SHIFTING SANDS
CATEGORY: Performative workshop, Sculpture
DATE: 02/2020
PHOTOGRAPHY: Robert Andriessen, Lorenzo Vitagliano︎︎︎
As part of the Pedagogies of the Sea design research course︎︎︎
co-founded by Angela Rui︎︎︎ and Formafantasma︎︎︎
Exhibited at AQUARIA - Or the Illusion of a Boxed Sea, MAAT︎︎︎
Using the body to illustrate and record the effects of erosion and land subsidence, “Shifting Sands” offers a collective and narrated workshop intended to immerse participants into the process of sand casting.
The performance in four acts gradually emulates the extractive systems of river sand mining and conclusively unfolds the political tensions between two areas of Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam. One that is in constant flux, where displaced communities and vernacular architecture downstream are uprooted by sand mining and its effects on soil erosion, riverbank collapse, land slides and flooding. While the fixed area of the city profits from the extraction and transformation of sand, from concrete to reclaimed land and the construction of skyscrapers, incompatibly accelerating the sinking rate in the region.
The resulting compilation of sand-casted vessels is presented as a peaceful manifestation of protest against river sand extraction practices and unsustainable land reclamation projects in the Mekong River Delta.
