Swiss artist Raphael Perret has put together a unique art exhibition at Swissnex India, Crescent Park Apartments, 26 Rest House Crescent Road in Bangalore. He uses e-waste as his medium of art. His plan is to use art as an instrument to focus people and society’s attention on the urgent issue of e-waste and its hazards. Thus he has used e-waste as a storytelling medium.
The exhibition is called Recycling Yantra, and is hosted by Perret and organised by Swissnex Bangalore. Yantra is a Sanskrit word meaning machine, and Perret’s exhibition strikes a chord that goes to the heart of the issue – the widespread presence of dangerous electronic waste in the recycling sector in the country.
The exhibition includes a video of 60 minutes, and Perret has documented how the network disassembles broken electronics. Perret has put together 10 interviews of recyclers, each of them representing one step in the disintegration process of the machines.
To go along with the video, Perret has put together a Smarahara Yantra (remover of desire) that is spread out on the ground. This is made of pieces that he has collected from different stages of the dismantling. “Talking to the people involved and watching the work that they do was an eye-opening experience. I have tried to show their reality in an unbiased way, at the same time providing some background information for the public. I believe it is important for Indians as well as non-Indians to understand the gravity of the situation,” Perret says.
Perret understands that a serious topic like e-waste management is not spoken about through the means of art but since art has the power to move public opinion, Perret feels that it can inspire people and society into action. “People need to ask themselves these imperative questions – ‘Do I really need this gadget?’, ‘What happens to the old one, and the waste generated from it?’ As consumers, we are trained to desire goods and it may be a good idea to contemplate on this desire,” he says.
The exhibition is open till September 7.