Volte isn’t just another art gallery. It’s a gallery with a difference. Started by Tushar Jiwarajka, Volte aims to create a space where art and people interact in a dynamic and exciting manner. The idea is to expose Mumbaikars to art beyond its traditional form, for digital art and new media creations are as much forms of expression as orthodox paintings or sculpture. With a cafe, bookshop and wi-fi connection, Volte is a place where people can come and sit down and exchange ideas.

It’s obvious from the get-go, that the vision is to make it an intellectual hub where individuals are able to expand their horizons. Books on the history of shoes, photography, art dot one wall, whilst a cafe hugs another. Jiwarajka hopes that the gallery will soon be a place where the lines between the sciences and the arts blur – and where the artist’s creation evokes holistic thinking.

Volte’s third show, Our Breath Concrete, is very, very unusual. Two installations take up the entire exhibition area – the first, a coffee table where two people can have a conversation via breath. If the couple breathe in simultaneously, the lights on the coffee table light up together and conversely if the couple exhale in unison, the lights magically fade away as one. The idea is to make us conscious of one of the few physiological elements that are both voluntary and involuntary– our breath.

The second installation is a three-dimensional LED grid that is, again, controlled by breathing. Visitors can walk through the grid and see how a change in their breathing pattern elicits a response in the lights within the grid. Whilst this really looks like a fairy-tale like walk amongst the stars, the technology and science behind this installation are truly quite spectacular.

Qusai Kathawala, the artist,  is no ordinary man and he has no ordinary ideas. An engineer, a designer, an artist, and a long time follower of yoga and meditation, Kathawala gets his inspiration from mind, body and soul. Ironically, he often uses technology to make us more aware of what is often seen as its anti-thesis – nature and our deepest spiritual self. 

Located on the first floor of an old building in Colaba, Volte isn’t very easy to spot. Whilst getting there is part of the charm, one hopes that it will get enough exposure to make it a success with the city’s culture vultures. A space where directors can screen films, dancers can dance, poets can read, and artists can create, Volte has appeal to anyone with any creativity, or even just a bit of curiosity.