2008.
Harsh Purohit is the Founder Director of Cognito, an award winning, multi-disciplinary
design agency and sustainability advisory that has helped corporations prepare
themselves for a more sustainable future.
John Thackara is the founder of Doors of Perception and the author of In the Bubble:
Designing in a Complex World (MIT Press).
Kapil Das is co-founder of BlindBoys, an internationally exhibited photo commune, as
well as a co-founder of innovation studio Quicksand.
Lakshmi Murthy is a social communication designer from Udaipur, Rajasthan, India and
founder of Vikalp Design. Her work focuses on visual languages for non-literate and low-
literacy audiences.
M P Ranjan is a Design thinker and Independent Academic from Ahmedabad, author of
the blog Design for India and co-editor of the compendium Handmade in India.
Meena Kadri is an educator, designer, and author of culture blog randomspecific, as
well as Community Manager of OpenIDEO.
Nico Macdonald is Head of Innovation at Creative Industries iNet, a UK program for
helping the creative sector thrive, and a London based writer and strategist. His work has
appeared in Eye, Blueprint, Creative Review, Design Week, PRINT, and I.D.
Pooja Sood is Director of Khoj, an artist-led forum for urban experimentation and co-
creator of The Khoj Book.
Rajesh Dahiya is founder and principal at CoDesign, a brand communication design
studio that believes it is time to innovate what-you-stand-for and how-you-say-it.
Richard Eisermann is the co-founder of the London based service design practice—
Prospect, and has extensive experience as a service designer & strategist in multi-
disciplinary and multi-cultural projects
VK Madhavan is a TED Fellow and Executive Director of the Central HImalayan Rural
Action Group, focusing on integrative development in the Kumaun region.
Varun Mathur is a Delhi-based documentary film maker focusing on issues of identity
and media. His work has appeared in international film festivals and national television.
Performers
TechnoDrome / BeatRepeat /
EyeMyth
Markus Detmer (Germany)
Timo Reuber (Germany)
Andy Guhl (Switzerland)
Silver Seeds (Switzerland)
4YourEye (Austria)
B.L.O.T. (India)
Nucleya (India)
Kohra (India)
Sattyananda (India)
Delhi Sultanate (India)

Organizers partner Festivals

UnBox is the culmination of efforts of four
successful Indian creative practices that have
exemplified the value of inter-disciplinary
collaborations as the means of driving impact
and change. Together these studios form the
The Box Collective:
Quicksand (www.quicksand.co.in)
Codesign (www.codesign.in)
B.L.O.T. (www.blottin.blogspot.com)
BlindBoys (www.blindboys.org)
• BeatRepeat
• TechnoDrome
• EyeMyth
The UnBOX experience is designed to be
completed by the experiences of these three
multi-disciplinary festivals, which are held on the
evenings. Registration to UnBox grants access
and benefits at these events automatically.

WEBSITE
www.unboxfestival.com

REGISTER
register@unboxfestival.com

Principal Sponsors Media Partner