Circle of Confusion

One line from this article grabbed me:  "It is impossible to grasp the city, one can only take a fragment of it." [Image Source] | Circle of Confusion by Joana Hadjithomas and Khalil Joreige | Photographic installation | Mirror, colour digital prints (3,000 pieces), ink inscriptions.

The work resonates with the aim of my project, as it seeks to represent the city of Beirut: how it's various and poorly documented conflicts have cut it into pieces, making it impossible to make a "true" picture of it, inviting the user to destroy the city by taking pieces off the board and scattering them, revealing a layer beneath. One of the questions brought up in the article is: "How does the viewer’s participation in this work, by removing and taking possession of a fragment of the city of Beirut, add to the meaning of Circle of Confusion?"

Similarly I can attempt to create a question for my work: How does the viewer's participation in this work, by revealing the hidden city of Mumbai in the viewer's shadows, add to the meaning of Mumbai+Bombay?

26/11 Attack: Video footage

Documentary footage from the 26/11 attack on mumbai where 9 gunmen left more than 170 people dead over 3 days, and targetted the Taj Mahal hotel, Oberoi, Cafe Leopold (which I still frequent), CST and Cama Hospital. Created by Dan Reed, Terror in Mumbai uses CCTV footage and recorded conversations between the gunmen and their handlers in Pakistan to create a realistic picture of what happened that day.

(Image: BBC Source)

[vimeo http://www.vimeo.com/15290936]

[Video Source: Channel 4, HBO: Dan Reed]

This is an important aspect in creating the cityscape that shall represent the "here" rather than the elsewhere, the reality of what Mumbaikars have to face everyday.