Shipwreck of Dreams

Embarking on the quest for social visibility, 'Shipwreck of Dreams' attempts to deconstruct the representation of migration by reframing a myth of a wish-granting boat.

”People would spend days and nights at the lake margins, longing to see the magical ship and have their desires met”, a forgotten legend once told. https://vimeo.com/684948275

‘Shipwreck of Dreams’ departs on the human journey to a better place by retelling this unknown ancient myth about a wish-granting boat on Lake Geneva in Switzerland. The project follows the traces of a self-organized school that roams in Zurich searching for a place and listens to the wisdom shared by the school’s interconnected multiple voices that meet at the crossroads of European migration policies. Together they tell stories about what to consider home.

The school ‘Autonome Schule‘ is a grassroots movement composed of locals and migrants in Zurich. It emerged in 2008 during the struggle against the new Swiss asylum law, which has become one of the strictest procedures in Europe. The history of the school is marked by the constant search for a permanent free space. Squatting, re-locations, and solidarity have built its identity. Since then, the school has been an emancipatory political project against racism and social injustice. Mainly the school offers free access to German language classes for illegalized people and migrants. Furthermore, it is a platform to discuss and critique the Swiss-European migration policies of illegalization and a safe space where unrepresented people can play an active role in voicing their demands.

After years of drifting through different places, I landed at the school and actively started to participate in some working groups. The project began as a collaborative process of conversations with immigrants, activists, and others who passed through the school's history. It aims to navigate the school's multiple stories by photographing its unseen paths, traces, and places. On this research journey, collaborative portraits were set up to invite those who landed on the shores of Lake Geneva to draw inspiration from the myth to enhance their own stories and tell their dreams, hopes, and fears: Empowering them to share their experiences of facing the reality of being away from home and the loved ones by writing them on a paper boat hat.

“A place where I love and I am loved, where I have my dignity…where I do not get fear, where I am happy”. Wrote B. on his hat.

The project seeks to connect the invisible traces of a grassroots space created by illegalized people and the often unheard voices of those displaced, trying to mend their broken dreams. Whereas the reframing of the myth attempts to open up a space for reflections on image-making and representation, belonging, racism, social injustice, and political border practices. Photographs, moving images, drawings, and words address the current uncertain circumstances of migration and reveal their 'Shipwreck of Dreams'.

*The project is part of the ongoing collection of works entitled 'La memoria es un pantano' (Memory is a swamp). Those artworks are based on the research and revisiting of myths, local stories, and oral memory to embrace and retell these narratives in a changing contemporary world. The different projects seek to open spaces for collaborative work contexts, reframing visions and speculative narratives.

© Emilio Nasser - Image from the Shipwreck of Dreams photography project
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The Alps, like many other places and cultures, are surrounded by legends and myths. Sometimes these stories were created to generate truths, facts and fables, sometimes to hide something, either to reveal the mystery or to generate it. All these stories and narratives inhabit an ecology of uncertainty and swampy memory, but when retold and recontextualized they seem to breathe new life despite contemporary acceleration.

© Emilio Nasser - Image from the Shipwreck of Dreams photography project
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"What do we see and what don't, who belongs to a society and who doesn't? How racism creates visible and invisible borders between people?". Claudia Wilopo, ethnographer/researcher at the University of Basel, wrote down in a text as an invitation to participate in the project. Working collaboratively is essential to keep my practice open.

© Emilio Nasser - "What stories are being told? What (in)certainties are visible?".
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"What stories are being told? What (in)certainties are visible?".

© Emilio Nasser - Current school classroom, a day before the first pandemic lockdown.
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Current school classroom, a day before the first pandemic lockdown.

© Emilio Nasser - Image from the Shipwreck of Dreams photography project
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A. wrote "Stow away" on his hat while sitting next to the street of Manessestrasse, a building that was squatted at the beginning of the school in 2009.

© Emilio Nasser - "What does resistance mean? Who has to cross violent borders?."
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"What does resistance mean? Who has to cross violent borders?."

© Emilio Nasser - Image from the Shipwreck of Dreams photography project
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K. is an activist from the school who was unexpectedly deported in 2022 after living in Switzerland for 20 years. He wrote "Home? The base, the school… an unknown" when he was still at the school.

© Emilio Nasser - In the city of Zurich, during a research day looking for the invisible traces of the school.
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In the city of Zurich, during a research day looking for the invisible traces of the school.

© Emilio Nasser - Image from the Shipwreck of Dreams photography project
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Based on several articles and research published by the Papierlose (German for "paperless"), an annual publication produced by the school. ORS group profit at the expense of refugees. The private company ORS AG runs asylum shelters and looks after asylum seekers on behalf of the authorities. It is feared by the people in its care for its repressive attitude - and popular with private equity companies as an investment object.

© Emilio Nasser - Image from the Shipwreck of Dreams photography project
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On December 19th in 2008, sans-papiers and solidarity groups occupied the Predigerkirche in Zurich to protested against living conditions and demand the right to stay. According to the 'Autonome Schule' (Die Geschichte der ASZ, bildung-fuer-alle.ch), the action was a response to the new asylum law that has come into force in Switzerland, which states that rejected asylum seekers should only receive emergency aid.

© Emilio Nasser - Image from the Shipwreck of Dreams photography project
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In 2013, the school was forced to move away from the train yard area. It is a bitter irony that it is the construction of the new police and justice centre that is forcing them to do so. As noted in an article from Papierlose Zeitung, the self-edited newspaper of the school from 2009 to the present.

© Emilio Nasser - Image from the Shipwreck of Dreams photography project
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A fellow migrant decided to keep his hat empty as a political statement about appearance, stereotypes and visual representation.

© Emilio Nasser - Image from the Shipwreck of Dreams photography project
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On January 7th in 2010, the police unexpectedly evicted the school pavilion, leaving the school homeless. The school criticises the eviction as disproportionate and experiences a great solidarity from individuals and institutions. A week later, the 'Theaterhaus Gessnerallee 'offered temporary home. The school with its 150 people moved four times. Twice it was housed in squats, and the cultural institution 'Rote Fabrik' showed solidarity. In April, the school finally managed to occupy an empty barracks on the site of the former railway station. It becomes their home for the next three years. This history of the school is documented online (Die Geschichte der ASZ, bildung-fuer-alle.ch).

© Emilio Nasser - Image from the Shipwreck of Dreams photography project
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In 2020, the Urdorf emergency shelter for asylum seekers was temporarily evacuated because many refugees fell ill with the corona virus. In some cantons of Switzerland, former bunkers are used as temporary accommodation for rejected asylum seekers. Despite the inhumane housing conditions and the criticism of solidarity organisations, migration policies continue to systematically repeat the same failed formula. The administration of these camps is carried out by the multinational private company ORS Group, based in Zurich and London. The company works on a European level, Germany, Italy, Spain are in its portfolio of clients and represents the privatised care policies of the governments.

© Emilio Nasser - Image from the Shipwreck of Dreams photography project
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"Home is where I love and where I am loved. It is also where I honour and am honoured, where I can dream, where I make my contribution. It is where I nurture, where I work, where I associate. It is where I am fearless and where I am happy." wrote B. on his hat.

© Emilio Nasser - Zurich city.
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Zurich city.

© Emilio Nasser - Lake Geneva, Switzerland.
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Lake Geneva, Switzerland.

© Emilio Nasser - Image from the Shipwreck of Dreams photography project
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"... where my soul relaxes, is nourished by me, my doubts disappear, and my fears evaporate." written by M. a cook from 'Kafe für Alle', a bar/kitchen meeting point at the school.

© Emilio Nasser - Library with language material in the school office at present.
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Library with language material in the school office at present.

© Emilio Nasser - Image from the Shipwreck of Dreams photography project
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Which everyday life is a threat? For whom is security normality? Which "normality" is protected?. Questions that Claudia Wilopo, ethnographer/researcher at the University of Basel, wrote down in a text in response to an invitation to participate in the project.

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