Supercargo

2-Channel Video Installation
HD Video - 13 minutes
Chinese with English subtitles

Shown at "Moved, mutated and disturbed indentities" exhibition, DDM Warehouse / Shanghai in Sep/Oct 2010.

Christoph Schwarz took the opportunity to come on a container vessel to a residency programme in Shanghai. As a ship steward on the “MS Confidence” – operating in a “semi-automatic routine” – he was the only person on board for the longest parts of the voyage. To overcome isolation and boredom he began to document his trip on video.

“I take my cleaning duties very seriously, and stemming from some ironic insight, I would try to execute my duties above and beyond any expectations or professional necessity. I would imagine that my swirling wiping motions in the engine room were major contributions to the inner-workings of the global economy.”