The Heavy of Your Body Parts and the Cool Air of the Air Condition was a new film and installation by Ross Little, tracing different forms of globalised labour. On board a cruise ship, the contrasting experiences of employees working long shifts and ‘digital nomad’ passengers, combining luxury travel with online work, are represented in impressionistic, dream-like style. In the ship breaking yards of Alang, India, raw footage documents the decommissioning of a cargo ship and the subsequent journey of the scrap material.
Though differing vastly in many respects, notably in their ability to freely speak and represent themselves, all workers in the film share a common status as economic migrants within globalised industries.
For this exhibition, Collective’s gallery space reflected the calming aesthetics of new age therapy often found in the interior design of cruise ships. Soothing lighting and a mini aquarium in an anteroom encouraged visitors into a relaxed state, corresponding and contrasting with key elements of the film.
