The Augmented Slum Scraper
A gigantic structure raised over the piles of garbage, looms over the site overlooking the waste pickers as they scavenge the mountains consisting of 9,200,000 tonnes for bio-degradable goods. It tries to consume the waste, engaging with the never ending consumption of the city. Hourly it is fed by the waste pickers. Providing it with the energy that it needs to grow. An ever growing structure expanding in height and its hunger for resources. Consumption and production at its core. An inflatable urbanism inflating and deflating with gas, almost breathing in this toxic environment. A bizarro of Antilla is born. A communal domicile for the waste pickers.
The polemic motif that ties the existence of the Augmented Slum Scraper to the city of Mumbai is interwoven within the existing contexts of the city. The social cast system. The misguided urban expansion. The never ending cycle of consumption.
Since when has Mumbai become the stage to this overpowering choreography of machinery? What has sparked this transformation to shift from seeing the misery of the landfill to the opportunity that it provides?
The city of Mumbai continues to grow and expand. The streets become more packed. The sounds of horns of the rigshaws and their tiny motors become more intense and loud. The change of smells as one moves through the city remain, giving clear orientation of the districts. The unnoticeable temples at the sides of the road. Everything remains.
Yet with a significant difference to the Mumbai that we know.
A mysterious projection of a shadow will glide through the streets and over the buildings of Mumbai. A sun clock one might think. Manifesting its presence in the growing urbanism of the city.