Barca Nostra ("Our Boat") was a project by Swiss–Icelandic artist Christoph Büchel that displayed at the 2019 Venice Biennale the wreckage of a fishing boat that had sunk with hundreds of migrants aboard. It was among the art world's top stories of the year.
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Description
editBarca Nostra was a hoisted shipwreck presented at the 2019 Venice Biennale.
The fishing vessel sank on April 18, 2015 after a tragic collision with a Portuguese container ship that had come to its rescue. The Italian Navy estimates that more than 800 migrants died on the vessel, trapped inside its hull. Just twenty-eight people were saved.[1]
Four years after the tragic shipwreck, the boat was released on April 18, 2019, destined for Venice. For the duration of the 58th La Biennale di Venezia, the ship was bearing witness to the thousands who have died attempting to cross the Mediterranean.[2]
Reception
editThe project was included among 2019's art world top stories.[3]
"It is a very important project, that boat is the symbol both of the human tragedy and of the political crisis that the migrant flow is causing to all of Europe", Giovanni Angileri, chief of staff of the Sicilian cultural heritage department, told CNN.[4]
Barca Nostra was called "a monument to contemporary migration" and a symbol of human tragedy that brings our collective responsibility into focus.[5]
Carlotta Sami, a spokeswoman for the United Nations’ refugee agency visited the boat and said: “I feel this cannot be considered a relic of the past. Today, a new shipwreck is telling us that that boat is our present.”[6]
The artwork has prompted critics for not providing any signage. Matthew Collings concluded "the work could not be more on the nail" since "people not knowing or caring about what is right in front of them, a thing they could in fact quite easily investigate, is surely the whole problem of the migrant crisis. It is the reason it remains a crisis."[7]
More than any artwork in the exhibition, by rendering visible what is generally hidden from public view, its presence encapsulates the danger, tragedy and trauma of forced migration.[8]
References
edit- ^ Miglierini, Julian (May 24, 2016). "Anatomy of a shipwreck". BBC News. Retrieved May 4, 2020.
- ^ Harris, Alistair. "MAVERICK LIFE: Barca Nostra and migrant deaths at sea — when art shames reality". Daily Maverick. Retrieved May 4, 2020.
- ^ "From a Paris inferno to the Leonardo tussle: the art world's top stories of 2019". www.theartnewspaper.com. December 10, 2019. Retrieved May 4, 2020.
- ^ Gianluca Mezzofiore; Livia Borghese. "Hundreds of people died on this boat. Now it will be displayed at the 'Olympics of the art world'". CNN. Retrieved May 4, 2020.
- ^ Lack, Jessica. "How to spend 72 hours at the Venice Biennale | Christie's". www.christies.com. Retrieved May 4, 2020.
- ^ O'Grady, Siobhán. "Analysis | A migrant ship with a tragic history is at the Venice Biennale. A new migrant boat sinking shows it's more than a relic". The Washington Post. Retrieved May 4, 2020.
- ^ Collings, Matthew (May 13, 2019). "What you need to see at the Venice Biennale 2019". Evening Standard. Retrieved May 4, 2020.
- ^ Fenner, Felicity. "As we face pressing global issues, the pavilions of Venice Biennale are a 21st century anomaly". The Conversation. Retrieved May 4, 2020.
Further reading
edit- Borghese, Livia; Mezzofiore, Gianluca (May 8, 2019). "Hundreds of people died on this boat. Now it will be displayed at the 'Olympics of the art world'". CNN. Retrieved March 9, 2020.
- Bromwich, Kathryn (June 8, 2019). "'We should be ashamed': bearing witness to migrant deaths at sea". The Observer. ISSN 0029-7712.
- Cascone, Sarah (May 14, 2019). "Did Banksy Infiltrate the Venice Biennale? The Mystery Street Artist May Be Behind a New Refugee-Crisis Mural in the City". Artnet News. Retrieved December 31, 2019.
- D'Arcy, David (May 8, 2019). "Wrecked ship on display at the Venice Biennale: '800 dead, it really goes to my heart'". The National. Retrieved December 31, 2019.
- Farago, Jason (August 13, 2019). "The Museum Is the Refugee's Home". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331.
- Harris, Gareth (May 7, 2019). "Deadly boat that sank with hundreds of migrants on board becomes work of art at Venice Biennale". The Art Newspaper. Retrieved December 31, 2019.
- Higgins, Charlotte (May 7, 2019). "Boat in which hundreds of migrants died displayed at Venice Biennale". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077.
- "In Venice, Christoph Büchel Will Show Ship That Sank in Mediterranean, Killing Hundreds of Migrants". ARTnews.com. May 6, 2019. Retrieved December 31, 2019.
- Jones, Drew (November 14, 2019). "7 major Venice tourist sites damaged by historic flooding". Houston Chronicle. Retrieved December 31, 2019.
- Langton, James (May 30, 2019). "At the Biennale, the new merchants of Venice trade in soft power rather than spices". The National. Retrieved December 31, 2019.
- Ma, Nathan (May 20, 2019). "A supposedly poignant symbol of the migrant crisis, the Venice Biennale's big, bad boat says more about bureaucracy than anything else". Prospect. Retrieved December 31, 2019.
- O'Grady, Siobhán (May 11, 2019). "Hundreds of people drowned when this migrant ship sank in the Mediterranean. Now it's on display in Venice's Biennale". The Independent. Retrieved December 31, 2019.
- O'Grady, Siobhán (May 10, 2019). "Analysis – A migrant ship with a tragic history is at the Venice Biennale. A new migrant boat sinking shows it's more than a relic". The Washington Post. Retrieved December 31, 2019.
- Paynter, Eleanor; Miller, Nicole (September 22, 2019). "The White Readymade and the Black Mediterranean: Authoring 'Barca Nostra'". Los Angeles Review of Books. Retrieved December 31, 2019.
- Pes, Javier; Rea, Naomi (May 16, 2019). "'Absolutely Vile' or 'Powerful'? Christoph Buchel's Migrant Boat Is the Most Divisive Work at the Venice Biennale". Artnet News. Retrieved December 31, 2019.
- Povoledo, Elisabetta (May 6, 2019). "Wreck of Migrant Ship That Killed Hundreds Will Be Displayed at Venice Biennale". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331.
- Ruiz, Cristina (June 13, 2019). "Dear Christoph Büchel, this is how you provide context". The Art Newspaper. Retrieved December 31, 2019.
- Ruiz, Cristina (May 14, 2019). "Fierce debate over Christoph Büchel's Venice Biennale display of boat that sank with hundreds locked in hull". The Art Newspaper. Retrieved December 31, 2019.
- Shaw, Anny (May 14, 2019). "Has Banksy painted a new mural in Venice?". The Art Newspaper. Archived from the original on August 3, 2019. Retrieved December 31, 2019.
- Small, Zachary (May 6, 2019). "Ship in Which Hundreds of Migrants Died Will Be Shown at the Venice Biennale". Hyperallergic. Retrieved December 31, 2019.
- Stock, Alexandra (May 29, 2019). "The privileged, violent stunt that is the Venice Biennale boat project". Mada Masr. Retrieved December 31, 2019.
- Sutton, Benjamin (May 6, 2019). "Wreck of Boat in Which Hundreds of Migrants Died Will Be Shown at Venice Biennale". Artsy. Retrieved December 31, 2019.
- "The Guardian view on the Venice Biennale's migrant boat: pushing the limits of art". The Guardian. May 17, 2019. ISSN 0261-3077.
- Tondo, Lorenzo (May 12, 2019). "I have seen the tragedy of Mediterranean migrants. This 'art' makes me feel uneasy". The Observer. ISSN 0029-7712.
- "Venice Biennale: Is exhibiting tragic migrant ship distasteful?". BBC News. May 15, 2019. Archived from the original on October 21, 2019. Retrieved December 31, 2019.
