VENICE, May 8 ― The shipwreck will be displayed at the Venice Biennale, as part of a project led by Swiss artist Christoph Büchel.
It will be exhibited in the city's Arsenale, a former dockyard now used as one of the venues of the art biennale that opens this week.
On April 18, 2015, a fishing vessel sank between Libya and the Italian island of Lampedusa, with more than 1000 migrants on board. At least 800 people are believed to have died in the accident ― which is one of the deadliest shipwrecks in the Mediterranean to date.
Recovered by the Italian government in 2016, there were various proposals about what to do with the boat. It was eventually entrusted to the Sicilian commune of Augusta, which is one of the partners of Büchel's Barca Nostra project (“Our Boat”).
A press release explains that this art project “opens up the possibility of actively using the collective shipwreck Barca Nostra as a vehicle of significant socio-political, ethical, and historical importance.”
It isn't the first time that Büchel explores the issue of migration in his artworks. Renowned for his controversial installations, the Swiss artist set up a mosque inside a disused Venetian church for the 56th Venice Biennale. The project was closed by officials two weeks after its inauguration, due to security concerns.
Büchel's Barca Nostra is part of the 58th International Art Exhibition of the Venice Biennale. Entitled May We Live In Interesting Times, the exhibition was curated by the director of London's Hayward Gallery, Ralph Rugoff. It will open to the public on May 11 and will run through November 24. ― AFP-Relaxnews
