LOGISTICA IMAGES

The Leeds Pavilion, designed by No Fixed Abode, has partly been created to reveal some of the processes seen in the exchange and commissioning of art by providing a somewhat oblique representation of what is involved in the delivery of a biennial. This has been approached through concept driven design of the structural aspects of the pavilion and as such took the shape of four wooden freight containers (the ones usually used to transport cultural goods) which were constructed and emblazoned with individual designs/symbols. These crates remained empty but contained the volumetric space designated as the standard size of the pavilion. These were then forwarded to Amsterdam via DHL and through this process of transit the containers entered into the invisibility of a global mobility industry where, for short periods of time they had to be accounted for by temporary guarantors. What is interesting for us here is that through the playful extension of the standardised instructive symbols that usually adorn shipping crates they have entered into the subjectivity of these guarantors. This speaks profoundly of the many semantic voids which exist in what is registered as a reduction of cultural meaning. These gaps are extended further when placed within the space that has been drawn for the Leeds pavilion.