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The National Instruments Limited was set up under the name of 'Mathematical Instrument Maker' in 1830 by George Everest. It was taken over by the Indian Government in 1957 and re-christened 'National Instruments'. The new factory was built in the academic-industrial-refugee belt of Jadavpur. NIL was a premier manufacturer of precision optical instruments and the maker of the first indigenous camera in India, the National 35. Like many public sector units it fell on bad times in the late 1980s and finally stopped production in 2003, when most of its employees were forced to leave. In 2009, Jadavpur University took over the factory premises to build a new campus.
The Media Lab undertook a major documentation project on the closed National Instruments Limited factory in 2009. More than ten photographers were commissioned by the Lab to create an extensive archive of stills and video over six months that produced floor by floor and room by room records of all the tools, objects and machines lying on the premises, testimonies of ex-employees, their personal effects, and other objects that made the place one of the most fascinating instances of industrial ruins.
Artists and filmmakers have been invited to respond to the massive stills and video archives. This has generated a number of videos, a blog, a sound installation and exhibitions. It is an ongoing project.