Philosophiae Doctor - PhD / In my thesis I focus on Cape Town’s imaginary of cinemas – popularly called bioscopes – within a larger historical approach to temporary film halls, picture palaces, atmospherics and drive-ins. My inquiry includes both conceptual and institutional lenses to show how cinema houses enabled particular affects, eschewed bureaucratic restrictions and questioned political authority over public spaces. I ask specifically: how did cinema help to forge audiences and political sentiment by mobilizing the senses? How was the public threat posed by so-called ‘flea-pit’ film halls of early twentieth century seemingly appeased by the private promise of the multiplex rooms in suburban enclosures? For this purpose, I examine the appeal of early twentieth century cinemas alongside their impact in the city’s geography and incipient public sphere to argue that cinema promoted a collective form of experience that bypassed both segregationist and liberal policies of governance.

Prologue is a health information system developed for underserved communities in Bihar, India. It is aimed at helping people living in poverty and with low literacy to take the right steps to manage their and their family’s health. Bihar suffers from one of the worst healthcare records in the country. This is as much due to the lack of access to the right information as it is due to the economic condition of the region. The inaccessibility of information is aggravated by the complex social set up in these communities, for e.g. women aren’t allowed to leave their homes and community has the strongest influence on an individual’s decision making. To make sure that right information permeates even to the most inaccessible user groups, especially women and to uplift community’s awareness as a whole, two different communication channels were designed-an interactive radio show and a public installation.