In conjunction with PAMM’s new permanent collection presentation, Global Positioning Systems, curator René Morales selects “The Forgotten Space,” a film by Allan Sekula and Noël Burch that explores the sea, that forgotten space where the real, human impact of globalization is most visible.
The film follows the journey of container cargo aboard ships, barges, trains and trucks across urban landscapes and countryside. Through the voices and stories of workers, engineers, planners and politicians, the film elucidates the marginalizing effects of the global transport system.
The viewer visits displaced farmers and villagers in Holland and Belgium, underpaid truck drivers in Los Angeles, seafarers aboard mega-ships shuttling between Asia and Europe, and factory workers in China, where low wages provide the fragile key to the whole puzzle.
Sekula and Burch employ a range of materials: descriptive documentary, interviews, archive stills and footage, clips from old movies. The result is an essayistic visual documentary that clarifies a mind-bogglingly complex system that affects us every day.