A Coca Cola glass bottle I discard today can be unearthed a few hundred thousand years from now and be refilled and reused. This holds true for the vast majority of things we bring into our homes and later discard. The undying nature of these artifacts and their proliferation make them a valuable resource to understanding individual behaviour and in uncovering a collective history. As we delve more into this question, waste no longer seems like ‘matter out of place’ but a deliberate system to keep ‘matter out of sight’. When something loses its perceived usefulness, it quickly leaves our homes and begins its journey into the earth and its waters. Like museums that store specimens of our past in glass vials of formalin, we want to bring specimens of our garbage into an accessible space, where people can witness something that is actively hidden. In time our garbage will become an archive of the ever-changing nature of human aspiration and consumption.
Our sculpture takes the form of a human body cast in clear resin. The body serves as an encapsulation of our capacity to create, consume and discard. The transparency here is an invitation into the hidden. We hope that this sculptural installation will inspire conversations around desire, consumerism and decadence.
We want to invite people to come explore the materiality of garbage, and uncover and overcome one’s discomfort towards waste. We hope that this installation will get people interested in the journey of waste from the moment we procure something to when we decide to discard it. Our waste has a lot to say about ourselves. Our installation, ‘The Dark Fantasy’ is a playful/ provocative invitation into the narrative of waste.
Supported by United Way, Go Native, Hasiru Dala and Bohriali
Follow us on Instagram @thedarkfantasysculpture
Installed at The Bangalore International Centre
from January 21st 2020 - June 21st 2020
Featured on Stir:
With Natasha Sharma