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Michele Dantini (Italy, 1966) |
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Located somewhere between an anthropological/cultural survey and investigative journalism, Michele Dantini’s work is characterised by an ethnographic sensitivity akin to Félix Guattari’s conception of ecology with its triple subjective, environmental and social dimension. Knowledge occurs through an individual process, in which personal consciousness and memory are confronted with the local culture and collective memory.
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The World Bank, 2009
photo slide show, free-delivery newspapers
installation produced by CCCS, Florence
Courtesy the artist.
Photo Credit: CCCS, Firenze; Valentina Muscedra |
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The work entitled The World Bank is dedicated to the story of the Chad-Cameroon oil pipeline, which commenced in 2001 with the allocation of 4.2 billion dollars by the World Bank. The management of the project is controlled by a consortium formed by the World Bank with ExxonMobil, ChevronTexaco and Petronas of Malaysia. The construction site, commenced despite the objections and resistance of international NGOs and local communities, has had an enormous environmental impact, cutting through the primary forest of south-eastern Cameroon for over 1000 kilometres. The consortium attempted to contain the problems by forcing the governments of Chad and Cameroon to sign a strict guarantee protocol destining oil revenue for health, education and agriculture.
It soon became clear that the World Bank’s declared intentions of inserting poor and marginalised communities in the global consumption system were not serious. The pipeline commenced operation in autumn 2003. Less than five years later a statement from the World Bank announced that it was ceasing to support the project because Chad’s government had repeatedly violated the terms of the agreement by using oil revenue to purchase arms and recruit French troops.
Michele Dantini’s project, which commenced in winter 2001/02 with a trip to Cameroon, was progressively expanded with research and data from both official sources (the World Bank and Chevron-Exxon Chad) and NGOs monitoring the construction of the pipeline and its social and economic impact. This work takes the form of photographs taken in situ and a free newspaper entirely dedicated to the episode and its developments.
In retrospect, Dantini considers his project a sort of “test” that verifies the skills and socio-environmental responsibility of the managers of the largest Western financial institution, the ideologists of a single model of “development” that has all too often shown itself to be inadequate, unsustainable and even harmful. |
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The World Bank, 2009
photo slide show, newspapers
Courtesy the artist
Produced by Centro di Cultura Contemporanea Strozzina,
Fondazione Palazzo Strozzi, Firenze |
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