Cities may not always be built out of imagination, but imaginary cities do require some thought. At least for Ramona Poenaru, a videographer and visual artist, and actor and theatre director Gaël Chaillat. Inspired by the ideas of American philosopher Henry David Thoreau, the French artistes embarked on the project Des châteaux en l'air (Castles in the air) in 2012.

"As you simplify your life, the laws of the universe will be simpler; solitude will not be solitude, poverty will not be poverty, nor weakness weakness," Thoreau had written in Walden or Life in the Woods, a book where he reflects on natural surroundings, while living in a cabin alone and constructed by himself around Walden Pond in Massachusetts. Thus, Poenaru and Chaillat have invited the public to build an imaginary city, using corrugated sheets sans glue or tape, at Mumbai's JJ School of Architecture. This participatory installation, called Shelter, can be spotted today at the campus, where other performances will follow; a poetry reading by professor Mustansir Dalvi, a lights performance with the students and video mapping by the artistes.