Reinventing the wheel!

Reinventing the wheel
 

(among wheels within wheels)

         An experiment with Art in our industrial purlieus



 

 

Why?

     Because,
 

It uplifts,

It exhilarates,

It enriches,

It refines,

It binds,

It connects,

and above all,

It raises spirits,

and more so if many roll up

And who says it is not an engineer’s domain?

We are the ultimate creators!!
 

we conceive,

we design,
we perspire,
we scream,
we toil,
we cry,
we simulate,

and, yes, we create!!

And so Art must imitate   our    lives

 

And what a life…….

Manufacturing a wheel is like giving birth to a baby. Figuratively, yes, but almost literally.

The cope & drag as parents;  their union begets a wheel.

Cope nurtured for cleanliness & sprayed ….

like a pregnant mother who has to keep her hygiene & imbibe medication.

Our workers are like midwives.
 

Wheel shop is like a Neo Natal clinic.
 

Risers from a newly cast wheel are weighed to assess the health of the wheel; like you weigh a baby at birth.

Hot wheels protected in a Hot Wheel Kiln, just as a new-born is kept in an incubator.

And just as the umbilical cord is cut off, we carve out the sprues on a hot wheel.

 

 

 

In the middle of red hot steel, carbon dust and screeching conveyors, in the Melt & Mould shops, Golden yellow red spray escapes from a furnace or a ladle brimming with metal lava, like the flourish of sparks rising on Diwali night or a shower of coloured flecks descending in Holi. 

And the workers go about their job as if it was some harmless intrusion in their routine.

Who would not be fascinated….

and indeed soon, be overwhelmed by this spectacle?

 

 

 

   

Naked dance of molten metal

There are visual marvels to be seen all over the factory.

A plethora  of  ocular feasts, waiting to be turned into a treasure of Art.

Are these workers involved in their work like artists?  they are not dispassionate automatons, for sure!

Engulfed by these thoughts, blessed to be endowed with such a unique canvas,

we had to act……….

 

A dip in infuriated bubbling red hot metal?

 The cycle of steel turning to red hot molt and then freezing to a solid steel wheel, is a hypnotizing process. There is something magical about the seemingly serene manner in which our workers handle the raging liquid metal and convert it into a benign cold grey solid wheel.

It makes you want to stare at them working, for hours on end.

 

Are the vibes we experience just an outcrop of idle empathy or are we looking at some treasure trove for artists?

Metal is popular with artists for use as a medium of their creativity. But can there be many who would find inspiration in our industrial processes?

An  big artist visited the factory and observed,  “The way you guys are choc-a-block with wheels and the way you arrange them! It’s a pleasing installation art for me,” he commented.

 

Our mind was made.

The gradual change in the face of the factory........
in the next post.