Khirki ki Kahani showcased the many projects which aastha Chauhan conducted since 2004 in collaboration with the people of the village, through books and pamphlets. displayed on a table, the work was activated by the audience who were invited to read the literature and listen to the personal histories of the people involved in the projects through recorded interviews. Khirki ki Kahani (literally, the story of khirki) brings to the fore the issue of collaboration and the many questions inherent in the concept. What is collaboration? What is the role of a professional artist in such a project? aastha has been working with the khirki village for a few years; it is important to stress the temporal aspect of her engagement, as ‘trust’ is imperative for the success of any collaboration. She functions as a facilitator, working with adults and children in a balance between pedagogy and mutual learning.

another whimsically titled project is Khirki Kholo, literally ‘open the window’. a museum- like display cabinet contains neat rows of ‘artefacts’. a closer look reveals that these small objects made of clay, paint, matchsticks and a variety of ‘found’ material (tin foil, matchboxes, gutka packets etc) are actually toys made by children. this project with the children of khirki was facilitated by aastha and tulsi Ram. tulsi is a delhi based sculptor who works extensively in scrap metal and terracotta. Khirki Kholo plays with the idea of the museum, overturning the traditional model of the museum as an institution which archives, preserves and collects. Here, all the objects have been borrowed from the children who made them; an embedded video screen plays snippets from the workshop: the museum space is thus transformed into a living one