Studio Orta

Antarctica World Passport Office is a component of the long-term research project 'Antarctica', which explores topics relating to the environment, politics, autonomy, habitat, mobility and relationships among peoples. For Lucy + Jorge Orta, Antarctica embodies Utopia: a continent whose extreme climate imposes mutual aid and solidarity. The ice landscape is a filter for the kaleidoscope that make up our nations and multi-ethnic identities, concentrating the colours, races and creeds into the sum of light, and a vision of Hope.

Passport offices are constructed with reclaimed wood and found objects including boats, water recipients, suitcases, toys, that tower and bulge over rudimentary structures synonymous with the shanty town and border crossings that artists have traversed in some of remotest corners of the planet. From the passport office are delivered editions of the Antarctica World Passport. The first passport office was presented at the Pirelli Hangar Bicocca in Milan, Italy for the artists’ survey exhibition (2008). Subsequent iterations have been created for museum exhibitions and Non-Governmental convenings relating to climat and migration. This passport office village was first created for the 2nd Athens Biennale on the Faliro waterfront (2009), a significant coastal location where migrants from North Africa attempt entry Europe. Passers-by spontaneously joined community with the passport office serving as a platform to openly discuss the Mediterranean refugee crisis.