Migration Addicts

52nd Venice Biennale - Collateral Event

Dates: 6th-15th June, 2007

Venues: various public spaces in Venice

Acting Exercise: Adrian Leftwich's "I Gave the Names"

This project centers around the text "I Gave the Names，" written by Adrian Leftwich for Granta magazine. The LCD flashes the text of the essay in sequential increments allowing the participant to read the essay aloud through the microphone.

The essay gives the account of Leftwich's betrayal of his friends, comrades, and political cause. Leftwich, a South African, was a militant activist against the apartheid regime in the 1960s. When arrested, Leftwich gave the names, provided information, and served as witness for the prosecution of his friends and fellow activists in exchange for exile. One of the conceits of the essay as a confessional is to provide a vehicle for which the reader can identify with the narrator and be able to share and occupy the space of the transgressor.