Museum for the United Nations (UN Live) is an initiative that brings together people from across the world to share experiences, stories, and local knowledge through immersive, conversation-driven encounters. As part of the GlobalWe programme, these dialogues take place through shipping-container portals designed by Shared Studios, where communities from different countries meet each other in real time.

I served as Co-Curator and Lead Facilitator for the Mumbai portal in collaboration with Compound13Lab, connecting residents, students, artists, activists, and community workers from Dharavi with participants across 22 countries. The project was supported by partners such as the MIT Cortico (Local Voices Network) and the IKEA Foundation, who contributed toward both the technological and social infrastructure that made these global conversations possible.

My work involved mapping local contexts, conducting ethnographic research, designing thematic workshops, facilitating sessions, analysing transcripts generated through Cortico’s AI tools, and coordinating between partner organisations and community groups. 

This included working closely with photographers, storytellers, musicians, youth collectives, and NGOs such as Nazareth Foundation, Sudharak Olwe (Photojournalist | recipient of India’s 4th Highest Civilian Award), G5A, Clyde Crasto (Nationalist Congress Party Spokesperson), Dharavi Rocks (Music band), Mamoni Chitrakar (patua artist), Rahul tazia craftsperson, Shripad Sinnakaar (poet), Narmada Bachao Andolan senior activists, Baburao Mane (Ex MLA), Pramod Mane (Sparrow shelter), Prutha Jain (project manager at C13Lab),  Laxmi Kamble (project manager at Acorn Foundation) and various people from waste recycling communities / organizations in Dharavi. 

These collaborations ensured that each session reflected the lived realities, interests, and concerns of participants, rather than being shaped by external narratives.

At its core, Global We is built on the idea that ordinary people can articulate global issues with clarity, precision, and emotional depth when given the space to speak freely. Through hundreds of conversations worldwide, the project has revealed nuanced insights about climate change, migration, inequality, care work, urban life, resilience, and community imagination.

The Mumbai portal contributed to this collective body of knowledge by surfacing the everyday experiences of people in one of the world’s most dense and complex urban settlements. Participants spoke about labour, neighbourhood belonging, environmental pressures, infrastructural challenges, collective creativity, and their visions for more equitable futures. These narratives became part of a larger archive that connects local experience to global patterns.

This project plays a significant role in how I understand public space, community environments, and shared infrastructures. It brought together my interests in embodiment, place-based experience, environmental realities, and the social life of cities. The work sits at the intersection of art, spatial practice, dialogue, and lived knowledge - reinforcing my belief that meaningful change often emerges from everyday voices and ground-level narratives.