The exhibition “Layers of Dhanmondi Lake”, held at the Goethe-Institut Bangladesh, unfolded as a quiet meditation on one of Dhaka’s most enduring urban landscapes. Familiar to generations of city residents, the lake appeared here as a site shaped by time, memory, and a continuous negotiation between nature and the city. Through drawings, maps, stories, and performances, the exhibition invited visitors to encounter the lake not as a mere backdrop for leisure, but as a living presence whose meanings extend far beyond its surface.
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Dhanmondi Lake began as part of a natural water system before being reshaped through planning decisions that accompanied the growth of the neighbourhood. Over the decades, it has absorbed new roles as a recreational space, ecological corridor, and social meeting ground. The exhibition traced these shifts with care, presenting the lake as an accumulation of layers formed through use, intervention, neglect, and attachment.
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A significant portion of the exhibition emerged from the collective work of architects who came together to study and map the lake. Their drawings and visual analyses documented water flows, patterns of access, changes in vegetation, and traces of human presence that often escape formal planning records. As a result, the lake was revealed as a system in constant motion, shaped as much by everyday practices as by design decisions. The works demonstrated that understanding the lake requires attention not only to its physical boundaries, but also to the rhythms of life unfolding along its edges.
The exhibition was curated by architect and musician Asif Iqbal Antu, vocalist of the band Kaktaal, whose approach emphasised dialogue across disciplines. Project coordination was led by architect Fatima Nujhat Qaderi, a graduate of the Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology, who guided the research and collaboration underpinning the exhibition.
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Stories played a central role in grounding the research in lived experience. Postcards sold during the exhibition carried short narratives about children growing up around Dhanmondi Lake. Ecological concerns surfaced throughout the exhibition in subtle but insistent ways. Works addressing trees and water quality drew attention to the fragile relationships that sustain the lake’s ecosystem. One installation explored the declining bat population and their quiet role in fertilising the soil and maintaining ecological balance, challenging common perceptions of nuisance and fear.
The exhibition concluded with a performance by Goppo Theatre during the closing ceremony.
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“Layers of Dhanmondi Lake” suggested that the preservation of a space is not solely a matter of policy or expertise, but a shared ethical practice shaped by attention and care. To walk beside the lake, to listen to its stories, and to recognise its many layers is to acknowledge a responsibility that extends into the future. The lake cannot endure through government protection alone, but through the willingness of its community to remember, to observe, and to act.
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