Can a Mumbai Museum on Wheels Change Perceptions of Slums?

Come February, a small museum on wheels will be rolling through the streets of Dharavi, a densely packed urban informal settlement tucked inside the heart of India’s financial hub, Mumbai. The Design Museum Dharavi, which will be the size of a small truck, will be the first museum to be built inside a slum.

But don’t call it a “slum museum,” says Jorge Mañes Rubio, an Amsterdam-based artist involved with the project. The mobile museum will make stops throughout Dharavi between February and March, showcasing crafts by local artisans, including textiles, pottery, and various products made with recycled materials. Rubio and his co-founders—Amsterdam-based art historian Amanda Pinatih and the directors of the Mumbai-based Institute of Urbanology (URBZ)—will also host workshops and other events that will bring together Dharavian artisans with designers and professionals from the outside.