Some people want to run things, other things want to run
A guided detour
In a day-long, durational performance, artist Ofri Cnaani and choreographer Fabrice Mazliah invite visitors to join a tour of Venice that is narrated by the Venetians that keep the city moving: from the gondolier that manages the overflow of tourists or the porter who delivers stocks of merchandise, to the sanitation ship’s operator who collects the leftovers or the police ship that clears away unwelcome migrants from the public eye.
Center for this work is a temporary object that will be taken from the main exhibition and carried through the canals until its final destination in the municipal disposal area. This object, still part of the extravagant exhibit on the first day, will turn into an unwanted leftover on the day after the show.
The piece will offer a perspective on the movement of the 'residue' in the city and will study the municipal infrastructures and labor regulations that define what is a remnant in a city that a 'one-time exhibit' is its routine. The center for this piece is this transition between the production of the Biennale and its unwanted leftovers or residue that can be recycled.
The performance was produced and invited by Goethe-Institut and presented during Venice Architecture Biennale 2018, November 24.
While editing the film, Cnaani and Mazliah were working with the conditions, failures, and ramifications of the performative intervention.