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ARCHIVE

12th(2010)



Sahara Chronicle

Ursula BIEMANN

  • Switzerland
  • 2006-2009
  • 56min
  • DV6mmdigital, DV
  • color
  • Experiment, Documentary

SYNOPSIS

International Documentary Film Festival Marseille /
 Biennale Shanghai 2008

 

 

The video collection encompasses 7 short videos documenting the present sub-Saharan exodus towards Europe. The Tuareg tribes in their capacity of a transnational community play a central role in the trans-Saharan operations. An interview with a former Tuareg rebel leader gives insight into the post-colonial politics of space in the Sahara which are at the basis of the present situation.


 

 

 This is the collection of 7 videos documenting the present sub-Saharan exodus towards Europe. Ursula Biemann¡¯s previous work Remote Sensing depicting the route of the global sex trafficking was also screened at IWFFIS. The director constantly brings up the issues of geo-biopolitics by recording the routes of an exodus and the life of homo sacer on the road. She shows especially how responsible the European empire is for the current situation of Africa through interviews with the agency of transaharan migration, the coxer, the chief of Tuareg and the people who risked their lives to cross the borders. The borders of many African countries run through the Sahara but there are no material borders. There is only an endless field of sand and the invisible lines drawn by politics. However, once the line of nonsense is crossed, the shadow of death will be cast on them. They walk endlessly for 3 days without water. Every time they arrive at borders, they need to find new coxers and routes. Sometimes not even half of the group survives in the process but still they make attempts to escape. However, these people captured on the heat-sensing camera that watches the migration route are just moving dots. Life means nothing at all in it. It even looks like a cold and beautiful abstract art image. (CHO Hye-young)

PROGRAM NOTE

International Documentary Film Festival Marseille 2008
 Biennale Shanghai 2008

 


 Synopsis
 The video collection encompasses 7 short videos documenting the present sub-Saharan exodus towards Europe. The Tuareg tribes in their capacity of a transnational community play a central role in the trans-Saharan operations. An interview with a former Tuareg rebel leader gives insight into the post-colonial politics of space in the Sahara which are at the basis of the present situation.


 

Program Note
 This is the collection of 7 videos documenting the present sub-Saharan exodus towards Europe. Ursula Biemann¡¯s previous work Remote Sensing depicting the route of the global sex trafficking was also screened at IWFFIS. The director constantly brings up the issues of geo-biopolitics by recording the routes of an exodus and the life of homo sacer on the road. She shows especially how responsible the European empire is for the current situation of Africa through interviews with the agency of transaharan migration, the coxer, the chief of Tuareg and the people who risked their lives to cross the borders. The borders of many African countries run through the Sahara but there are no material borders. There is only an endless field of sand and the invisible lines drawn by politics. However, once the line of nonsense is crossed, the shadow of death will be cast on them. They walk endlessly for 3 days without water. Every time they arrive at borders, they need to find new coxers and routes. Sometimes not even half of the group survives in the process but still they make attempts to escape. However, these people captured on the heat-sensing camera that watches the migration route are just moving dots. Life means nothing at all in it. It even looks like a cold and beautiful abstract art image. (CHO Hye-young)

Director

  • Ursula BIEMANNUrsula BIEMANN

    Ursula Biemann is an artist, curator and theorist based in Zurich, her work focuses on gender, migration and the global economy. She exhibits her work internationally in museums, festivals and biennials and has published books on art practice in the field, video essayism, and geography. Recent art research projects include Black Sea Files on the Caspian oil politics and Sahara Chronicle on migration systems in the Sahara. Biemann is a researcher at the Universities of Art in Zurich and Geneva and holds an honorary degree from the Swedish University.

Credit

  • Screenwriter Ursula BIEMANN
  • Editor Ursula BIEMANN
  • Sound Ursula BIEMANN