On container shipping

Raphaël Constant was in residency at 1646 from March to April.

Constant travels with his “nomadic studio” to areas and countries such as the Amazon, Cambodia, Ghana and Korea. Since he is not tied to a fixed workplace, he experiments with the local population, experiences, lifestyles, history and cultures, which he uses as materials. This results in a versatile method – he made photography, graphics and sculptural work, but his most recent works are in the field of video. Each video work arises from completely different situations where different cultures projected through the artist’s emotions towards others and his own identity.

During his residency at 1646, Constant started the production of a new video work which focuses on container shipping. Constant: “Seeing the gigantic floating buildings carrying cargoes all around the world. Leaving or returning to Rotterdam. […] To me, these buildings are the reminiscence of the past conquests. […] But at the same time, they are, today, the first agent of the modern globalized world. ”

As part of his research, Constant organized a public excursion to the port of Rotterdam.