Port City

Maria Thereza Alves, Yto Barrada, Ursula Biemann, Kayle Brandon & Heath Bunting, Maria Magdalena Campos Pons, Ofri Cnaani & Jenny Vogel, Mary Evans, Meschac Gaba, Raimi Gbadamosi, Melanie Jackson, Grzegorz Klaman, Erik van Lieshout, William Pope.L, Kate Rich, Zineb Sedira, Zafos Xagoraris Port City is a large-scale international exhibition addressing issues of migration, trade and contemporary slavery. Set in Arnolfini, it will also be accompanied by a related programme of live art, music, film, literature, events and workshops as well as off-site projects. Several works in the exhibition draw attention to the experience of migration, in particular between North Africa and Europe. Ursula Biemann's video installation Sahara Chronicle follows the routes of migrants across the desert focusing on Morocco, Niger and Mauritania. Moroccan artist Yto Barrada's work refers to the Straits of Gibraltar; the narrow divide between two continents. Her photographic series Sleepers presents images from the public park of her home town of Tangiers, where would-be emigres await their moment of passage. Melanie Jackson's new project The Undesirables incorporates a panorama of etchings and drawings made from media reports of the wreck of the MSC Napoli that foundered off Branscombe in Devon last year. These are combined with the animated stories of dock workers she has interviewed in Avonmouth, Bristol and other container ports