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Fondée en 2016 – Paris–Guebwiller

 

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INTERMODAL

Video art
19’16
USA
2024

SYNOPSIS

The ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach are not only among the busiest ports in the world, but they are also the largest port complex in the United States. Each year, they handle over 15 million cargo containers, which translates to over $300 billion worth of goods. The sheer scale of these operations is difficult to comprehend, with towering cranes that can lift and move cargo containers weighing over 100,000 pounds with ease and giant cargo ships the size of multiple football fields. Each day, these colossal ships arrive from all corners of the world, bringing with them an endless stream of commodities. The operations in these ports are simply massive, dwarfing the workers and machinery that move the containers from ship to shore.

The spectacle of these daily operations is both fascinating and concerning. On the one hand, the scale of the commerce, the efficiency and speed with which cargo is moved in and out of these ports, and the technological innovation that enables it are captivating. On the other hand, the environmental and social consequences of the globalized supply chains that these ports support are enormous. They are a testament to an architecture of power that exploits cheap labor forces in distant countries in order to feed affordable goods to one of the world’s largest consumer societies.

The video Intermodal provides a minimalist portrayal of this critical yet awe-inspiring spectacle. Through its static shots of cargo ships being loaded and unloaded, the video highlights the overwhelming sense of anxiety that these operations can produce, while inviting viewers to contemplate their complicity in a system that values profit margins, speed and efficiency over people and the planet.

CREDITS

DIRECTORS
Işık Kaya & Thomas Georg Blank

ABOUT DIRECTORS

Kaya & Blank are lens-based media artists whose work explores the ways in which humans shape and inhabit the world. The influence of neoliberal politics on the way we live has been an important part of their practice in recent years. Their projects often focus on traces of economic infrastructures to examine politics in built environments and how humanity’s dominance over nature finds its manifestation in everyday architecture. In their work, they erase the physical distance in between existing structures and create dense compilations of industrial fragments to construct new landscapes that look both alien and familiar at the same time.

Deeply grounded in documentary practices, their approach is characterized by a strong emphasis on research. However, by pushing the boundaries of how reality can be depicted, they transcend the domain of representation and create completely independent, often hyperreal visual worlds. As a result, the boundaries between reality and fiction in their work become blurred. By framing their subjects almost exclusively at night, they aim to accentuate the artificial and uncanny qualities of contemporary urban environments. This visual strategy often has the effect that the documentary parts of the works are interpreted by viewers as computer-generated images.

In exhibitions they turn their research and discoveries into multi layered installations. Photographs and videos are frequently supplemented by texts and objects. Their work often has a direct material connection to the topics depicted in their videos and photographs. By creating these complex, spatial compilations, they offer spectators an immersive experience that in equal measures shows conceptual depth as well as a rigorous formal execution.

TEAM

ANTONIN MECHLER
Festival Director

THIBAULT MECHLER
Chairman of Équipe Créative

VICTOR MERLET
Secretary

THOMAS GRANDJEAN
Treasurer

RAPHAËL MERCURI
Member of the board

JULIEN ROOS
Designer

JULIANA ZEPKA
Graphic design & webdesign

DANIELA ZEPKA
Community manager

THEOPHILE ALBINI
Director of Photography

Event organized
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