Arkhipelagos (Navigating the Tides of Time)

In the aftermath of a future catastrophe, survivors try to navigate where no geographical reference points remain, only time and weather reign. In ‘Arkhipelagos (Navigating the Tides of Time)’, the material debris present in the classical riverside building of our 2011 work ‘A View from the Other Side’ has broken free from the spatiotemporal gravity of history. What remains is open water and rafts built from the debris – the remains of a sunken world. The rafts no longer navigate the treacherous waters of the archipelago – they are the archipelago, a loose community without roots. The rafts create temporary groups, gravitating towards each other only to part again, carried by the winds and currents. If we look at this scene in the framework of Oikoumene (2012), the same rafts could just as well be sailing in the Mediterranean, off the Australian coast, in the Caribbean – aiming for the Promised Land. Climate, economy, social and political struggle – these are all present in this reimagining of the Raft of Medusa, simple at first glance but complex in its references.