Launching Ceremony (2021)
Digital Video (B&W, sound, 17′) screened with live theremin accompaniment & site-specific installation at a shipyard
Although humans live their lives and build their institutions on land, they seek to understand the course of their existence through the allegory of a sea voyage. Our everyday communication is rich in nautical terms, with the sea itself being a powerful metaphor for describing the human condition. Sea navigation involves the transgression of human limits, and the conquest of the unknown, uninhabited world that the sea represents. If a shipwreck represents the end of a vessel’s life cycle, the launching or christening signifies its “birth” and represents the other most significant milestone in a ship’s life. Traditionally, the ship naming and launching ceremony constituted a blessing practice that called for the good fortune and safety of the new ship, its crew, and passengers. The ceremony is held at a shipyard when a new ship is ready to sail out once its construction has been completed. The master of ceremony is usually a woman who, acting as the ship’s godmother, breaks a bottle of champagne to bless the ship with luck in the presence of important guests – at times with an orchestra playing in the background. Such grand ceremonial launchings are not so common in our days anymore; when they do happen, they take place quietly, without mobilizing large crowds.
‘Launching Ceremony’ focuses on this initial milestone, the ceremonial launching of a new vessel. Centrepiece to the work is a found-footage film consisting of a montage of mid-century archival footage from international newsreels. Through the projection of filmic ghosts from times past, the work invites its viewers to partake in the ceremony and share moments of collective anticipation as ships embark on their first journey. By reanimating histories and memories of modernity, the work aims to bring an intentional anachronism face to face with the present moment and offer a space for reflection on free movement as well as lost futures in an increasingly entrenched, post-pandemic world.
The work was first screened with a live theremin performance by composer May Roosevelt, at the historical shipyard of Tarsanas in Hermoupolis, Syros, Greece as well as a site-specific installation at the shipyard through a nightly reactivation of its premises, during the course of the 9th Syros International Film Festival.
Credits: Music by May Roosevelt | Produced by Jacob Moe | Image processing by 2|35
A commission by the Syros International Film Festival (SIFF) realized with the support of NEON Organization for Culture and Development, in partnership with the Greek Film Archives.
“Launching Ceremony” at SIFF, Hermoupolis, Syros. July 2021 | Documentation
Photos by: Alexandros Petrakis, Myrto Tzima, Jacob Moe, Marina Gioti
Film stills
