Life is imitating art for one artist stranded on board a Hanjin containership off Japan.
Absurdist British filmmaker Rebecca Moss, 25, has been travelling from Vancouver to Shanghai on the 5,744–teu Hanjin Geneva (built 2001) as part of a residency called 23 Days At Sea.
But this may be extended following the collapse of Hanjin earlier this month.
AIS data showed the vessel anchored off Tokyo on Monday.
“The predicament in which I currently find myself is extraordinarily absurd,” Moss wrote in an email from the vessel to the Wall Street Journal.
Moss had won one of four spots on the programme, arranged by the Access Gallery in Vancouver.
It called the residency “a profoundly generative time and space- in the unconventional studio space of the cargo ship cabin- for focused research and the creation of provocative new ideas and work.”
Moss specialises in filming herself performing offbeat stunts, like rolling down a hill over mousetraps.
The programme’s director Kimberly Phillips told the newspaper that Moss’ experience is a good thing.
“The fact that Rebecca is in the middle of a global financial event is hair-raising but ultimately exceptional for her practice. This is probably the best thing that could happen,” she said.
A spokeswoman for German ship operator NSB Reederei told the newspaper it was uncertain when the voyage would resume.
The captain, crew and passengers are well cared for and have a good supply of provisions, NSB added.
The ship had not been expected in Shanghai before 13 September.
