Water shortage, migration, war and mobility are
just some of the themes that the artist couple Lucy and Jorge Orta have addressed
in their extensive body of work dedicated to the human condition in an era of global crisis. From the
bright-colored designs for Refugee Wear to the gurneys stacked up on a truck in
the M.U.I. VII – Nomadic Hotel and the rack of water containers in Orta
Water – Vitrine Argentina, the artists merge their respective backgrounds in fashion and architecture
to create striking large-scale installations which use a clarity of design and an apparent functionality
of objects to dramatize the plight of the refugee and the non-combatant.
With
the question of human survival at the core of their works, it is somehow fitting that they took their
most recent major project to the extreme environment of the Antarctic. Installed near the Marambio Antarctic
Base in March 2007, Antarctic Village - No Borders consisted of fifty igloo-like
tents made from traditional tent cloth, flags from countries around the world and items of clothing.
Evoking images of both a campsite and a refugee camp, the installation was an outgrowth of the Ortas’
ongoing interest in the region as a symbolic territory of hope – politically neutral ground containing
90% of the world’s ice and approximately 70% of its fresh water.
In parallel
to the Antarctic Village, the real inhabitants of the research station, an international
team of scientists, were invited to join the Ortas’ crew in a symbolic soccer game staged like an important
international match. However, each team carried a “multi-international” flag designed by the Ortas and
were dressed in uniforms that did not differentiate countries, or even teams. For the Ortas, the Antarctic
thus serves as a utopian site representing the notion of global statehood and they are currently even
developing a project for an “Antarctic passport.” As the Summer Olympic games draw near, the Orta project
is an evocative metaphor which encourages us to think in categories different from “country” or “victory.”
Human rights are the name of the game played out on the ice.
The exhibition
Antarctica is currently on view at the Hangar Bicocca, Milan.
All
images © Lucy Orta, Professor Art, Fashion and the Environment, University of the Arts London
Link:
www.studio-orta.com
