A Sunken Ship is finally "Landing"

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A Sunken Ship is finally "Landing"

Visual artist Costas Varotsos has been invited by the mayor of Otranto, a coastal town in Italy, to transform a flotsam into a monumental work of art. The Albanian ship Kater I Rades had sunk in 1997, after clashing with the Italian warship Sibilla, a few miles off Otranto. About 120 Albanian migrants were on board, of which only 37 survived. The Cultural Institute of Lecce Province together with the Municipality of Otranto decided to turn the wreck into a memorial of this tragedy.

Costas Varotsos, entrusted with this project, opted for a glass covering as a means of rendering "fluidity and motion" to the vessel. He named his artwork Landing -a landing attempted by those and many other moving populations, seeking a better life. The monument was unveiled in the port of Otranto on January 29. The ship stands facing towards the land, 'as if it had just come ashore." As the artist put it, he didn’t think of his work as a eulogy, but rather as a resurrection and a reminder.

See also: Ansa: Otranto, Albanian boat becomes monument & Bjcem: The Landing; You Tube: The Landing Opera di Costas Varotsos [VIDEO]

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