Forensic Oceanography
Forensic Oceanography is a collaborative project between Lorenzo Pezzani and Charles Heller[1][2] in which they "critically investigate the militarised border regime imposed by Europe across the Mediterranean Sea".[3] Pezzani is an architect based in London and Heller is a film-maker based in Tunis.[4] They began in 2011[5] within Forensic Architecture.[2][3] Forensic Oceanography's investigations form the basis of reports and visual interpretations, which have been exhibited in art galleries and at art festivals in Europe.
Projects[edit]
The Left-to-Die Boat (2011),[6][7] about the European migrant crisis, "drew on an astonishing array of surveillance tools to document the case of a distressed migrant boat [. . .] without intervention from nearby Nato vessels, resulting in the death of 63 migrants."[1] Laura Cumming, writing in The Observer, described it as:
a devastating film [. . .] charting the fate of a migrant boat adrift between Tripoli and Lampedusa for 14 days. The vessel is a twinkling light in a liquid blue swirl on the glowing screen before you. Other lights come and go in brilliant constellations. These are the positions of all the many planes, helicopters, Nato vessels and fishermen’s boats that flicker around the migrants but never draw close. A thousand documents could not say as much as this brief and sorrowfully beautiful film in which all the lights fade, leaving only the one little spark which eventually dies away, emblem of what is now known as the Left-to-Die Boat.[8]
Blaming the Rescuers (2017) "dismantled allegations made by agencies such as Frontex and leading European politicians, who claimed charities were encouraging smugglers to use more dangerous tactics on the treacherous passage between Libya and Italy"; and "the idea that rescues by NGOs are to blame for an increase in migrants crossing."[9]
Group exhibitions[edit]
- Liquid Traces: The Left-to-Die Boat Case (2014) film was part of From Ear to Ear to Eye, Nottingham Contemporary, Nottingham, UK, 2018[8]
- Liquid Violence was part of Manifesta 12, Palermo, Sicily, Italy, 2018[5][10]
- The Left-to-die Boat and Death by Rescue were shown as part of Counter Investigations, an exhibition by Forensic Architecture at the Institute of Contemporary Arts, London, 2018[3]
References[edit]
- ^ a b Fullerton, Elizabeth (6 January 2019). "Political, forensic, hi-tech: how 'research architecture' is redefining art". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 5 July 2019.
- ^ a b Adams, Taylor; Ellick, Adam B. (23 January 2019). "How We Made an Invisible Crisis at Sea Visible". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 5 July 2019.
- ^ a b c "The European Union's Lethal Maritime Frontier". Institute of Contemporary Arts. Retrieved 7 July 2019.
- ^ "Forensic Oceanography". Visible. Retrieved 7 July 2019.
- ^ a b "Forensic Oceanography". Manifesta. 15 June 2018. Retrieved 7 July 2019.
- ^ Shenker, Jack; Willsher, Kim (11 April 2012). "Migrant boat tragedy: UK crew may have seen doomed vessel". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 5 July 2019.
- ^ "BBC World Service - The Documentary, The Left To Die Boat". BBC. Retrieved 7 July 2019.
- ^ a b Cumming, Laura (7 January 2018). "From Ear to Ear to Eye review – voices of battle and the bazaar". The Observer. ISSN 0029-7712. Retrieved 5 July 2019.
- ^ "Refugee rescue ships not colluding with smugglers, report finds". The Independent. 9 June 2017. Retrieved 5 July 2019.
- ^ Searle, Adrian (20 June 2018). "Manifesta 12 review – plant sex, puppets and a dial-a-spy booth". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 5 July 2019.
External links[edit]
- "Opinion: ‘It’s an Act of Murder’: How Europe Outsources Suffering as Migrants Drown", The New York Times, December 2018