DABBA-WALLA - M Pravat's ongoing project

DABBA-WALLA an open studio evening of M Pravat's ongoing project. [dated September 2010]

F+F Schule fur Kunst, Zurich and Pro Helvetia New Delhi invite you to the Open Studio evening of M Pravat's ongoing project

DABBA-WALLA
an interaction and a multimedia presentation of M Pravat's performance project.
on 20 September 2010 at 5.30 pm at F+F Schule fur KunstUnd Mediendesign Flurstrasse89, Ch-8047 Zurich

About the Project: 
Across various cities in India, a large number of office-going people as wellas students are accustomed to 'Tiffin walla' meals during work-hours. The word 'tiffin' originated in India under the British rule, meaning lunch. Over aperiod of time, it has gained currency as packed lunch, which is either sentfrom home, or from eateries that cater to this facility.

The delivery of Tiffin boxes by Tiffin-wallas (Dabba-wallas) is a unique and complex system often under one delivery person who is responsible for getting thousands of tiffin-boxes to the right destinations. What is even more complex is the kind of dependence-structure that this creates between people on such a large scale in the recesses between hours of work. The lunch-hour of work is that gap between work when a person is not at work, but neither at home. This gap is filled by a basic necessity which varies in practice tremendously in different cultures.In the form of a performance interaction, 'Dabba-wala' attempts to re-situate a complex system of interdependence between people, one that centers around the already familiar steel tiffin-box.

For the project, I will play the role of the chef as well as the delivery-boy (dabba-walla), delivering tiffin-boxes to selected people for a period of 5 days. The entire process will be documented, culminating in a multimedia presentation and interaction which is open for everyone.

M Pravat