Ahmedabad's Museum of Conflicts gets top US Curry Stone award for "promoting" peace through design

Museum of Conflicts, Ahmedabad

By A Representative
Ahmedabad-based museum of conflicts, Conflictorium, situated in the heart of the walled city which is the latest recipient of Unesco’s prestigious World Heritage tag, has been awarded the Curry Stone Design Prize, an yearly award in honor innovative projects that use design to address pressing social justice issues.
Supported by the Curry Stone Foundation, the prize rewards projects that improve daily living conditions of people in communities around the world. According to a Foundation source, the winning projects emerge from a wide pool of nominations, which are selected by a rotating team of approximately 200 contemporary design leaders from across the world.

“Selection is via a jury process, with the jury composed of Foundation members and invited international experts”, the Foundation, which is a registered US non- profit corporation in the state of Oregon, adds.

One of the 100 “most compelling” social design practices across the globe, commenting on the award to the Coflictorium, the Foundation says, it is “a new kind of museum and interactive cultural centre dedicated to exploring and reconciling the conflicts of South Asia.”
It adds, “The centre aspires to integrate art, law, history, culture and behavioural sciences to offer lessons and promote dialogue about the nature of conflict and the evergreen possibility of resolution and reconciliation.”

The Foundation underlines, “Most museums and memorials across the world focus on a particular conflict, or on the particular dimensions a conflict. They memorialize a battle, a war, a genocide, or a victory.”
Against this backdrop, it adds, the Foundation decided to “honour Conflictorium, because it aspires to transcend this limited framework and speak more holistically about how conflicts begin and how they can be resolved.”
Noting that Conflictorium was “designed with a series of thoughtful, universal exhibits”, the Foundation gives the example of the Gallery of Disputes in the museum, “which aims to bring forth various kinds of conflicts and their causes in the context of our social fabric.”

It adds, “The Gallery of Disputes illustrates these conflicts and their causes through storytelling, using animal characters and other devices to ensure that the narratives remain universally accessible.”
Pointing towards other exhibits in the Conflictorium such as the Empathy Alley, the Moral Compass, the Memory Lab, and the Sorry Tree, the Foundation says, “All exhibits focus continuously on unpacking conflict as an idea, and understanding the universal themes of intolerance which undergird all conflicts the world over.”
Other recipients of the award under the motto, “What can design do to promote peace?”, are Decolonizing Architecture Art Residency, Beit Sahour, Palestine; Hester Street, New York, USA; the Foundation for Achieving Seamless Territory, Amsterdam; Museo dell’Altro e dell’Altrove di Metropoliz, Rome; Bait al Karama (House of Dignity), Nablus, Palestine; Turquoise Mountain, Edinburgh, UK; and the Refugee Academy, Berlin.
Designed by Ahmedabad-based culture activist Avni Sethi, Conflictorium was founded on April 14, 2013 by a group of voluntary organizations, Centre for Social Justice, Janvikas and Navsarjan Trust, in the Gool Lodge, Mirzapur, Ahmedabad.

Conflictorium is inspired by top Turkish Nobel laureate novelist Orhan Pamuk, 65, who founded Museum of Innocence in Istanbul in 2012, where a collection evocative of everyday life and culture of Istanbul. His second novel after receiving the Nobel Prize in 2006 is called “Masumiyet Müzesi” (The Museum of Innocence), which came out in 2008.

Comments

From Kerala to Bangladesh: Lynching highlights deep social faultlines

By A Representative The recent incidents of mob lynching—one in Bangladesh involving a Hindu citizen and another in Kerala where a man was killed after being mistaken for a “Bangladeshi”—have sparked outrage and calls for accountability.

What Sister Nivedita understood about India that we have forgotten

By Harasankar Adhikari In the idea of a “Vikshit Bharat,” many real problems—hunger, poverty, ill health, unemployment, and joblessness—are increasingly overshadowed by the religious contest between Hindu and Muslim fundamentalisms. This contest is often sponsored and patronised by political parties across the spectrum, whether openly Hindutva-oriented, Islamist, partisan, or self-proclaimed secular.

Aravalli at the crossroads: Environment, democracy, and the crisis of justice

By Rajendra Singh* The functioning of the Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate Change has undergone a troubling shift. Once mandated to safeguard forests and ecosystems, the Ministry now appears increasingly aligned with industrial interests. Its recent affidavit before the Supreme Court makes this drift unmistakably clear. An institution ostensibly created to protect the environment now seems to have strayed from that very purpose.

Safety, pay and job security drive Urban Company gig workers’ protest in Gurugram

By A Representative Gig and platform service workers associated with Urban Company have stepped up their protest against what they describe as exploitative and unsafe working conditions, submitting a detailed Memorandum of Demands at the company’s Udyog Vihar office in Gurugram. The action is being seen as part of a wider and growing wave of dissatisfaction among gig workers across India, many of whom have resorted to demonstrations, app log-outs and strikes in recent months to press for fair pay, job security and basic labour protections.

India’s universities lag global standards, pushing students overseas: NITI Aayog study

By Rajiv Shah A new Government of India study, Internationalisation of Higher Education in India: Prospects, Potential, and Policy Recommendations , prepared by NITI Aayog , regrets that India’s lag in this sector is the direct result of “several systemic challenges such as inadequate infrastructure to provide quality education and deliver world-class research, weak industry–academia collaboration, and outdated curricula.”

The rise of the civilizational state: Prof. Pratap Bhanu Mehta warns of new authoritarianism

By A Representative Noted political theorist and public intellectual Professor Pratap Bhanu Mehta delivered a poignant reflection on the changing nature of the Indian state today, warning that the rise of a "civilizational state" poses a significant threat to the foundations of modern democracy and individual freedom. Delivering the Achyut Yagnik Memorial Lecture titled "The Idea of Civilization: Poison or Cure?" at the Ahmedabad Management Association, Mehta argued that India is currently witnessing a self-conscious political project that seeks to redefine the state not as a product of a modern constitution, but as an instrument of an ancient, authentic civilization.

Why experts say replacing MGNREGA could undo two decades of rural empowerment

By A Representative A group of scientists, academics, civil society organisations and field practitioners from India and abroad has issued an open letter urging the Union government to reconsider the repeal of the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) and to withdraw the newly enacted Viksit Bharat–Guarantee for Rozgar and Ajeevika Mission (Gramin) Act, 2025. The letter, dated December 27, 2025, comes days after the VB–G RAM G Bill was introduced in the Lok Sabha on December 16 and subsequently approved by both Houses of Parliament, formally replacing the two-decade-old employment guarantee law.

Bangladesh in turmoil: Rising insecurity, sectarian forces gain ground

By Bharat Dogra Many who initially welcomed the ouster of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina are now reconsidering their stance. The reasons are stark. Law and order has deteriorated sharply, leaving large sections of the population—particularly political opponents—deeply vulnerable. Minorities report growing insecurity, with disturbing incidents of targeted violence. Inter-faith harmony is under unprecedented strain, while prospects for fair elections are fading as major political parties, including those with strong minority support, face exclusion and obstruction.

Why Sheikh Hasina has never apologised to Bangladesh’s Hindus

By Nava Thakuria* Amid rising anti-India rhetoric, Bangladesh has recently witnessed fresh turmoil following the death of a young radical leader, Sharif Osman Bin Hadi. As the situation gradually returns to a semblance of normalcy, the South Asian nation is preparing for its next general election, scheduled for 12 February 2026. These highly anticipated polls, coming in the aftermath of the student-led mass uprising of July–August 2024 that culminated in the overthrow of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, will notably exclude her party, the Awami League, which had ruled the Muslim-majority country of nearly 170 million people for years.

Search This Blog