Students of JD Institute of Fashion Technology have made an installation using discarded items like PVC pipes, construction helmets and truck tyres. They share that their model comments on the government’s annual budget. By Shrabasti Mallik
While government may still be preparing its annual budget, students of JD Institute of Fashion Technology have already laid down the outline of the much-awaited financial event through their installation Budget 2015.
The installation which reads ‘Budget 2015’ has been made out of all things one would classify as crap, useless or trash. From tyres of tractors to construction helmets, AC ducts to old discarded landline telephones, discarded items reflect the ‘common man’s pocket’.
“We have used things which a common man would require and use in daily life. However, all these aspects are rapidly evolving and updating. The telephone has come a long way from the black ones to the cordless and now to hi-end mobile phones. That is why we have used the old versions of these things,” said Kappil Kishor, senior faculty member.
The ‘2’ of 2015 in the installation is made out of yellow construction helmets while ‘1’ is made of a spade. These objects are symbolic because they belong only to the labour class and have been deliberately used to show that even the slightest of amendment in the budget can affect them. The ‘0’, however, is made up of the steel rim of an old bicycle and PVC pipe moulding fitted with an old exhaust fan on top.
“People now are exhausted by the constant hike in prices, hence the use of the exhaust,” said Prabhleen Kaur, final year student. What would appear to be a few old telephones and computer keyboard placed haphazardly is actually the number ‘5’. “It is tech-based, just to show how these were of prime importance to us once but now they have no value,” she added.
Similarly the alphabets in the word ‘budget’ have been set up with old truck tyres, an old cylinder, hardware of discarded computers, old film rolls and video cassettes. “These are just to remind people now things have changed. How in the race to be modern — using the latest technology, upgrading from cylinders to CNG — we forget the old versions of these things,” said Deepali, another student.
While ‘B’ is made from the big and thick tyres of tractors, ‘U’ is made up of old AC ducts and table drawers. “The ‘l’ shape of the alphabet is made with the duct. The vertical part is made with three sets of drawers and both the separate parts are wielded together,” said Kishor. He further said that the ‘T’ is also made of AC ducts but is spray painted red to give it a different look.
Although the idea took them a day to develop, the execution was carried out in just a day. “We were having a conversation about the budget and we pondered upon how the budget of the new government would be like. With the high hopes that Modiji has given us, people are looking forward to a good budget,” said Kishor.
The students did not have to search high and low for these not-so-often-seen objects. They gathered the spade and construction helmets from a construction site at their institute. The rest of the materials were provided by the institute.