IMMIGRATION IN SUITCASE

Conception:

For different reasons, outcast from their native born places, many people undertake dangerous journeys with the purpose to find better place for living. Many of them die during the way, traveling in suitcases, luggage-carriers and containers. Neno makes this performance as a research, to understand: what is it, which force so many people to immigrate in other country. What is the value of the emigration? And what is the value of the “better” life/ better?

Based on the idea that we unconsciously feel empathy with the characters in movie or in the picture, we watch; or in the book, we read, this performance is a result of the author’s desire to identify himself with the immigrants and to drive the spectators to put themselves in the place of the immigrants and to feel their suffering.

Not the governments, which accept them, but rather the governments, which force them go abroad, have to think on this problem, because the main reason for immigration is not the availability of good conditions in some countries but the absence of same conditions in some other countries.

Description:

It could be done directly on a street or in gallery space: in the open luggage-carrier a very small and old red car is visible closed suitcase. In the suitcase or box there is an alive man in embryonic position, who is the author of the project – Neno. Inside the box he is filming himself with video camera, which broadcasts video signal to a multimedia projector (beamer) or TV screen. The image of the sweating and suffering man in very uncomfortable position of the body in very tight space is projected on a big screen or wall or on TV monitor.

For example, the performance can be done also in cardboard box for home electric tool as big washing machine or similar - it is not obligation to be in suitcase (travel chest) or luggage carrier of a car (please, see the attached photos and the video-documentation!).

Please, find some links to video-documentation of previous participation of this video-performance in order the best of the performance itself:

• MONTAG MODUS I / 4 May 2015 / CHB (COLLEGIUM HUNGARICUM BERLIN) / Berlin, GERMANY: https://youtu.be/KpXADREmnn4

• TPA (Torino Performance Art Festival) / 14 June 2013 / GREEN CAT gallery / Turin, ITALY: https://vimeo.com/69328038

• 30th Instants Vidéo Numériques et Poétiques / 10 November 2017 / Marseille, FRANCE: https://youtu.be/v65HMdTH2CI

• ZOOart Festival / July 2014 / Cuneo, ITALY: https://vimeo.com/107019508

These from Italy are excerpts, because the performance itself is all the same all the time (only from Marseille and Berlin it is full duration): I stay in a big suitcase or a box for half hour or more and filming myself inside. On the stage are just the box with me inside and a screen, where my face is visible. I do not do any grimaces or I do not talk - I just stay there - that's all - very minimalistic. My performance seems to be boring one, but very often serious themes are boring and not funny. It examines the a hypothetical illegal immigrant journey. Now such journey is not possible (no, it is possible, but it will be not successful), because now the custom officers are equipped with thermal scanners, which can "see" human body inside a box or whatever else. But in 2007, when I started to do this performance, thermal scanners were not very popular and a lot of people still did such trips, hiding themselves in boxes, baggage carriers of cars, tanks and other things.

http://www.nenobel.net/neno-perf-2014-immigration.htm
http://www.nenobel.net/neno-perf-2013-immigration.htm