A monumental sculpture: 32 screens show amateur video footage of activity at sea, filmed with smartphones and action cameras. The blue of swirling water is predominant. The displays are mounted on the side of a six-meter-tall cut-out replica of a ship’s hull. The video proceeds with images of recreational boats and surfers as well as footage made by boat refugees during the Mediterranean passage. One of the videos shows people on a dinghy in a state of euphoria because they spotted seagulls, a sign of the proximity of land. Another video shows tourists on a ‘banana boat’ also at sea. Below the installation, visitors can lie in hammocks while watching the film. The shaking effect of the horizon in the amateur footage combined with the swinging hammocks induces disorientation and seasickness. Various moral contra- dictions are balanced against each other based on certain apparent similarities. The decadence of adrenaline kicks and extreme sports is in contrast with the real horror of being left at the mercy of survival instincts. The structure of the ship compares the ‘search for’ with the ‘fleeing of’ deadly danger. It is no coincidence that, tradition- ally, a ship is regarded as an allegory for society. The title of the work refers to the gruesome torture act of dragging someone under the ship’s keel, either from one side to the other, or across its length. The work is a portrait, as it were, of someone being dragged to the bottom of society.

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