Freebasin’ is a two-piece sculpture by Ryan Slivchak. The first piece depicts an urn-shaped basin comprised of used Coca-Cola cans; the second piece evokes the image of water in the shape of India. Freebasin’ counterposes the container used by rural women to fetch cooking and drinking water against the misappropriation of water by The Coca-Cola Company (TCCC) in the production of soft drinks; in the production, as TCCC puts it on their Indian website, of “little bubbles of joy.” Slivchak’s art work is part of an international grassroots protest against TCCC for its exploitation of water in India and its dumping of toxic waste in the rural areas of the subcontinent. In this way, Freebasin’ is grounded in contemporary concerns over globalization and the aesthetic.

The campaign against Coca-Cola originated in the southern state of Kerala, one of India’s most socially progressive regions. Since then, the campaign has spread throughout the subcontinent. Protesters have also gained world-wide attention and support in the print and televisual media (Foster 2008; Rogers 2006). After years of sustained protests, TCCC agreed to an independent assessment of six of its 50 Indian factories. The report confirmed water scarcity in certain locales and recommended that the company shut down operations and/or implement water harvesting technologies. TCCC officials responded by claiming that they plan to be “water neutral” in India by 2009, i.e., to harvest as much water as they use. Those involved in the campaign, in turn, claim that TCCC’s plans are just more company spin, since water neutrality is technically impossible. So the struggle over water continues, attracting a growing list of supporters from both developing and developed nations (cf. Fortun and Fortun 2007; India Resource Centre, n.d).

These serious concerns are part and parcel of the problems associated with the global reach of multinational corporations. But there is more to consider here and Slivchak’s art opens the door to other problems that may be overlooked in the push for water justice.  As Aiyer (2007) points out, the notion that Indians are suffering from a multinational corporation’s desire for profit is true but too simple. Aiyer positions the water problem in India in the context of the country’s economic neo-liberalization, government modernization plans, the scramble for foreign investment dollars, and the lure of manufacturing jobs.  These factors pre-date grassroots campaigns against TCCC (Aiyer 2007; Harriss-White 2005).