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SPACE MERCHANTS Rome, Italy 2008
The exhibition is a step along the ongoing research period carried out by the artist over the last few years in various European harbour cities, including Helsinki, Rotterdam and London. The harbours of the globalised world; where ever identical merchandise is hosted temporarily; spaces are transformed into containers by transnational market; non-places always alike anywhere in the world, depersonalised, reduced to merchandise themselves: these are the protagonists of Space Merchants.

The site-specific installation by Daniela De Paulis takes its title from a classic 1950’s sci-fi novel, The Space Merchants by Frederik Pohl and C. M. Kornbluth. In a hypotetical futuristic hyper-populated world, economy replaces politics; publicity becomes a mirror and measurement for human values and merchandise a sign of happiness: afterall a reality not so far removed from the condition of the new Millennium.

The Fifties are a pivotal time reference for two of the most iconic ‘Space Merchants’ of our times, the food carton container Tetra Pak, invented in 1951, and the container for shipping, first used in 1954. The context of the exhibition allows these two spatial measurements to be traced as contemporary, unrivaled agents of trading merchandise on a global scale.

To see a video sequence from the Space Merchants exhibition click here

 

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INVISIBLE CITIES, Finland 2006
Inspired by Italo Calvino’s novel of the same name, the series of installations called Invisible Cities aims at visualizing the changes occurring in the contemporary cityscape. Cities are in the process of becoming areas of indeterminate extension where spaces are allocated according to the necessity for improving mobility of fluid capital.

Recurrent topic is the container for liquid food (TetraPak) that has become part of our living and working spaces. This represents the moulding shape and trademark that gives form to the geometric patterns composing the installations/cityscapes.

The ability to create spaces that are flexible, economic and mobile is a characteristic of fluid capitalism.
INVISIBLE CITIES, Video-Installation
The installation is realised using ice moulds carved into 1L carton containers and white felt.The video shows images of the Helsinki harbour where container ships are loaded and unloaded: containerisation of space is here related to international sea transportation.(click image to play video)
INVISIBLE LINES, Performance/Installation, Finland 2006
The work aims at tracing an invisible line between the social, cultural and econmic past of the city of Helsinki and its recent technological transformation. Invisible Lines are stretched across industrial areas of the city recently converted to leisure destinations or residential developments