Shore Leaves
Video Installation: 2-ch. Color Silent 19’35”
with Giuditta Vendrame and Giulio Squillacciotti
La Biennale di Venezia
16th International Architecture Exhibition
Dutch Pavilion / Work, Body, Leisure
16th International Architecture Exhibition
Dutch Pavilion / Work, Body, Leisure
2018
If technology freed workers from harsh labour and reduced working time, what does freetime look like for the seafares harboured in the ports of Venice and Rotterdam? Shore Leaves offers an entry point to the everyday world of seafarers, portraing those moments when the pace of logistical handling slows down. Shore leave stands for time off-work, that can be spent ashore: these moments are vital for the health and wellbeing of seafarers and they represent the short hours when sailors can connect with their families and friends.
The video documentation was produced during fieldwork aboard bulk carrier and container cargo ships harbored for loading and unloading in the ports of Venice and Rotterdam, and at the seafarers organizations that in both cities provide practical assistance and support to seafarers of all nationalities.
Focusing on the spaces and gestures of this waiting time, the project confronts a reality that is generally concealed. The machinic efficiency in the circulation of the goods on which our economies are highly dependent has a counterpart: while human presence and labor are still indispensable and of infrastructural importance, human bodies strive to adapt to remodeled times and spaces and descend further beneath a threshold of visibility.
The video documentation was produced during fieldwork aboard bulk carrier and container cargo ships harbored for loading and unloading in the ports of Venice and Rotterdam, and at the seafarers organizations that in both cities provide practical assistance and support to seafarers of all nationalities.
Focusing on the spaces and gestures of this waiting time, the project confronts a reality that is generally concealed. The machinic efficiency in the circulation of the goods on which our economies are highly dependent has a counterpart: while human presence and labor are still indispensable and of infrastructural importance, human bodies strive to adapt to remodeled times and spaces and descend further beneath a threshold of visibility.
stills from the video;
view of the installation;
view of the rietveld pavilion (photo: daria scagliola).