Multiplicity - solid sea 03 : the road map

For the fifth time consecutively, attitudes is working in partnership with the Centre for Contemporary Images (CIC) on the Biennial of Moving Images. As 'politics' is the general theme of the biennial this year, we chose to concentrate on the work of Multiplicity, an Italian collective based in Milan which defines itself as a territorial investigation agency. Multiplicity, which is active in the domains of urbanisation, architecture, the visual arts and culture in general, initiates and develops projects in different parts of the world. This multidisciplinary collective is made up of architects, geographers, artists, urban planners, photographers, sociologists, economists, film makers, etc.

The piece we show in our space, Solid Sea 03 - The Road Map, is the result of an experiment carried out in the Jerusalem region. Members of Multiplicity accompanied, in one case by a person holding an Israeli passport and in the second a Palestinian, undertook two similar journeys. The first trip took one hour, the second more than five hours. These taxi journeys underline the extraordinary entanglement of zones, borders and control points which make this region one of the hardest in the world to inhabit.

The territories of Israel and Palestine are, these days, a laboratory of the world. The West Bank, particularly, is a region where an incredible variety of borders, enclosures, fences, checkpoints and controlled corridors are concentrated in few acres. On 13 and 14 January 2003 we tried to measure, with our EU passport, the density of border devices in the area surrounding Jerusalem. On 13 January we travelled from the colony of Kiriat Arba to the colony of Kudmin on the highway 60 together with a person with an Israeli passport. The following day we travelled from the city of Hebron to the city of Nablus together with a person with a Palestinian passport. The two routes both start and end in the same latitude; at some points they overlap. Their travelling times, however, are profoundly different. It took the Israeli traveller around one hour to move between the two latitudes, while it took the Palestinian five and half hours.
The West Bank territories are divided into three different zones: Zone A: under Palestinian Authority military and administrative control. It includes most Palestinian cities. Zone B: under Israeli military control, but under Palestinian Authority administrative control. It mostly includes Palestinian villages. Zone C: under Israeli military and administrative control. It includes most Israeli colonies. This partition produced a leopard-skin like territory, where the three zones alternate with each other without any apparent logic.
The different temporality of the two routes is due to the fact that, in order to move from a settlement to the other - from a Zone C to an other Zone C - Israeli travellers can use the so-called by-pass-roads: that is highways - often in tunnels or elevated - which link the colonies while by-passing Palestinian villages. On the other hand, Palestinian travellers who want to move from one city in Zone A to another in a different part of Zone A, must pass through B or C Zones which are under Israeli military control, crossing a number of checkpoints, both permanent and temporary - or trying to avoid them. The check points - which are situated along the 'Green line' that runs between Israel and the West Bank, as well as along the edges of East Jerusalem - cannot be crossed by those who have a 'travel document' issued by the Palestinian Authority unless they are also provided with a special permission issued by the Israeli government. Other checkpoints are activated daily and removed according to the Israeli government's security guidelines. (Multiplicity)

Solid Sea 03 : The Road Map, trajectories

Solid Sea 03 : The Road Map, a project of Multiplicity : Stefano Boeri, Maddalena Bregani, Marco Gentile, Maki Gherzi, Matteo Ghidoni, Sandi Hilal, Isabella Inti, Francesco Jodice, Anniina Koivu, John Palmesino, Alessandro Petti, Cecilia Pirovano,Salvatore Porcaro, Francesca Recchia , Eduardo Staszowski, Kasia Teodorczuk.
Solid Sea 03 : The Road Map is part of the Border-device(s) research developed by Multiplicity with :
Domus Academy, Milan (Emilio Genovesi, Federica Pastonesi); Class of Urban Managment and City Design (Selim Salah, Ivano Katuric, Robby Surya)
Berlage Institute, Rotterdam, second term studio 2003 (Veronica Acros Lagos, Noah Haim, Kiwoong Ko, Monica Villate + Sannah Belzer, Yuki Hashiba, Constanze Hirt, Jung-Jae Lee, Hui-Hsin Liao, Olga Skaba).
With the contribution of :
Kunst Werke, Berlin
Accademia di Architettura di Mendrisio, Clas of Territorial Culture 2002-2003, 3rd year
IUAV Venezia, Laboratory of urban projects, 2002-2003, 3rd year
Thanks to : Jeff Alper, East News Photo Agency - Warsawa, Africa'70 - Maurizio Caffarelli, ASF - Filippo Mascaretti, Hariklia Hari, Laura Trombetta Panigadi, Filippo Poli, Federico Zanfi.

Multiplicity is a an agency for territorial investigation based in Milan. Multiplicity is concerned in contemporary urbanism, architecture, visual arts and general culture. Multiplicity detects the physical environment, researching for the clues and traces produced by new social behaviors. Multiplicity promotes and organises projects in various parts of the world. Multiplicity is an ever-changing network, recruited in the various geographical area of intervention. The research network is formed by architects, geographers, artists, urban planners, photographers, sociologists, economists, filmmakers, etc. Multiplicity projects and produces installations, intervention strategies, workshops and books about the recent and hidden processes of transformation of the urban condition. .
At present, the Multiplicity network counts on around eighty researchers, involved in three major projects: USE-Uncertain states of Europe (Bordeaux 2000, Brussels 2001, Tokyo 2001, Perth 2002, Milan 2002); Solid Sea, a study of the Mediterranean presented at Documenta 11, 2002 a research about the proliferation of controversial bounderies in the contemporary world (Kunstwerke, Berlin, 2003 ; Biennale de Venise, 2003 ; Musée d'art moderne de la ville de Paris, 2003).
Other recent projects include Tokyo Voids (Tokyo, 2002), The Chinese Connection (Perth International Arts Festival, 2002) and Space World - a Void workshop (CCA Kitakyushu, 2002).
Publications include : Mutations (Arc en rêve, Bordeaux et Actar, Barcelone, 2001) ; Mutations (TNProbe, Tokyo, 2000), Geografie und die Politik der Mobilität (Generali Foundation, Vienne, 2003), USE Uncertain states of Europe (Skira, Milan, 2003).
Multiplicity wil take part to an exhibition on the thema of neutrality at Fri-Art, Fribourg, in sommer 2004.

www.multiplicity.it
www.borderdevice.org

The exibithion Solid Sea 03 : The Road Map of Multiplicity received the support of the Fonds d'art contemporain de la Ville de Genève (FMAC).

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