Mumbai (Bombay) is India’s most populous city; over 18 million people live and work in its wider metropolitan region, tightly-packed on a thin stretch of land between the Arabian Sea and the Gulf of Mumbai. Built on seven small islands progressively linked by land reclaimed from the sea, Mumbai’s growth has, until recently, been constrained by its physical geography. The city has grown along corridors created by an extensive suburban railway, though residential development often consists of slum settlements crowding dangerously close to the tracks.
The population increased tenfold last century, but sustained immigration and a high birth rate is set to produce a 20% growth in the next decade. More than half the city’s population lives in slums (a figure roughly equivalent to the population of London). Rapid urbanisation has produced poverty, poor health and employment instability. Lack of investment in transport, sanitation and housing means that Mumbai is fast approaching breaking point. Solutions to such major urban issues are needed urgently. However, Mumbai is currently controlled by the state of Maharashtra and Indian central government, and as such suffers from a decision-making system that lacks the knowledge and power to implement changes sensitive to local needs.

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Eva Koch:NoMad
Instalación de video, 1998

Sobre una línea fina, un estrecho rompeolas divide el cielo y el mar, y sobre el rompeolas, una corriente de personas se traslada. El camino tiene sus peligros, constantemente las fuertes olas se abalanzan sobre el rompeolas y cubren de agua a los viajeros. Van de la nada a hacia la nada, caminan y van, mientras que la energía con la que se mueven, nos habla de un destino futuro que no llegamos a ver. Lo caminado desaparece, delante queda solo una sospecha.
El dique, la escollera es visible y de repente desaparece bajo las aguas, es una transición, un pasaje que une dos lugares, un intermedio entre aquí y allí.
El sonido es de ruido artificial que imita el sonido real, el sonido esta construido en alternancias, de sincrónico a discordante. El sonido y la imagen son dos elementos abstractos que en la percepción corresponden a un significado intencionado de una realidad ficticia.

Texto de Mai Misfeldt