ON + OFF. (Dis-) Embarking Rhythms of Transient Communities
A Network Installation by Stop and Go. A research/art project focussing on the routes, rhythms and emotions of transnational and urban mobility in Eastern Europe.
Introduction by representatives of the Port of Tallinn and the project team.
Opening hours: 9.30 am to 8.00 pm
Public Workshop and Bus Tour: Thursday, Sept. 17 11 am to 5.30 pm
Set up in the public space of the Tallinn harbour area, this intervention is both a part of a research project and a contribution to the satellite programme of the Tallinn Architecture Biennale “TAB 2015 Self-Driven City”.
A conventional trailer for boats has been adapted for use as a part of a mobile research lab, e.g. as a drawing board for large-scale two-dimensional mappings done on tour or, in this case, as a supporting structure for a larger scale three-dimensional installation.
On the macro-level this network installation represents an abstract map of the paths of individuals travelling from their departure point to their target destination with a ferry line operating regularly between Tallinn and Helsinki.
Via integrated loudspeakers the visitors of the installation can listen to narratives about the actors’ motives, rhythms, rituals, and routines parallel to their routes. These micro-narratives relate both to the individuals’ biographies and to more general historic, political, and economic transformations of the Baltic area, thereby interrelating transnational mobility flows and place-making in very specific sites. Moreover, these stories address socio-cultural/economic differences and effects that cause, among other things, (labour) migration and cross-border investment and consumption.
Paths and narratives are based on interviews done on site, but the characters are partly fictionalized to widen the scope of experiences. The installation does not intend to represent the final results of the larger research project rather to trigger further expertise from mobile individuals passing by during the period of construction and exhibition.
For more detailed information and the programme please visit:
www.stopandgo-transition.net/publication/tab/
“Stop and Go. Nodes of Transformation and Transition” is an ongoing international and interdisciplinary research and art project, hosted by the Academy of Fine Arts Vienna. The project focuses on routes, rhythms, and emotions at nodes and hubs of transnational mobility and migration in a triangle between Tallinn, Vienna and Svilengrad.
Stop and Go – Team:
Tarmo Pikner, human geographer, researcher at the Centre for Landscape and Culture, Estonian Institute of Humanities, Tallinn University, works e.g. about urban commons, ethnographies of transboundary infrastructure, and spacing of time and the effects on urban waterfronts.
Emiliya Karaboeva, historian, Department of Anthropology, Sofia University and Eindhoven University, works e.g. about Bulgarian international truck drivers during and since the Cold War.
Michael Hieslmair and Michael Zinganel, artists, architecture historians and curators, co-founders of the research platform Tracing Spaces, research associates at the Institute of Art Theory and Cultural Studies, Academy of Fine Arts Vienna, work e.g. in joint workshops, exhibitions, and publications about modernist mass tourism and mapping diagrams of urban and transnational mobility and migration.
