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From our shadows steps out the trader - always on the move
searching for what new to buy - and then sell again and
make some profits in the difference.
He wants people to buy and
buy - buy more at a good price what he has to sell;
for which he seduces the customer into a magical world
where in the role of a consumer s/he can become sexy powerful and loved
just once they attain his goodies into their pockets.
Such has the desire of the
consumer being nourished that
now there is nothing that s/he ( I ) cannot feel greedy for.
To cover the body - to dress it up, to now the body itself - which is
on the shelf for sale.
I can buy red earrings as
easily as I can buy a kidney once mine does not work and I can order
a baby to match my earrings- in time to come.
***
The room, it is dense with green fluorescent light - cold, clinical,
seductive.
show shop
The little pretty objects
look familiar.
The text next to it- which
says “Drop a kidney into you bag” makes it clearer.
And suddenly there is a feeling of comfort,
as I slip into my very comfortable godlike (even if deceptive) role
of being a consumer.
It IS the kidney on the shelf for me now, in case my very own one from
my very own body fails to function. Maybe it has already failed and
that’s why I am being offered one for free.
And hey ! along with it there
is an Instruction Manual.
Good, it is illustrated as that helps.
And what is that at a distance!
More kidneys! Great there is a variety too, red and green and yellow.
I like variety.
It gives me a choice even if I don’t need it.
And while I take time to
decide which colour to go in for
I look into the TV. It is an ad
Feels familiar
Swirls out Your Kidney Supermarket logo and it swirls back
into a bowl of kidney
I see a kidney transplant operation as to how people have used this
object before
And
I can place my hand on the TV screen and measure my kidney size
My Kidney = the Size of my fist
Can double confirm this on the Kidney poster
Cut my size L1 L2 L3 L4
Choose the route - perhaps from a mother who is selling her kidney for
her daughters wedding dowry!
and place a direct order with WHO New Delhi
Anyways I take the kidney home and start to read the instruction manual
which comes with it, It says:
‘Please check if you have all the following in your packet
The kidney
A tiny cotton cloth pc of 2 x 2 inches
Four pieces of sugar
Three leaves of tea
plus
A Game to play!
Join the dots to and discover
the routes
South to North
From Black/ brown person to white
From woman to man
If not local then hop onto to a trade route of your choice and simply
get what you want!
Its fun to play,
especially as I can always win.
At least I made to feel powerful sexy and loved.
I play the game again. And already played it once before in the green
room before. I won again. I now read the instructions from manual, it
says,
a) Remove Kidney and place
on table
b) Melt Sugar Cubes and apply liquid with brush on kidney surface
c) Let it Dry
d) Once dried cover kidney with cotton piece/shroud
e) Then hold it the palms of your hand
e) Go to backyard, dig hole in soil and place it along with provided
tea seeds. If backyard unavailable, use garden pot.
In case of distress if your kidney plant does not grow from your soil
contact your local VOC - The Dutch East India Company office
in India it was
contact your local hospital ward boy - the trade is so deep there
here it is have changed it to Contact your local Nestle office
***
This project is based on, ‘market economy rules’ and greed
that is perpetuated to the bizarre by the emphasis on free trade under
the veil of globalisation. Often this bizarre is possible as there is
complete lack of social and humanist relation in the transaction which
is all about economics. It is not a new phenomenon and it happening
for very many years and has beginnings when the first multinational
company sailed ships to far off nations to trade-capture-rule and then
rule and trade all across the seas. The distance of the seven oceans
working to a superb advantage as the consumer is comfortably far off,
blissful and untouched by the bizarre (read grossly inhuman) social
perils that often lay at the source of production.
Shilpa Gupta
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