A gallery for (not only) text and visual art on the cyclo-rickshaws. Delhi, North Campus, 2019 - 2023.

Throughout the day, the multiple voices calling, “Metro, metro?” can be heard from the places where the cyclo-rickshaw drivers compete for potential customers to ride in their carts. The drivers, who mostly come to Delhi from poor neighboring states to support their families during the agricultural off-season, often earn so little that they cannot afford even the cheapest accommodations, so they sleep in the streets on the seats of their carriages. Instead of promoting the most environmentally friendly form of transportation in one of the most polluted cities in the world, the city council administers a restrictive licensing policy, pushing many cyclo-rickshaw drivers to the margins of legality.

 A gallery for text and visual art installed on cyclo-rickshaws, this project not only explored the possibilities of mobile art installations in the public space of one of the world’s most populous cities, but also recognized the value of rickshaw drivers’ labor. Importantly, it also provided each driver with a small financial reward for each exhibit. 

The gallery took the form of one large rectangular banner (50x80 cm) and two smaller trapezoidal banners (50x58x48x34 cm) directly mounted on the carriages.