Rosalind Nashashibi - Bachelor Machines Part 1

About

In its singular exploration of life on board, Nashashibi’s latest film can be understood as a genre piece presenting a contemporary version of seafaring whose precedents lie in historical literature, painting and films. The work stems from the artist’s interest in these depictions of ocean life and voyages. Her influences range from the novel Mason & Dixon by Thomas Pynchon – charting the story of two Englishmen travelling to America in the 17th Century to plot the state boundary line between Maryland and Pennsylvania – to Jean Vigo's luminous 1934 film, L'Atalante.

Nashashibi sees the ship’s company as the ultimate closed community. Operating under a hierarchy strictly adhered to and headed by the absolute authority of the ship’s master, the community’s off-shore condition gives it the semblance of a floating independent state. The film’s rhythm develops from the intensity and claustrophobia inside the ship, counterbalanced by the empty expanse of the ocean and extreme weather conditions. Three different modes of capturing the ship and its crew can be identified: a close and direct observation of the dynamics of individuals in a confined environment; a rich and dream-like rendering of the light and movement of the voyage; and a heavily characterised framing of the ship as animated machine and protagonist.