The perfect con is one where everyone involved gets just what they wanted. – The Brothers Bloom (directed by Rian Johnson, 2009)

For the longest part of the voyage, the twenty-six

01/14 people on board the Zim Qingdao, a ten-year-old, 261-meter-long, 50,689-ton-capacity, Chinese- built container ship under a Liberian registration, included one Israeli captain, four Israeli officers, four Russian-Ukrainian-Israeli engineers, one Russian-Israeli electrician, one Bulgarian boatswain, seven deck workers – three from Sri Lanka, three from Ukraine, and one from Mari Bastashevski Myanmar – one Sri Lankan and one Bulgarian fitter, a Bulgarian cook, two stewards – a Sri Lankan and a Russian-Ukrainian – a cadet from The Perfect Con , and a passenger whose duty cannot be publicly disclosed. The ship sailed through the Suez Canal, the Gulf of Aden, and the Strait of Malacca, callingđat the ports of Odessa, Istanbul Ambar, , Nhava Sheva, Port Klang, Da Chan Bay, Pusan, and Shanghai. đđđđđđđđđđThe announcement that an artist was coming on board reached the crew by fax, a one- way communication that was printed out and taped to the wall of the galley on B-deck, between the garbage disposal rules and an e- mail warning of the grave financial consequences for publishing images of the Suez Canal.1 Arriving the same day was a mournful warning about impending food rations. It had come to the attention of management that the chef could make do with fewer vegetables than he had requested. Management would appreciate his economizing in these difficult times for the company. đđđđđđđđđđIn keeping with corporate protocol, no one had asked the crew for their opinion on the addition of the artist and they didn’t pay much attention to the memo. At a supplemental briefing, the captain announced that “a woman artist” was coming aboard for “an exciting project sponsored by ZIM, which will be leveraged for public relations and marketing purposes.” Two weeks into the trip the steward pointed at the head shot of the artist on the memo. “You are her?” he asked skeptically, “No way!” As someone less exposed to what constitutes a “celebrity,” he couldn’t reconcile

e - f l u x j o r n a # 7 5 — s p t m b 2 0 1 6 đ M i B h v k T h e P r f c t C o n the print version with the real person. đđđđđđđđđđZIM was founded in 1945 and quickly made a name for itself by transporting Jews to the land of Palestine and by offering luxurious sea cruises. In 1972, it entered the container shipping industry. For years the Israeli government steadily exercised more and more control over the company because of its perceived strategic value, but sold off its shares

09.18.16 / 18:22:45 EDT Tableware is one of many commonplace, household items labelled with a company logo on board of Zim Qingdao.

During the passage through the gulf of Aden a telex on piracy news is resent up to three times a day to all ships in the area.

09.18.16 / 18:22:45 EDT in 2004 to the , then under the When The Shakshuka System, an independent ownership of the Ofer Brothers Group.2 documentary that detailed the privatization đđđđđđđđđđThe Ofer brothers – Sammy and Yuli – process in Israel, placed special emphasis on the founded the group in 1956,3 and at the time of Ofer-ZIM arrangement, the Ofers spent half-a- their deaths were counted among the richest million shekels to produce a counterpoint men in Israel.4 However, as part of a debt cartoon.15 Claiming to have been slandered, they restructuring arrangement in 2014,5 Idan Ofer6 also sued the filmmakers, a suit that the judge became CEO of a new entity, , 03/14 dismissed.16 No Israeli TV network, save for the registered in Singapore, which now holds a 32 national public broadcaster (IBA), airedđThe percent interest in ZIM.7 The rest of the company Shakshuka System.17 was divided between a band of faceless bankers đđđđđđđđđđBy these standards, the Container and shipyard executives. Residency production budget is a drop in the đđđđđđđđđđAt present, ZIM has no Israeli registration. ocean. It would barely cover the costs incurred Until 2014, most of the Ofers’ businesses were by a one-hour delay in theđship's schedule. ZIM’s operating under UK tax laws,8 which saved the office did not initiate the project – it was Ofer family “tens of millions of shekels a year” in conceived by a team of resident curators – but Israeli taxes.9 The company initially managed to the company has control over it. ZIM’s contract weather the global recession, but has done with the resident artist ensures that the poorly in recent years, reporting a net loss in the residency is a perfect PR opportunity for a first quarter of 2016.10 And so the employees company with a longstanding history of engaging don’t make professional plans ahead of their with cultural initiatives and many years of short-term contracts. experience in the kind of marketing that entails đđđđđđđđđđAt first, the crew suspected that I was a rubbing shoulders with persons of note. corporate insider, placed to surveil and report đđđđđđđđđđ“Well, if you decide to protest against my back to management. They cordially kept their being here, I’ll support you,” I said to the deck distance. It wasn’t until four days into the trip, workers pondering the relationship between the well into the Black Sea, that their icy diplomacy company and the artist. “Don’t say that – even began to thaw. The electrician, hearing that I jokingly,” warned Alex, the night-duty officer. missed club soda, left a full pack of it by my “More than two conspiring on board a ship cabin, and the chief officer, Meir Dizraeli, taught constitutes a mutiny and can lead to very serious me how to make a monkey’s knot after I consequences!” Implausible accounts of one- remarked on his exceptional rigging skills. man riots followed, growing more dramatic with đđđđđđđđđđ“I’m … what’s the word? Perplexed?” said each recap. A female officer, Angela, once sued one of the Sri Lankan deck workers.“Why would for sexual harassment and won, after a deck the company sponsor an artist? And give the worker threatened to throw himself overboard proceeds to charity?11 Isn’t the company out of love. Either that or she rejected his offer of experiencing financial difficulty?” His monthly money in exchange for sex. A bold Israeli cadet salary is $400. celebrated his graduation by jumping overboard đđđđđđđđđđ“What will the sailors get out of this from the seventh deck while the ship was in exactly?” wondered an officer. “Can we at least motion, wearing a full safety suit with his see the artwork somewhere?” passport and a radio and managing to activate đđđđđđđđđđ“Aren’t you pretty critical of the company? the ship’s emergency alarm. Later, in court, he How will it be good for PR?” inquired the kitchen argued that it was an accident rather than crew. sabotage, and was allowed to stay on the job. đđđđđđđđđđ“It doesn’t matter if her work is critical or đđđđđđđđđđLife on a container ship is highly mediocre, her audience is too narrow anyway,” choreographed and hierarchical. Each seafarer is said an engineer whose mother was an art critic under someone else’s command, but each also and who took on the task of translating between relies on the others. The day-duty officers art-speak and sea-speak for me. “In the end all depend on night-duty officers for shift wake-up that matters is the artist’s name next to the calls, and on the stewards for maintaining name of the company. That’s what they are silence on the floor during diverse sleep paying for and that is what will be remembered.” e - f l u x j o r n a # 7 5 — s p t m b 2 0 1 6 đ M i B h v k T h e P r f c t C o n patterns. The engineers and deck workers đđđđđđđđđđThe Ofers’ investment in PR is considerable. depend on the officers for shore leave. Everyone The family gave £10 million to the in depends on the electrician with the keys to 2013 and £25 million to the Business everything, and on the common sense of the School, the largest gift in its history.13 They captain to take notice only of what’s crucial to poured millions into restoring the famous clipper the welfare of the ship, while pretending to be ship Cutty Sark, which among other acts of resting for the bulk of the voyage. The crew has maritime preservation earned the late Sammy no choice but to dance with each other, hands Ofer a knighthood from Queen Elizabeth II.14 roped together, knots all the way down.

09.18.16 / 18:22:45 EDT Conference room at Zim Shipping Head Office, Haifa.

A photograph of the bas-relief Friendship and its author hangs next to the woodcarving on the hallway of Zim Head Office in Haifa and “commemorates ZIM’s involvement in the creation of a national cargo carrier in Ghana, the Black Star Line, founded in 1957.”

09.18.16 / 18:22:45 EDT Sunset in the gulf of Aden, as witnessed during the weekly barbecue on g-deck.

A decommissioned MSCHOA (The Maritime Security Centre – Horn of Africa) map outlines risk areas for potential piracy attacks.

09.18.16 / 18:22:45 EDT đđđđđđđđđđThe written hierarchy of the ship, which has room, and invited to all after-work activities, its functional purpose, prescribes an order and which usually consisted of poker and a multitude submission in accordance with rank. Confined in of popular first-person shooter video games a locked-up environment, this submission populated by “heroes” and “assassins” in equal extends well beyond already “extensive” work measure. I was called to the bridge to see hours, into a life order that is balanced by dolphins and a whale, and I used flying fish to complex power rituals that serve no immediately explain gender fluidity to hyper-heterosexual apparent function. Many of these rules are 06/14 men. “Is this a fish or a bird?” the men asked. unwritten: No one must ever sit in the captain’s “Well, remember how you mentioned that women chair. Whistling is strictly forbidden, as it will should be behaving as women and men should summon Neptune, angry god of the sea. The be behaving like men and I said it’s not always so steward will always apologize. The electrician clear cut? Flying fish would be a good example of may swap favors for random stuff, of which he the ambiguity. Sometimes it is more like a bird often accumulates a mysterious surplus. and sometimes it is more like a fish.’” A white lie đđđđđđđđđđNo violation of these customs passes so perfect that we never had to debate gender unnoticed. Before the ship arrived at the port of norms again. Pusan, the chief mate offered $300 to anyone đđđđđđđđđđSeldom trying to make sense of my art-ing, who could catch a rare bird that had been the crew nevertheless assisted with moving my traveling with the ship. He was ecstatic when the installation ZIMtm from place to place. This was young Ukrainian OS (ordinary seaman) chased a 140-pound prison-mirror aquarium which was the white egret around the ship and caught it. designed to survey each deck of the ship, taking But when the OS decided to let the egret go mundane low-resolution images every five instead of selling it to the chief mate, the latter minutes with an automatic camera. The rules of got so furious that he tasked the OS with the installation, which were printed on the tripod meaningless and humiliating trash-removal box, invited the crew to pose for a photograph in tasks. “Woman on board is bad luck,” remarked front of the box, move it, hold a message in front the chief mate, aware that the bird was freed on of it, cover it up to prevent photographs from my suggestion, a person outside of the power being taken, or break it with the tools provided by structure. Throughout the trip these subtle the artist. The crew renamed it “the robot” and power games were rarely interrupted, and then took care of it whenever I wasn’t around. When it with only varying degrees of success. got over 50°C in the heart of the engine room, đđđđđđđđđđAt the beginning, I was assigned a seat in first engineer Andrei warned me that the circuits the canteen next to the captain – at the top of inside the automated camera in the installation the ship’s hierarchy – but it forced me to turn my box wouldn’t survive the heat and humidity. While back on the others and so I only ate there once. interested in knowing how the work worked, no Afterwards, for two weeks, I swapped chairs one really cared to engage with it. daily. This irritated the steward, for which he đđđđđđđđđđThose who misheard “an artist” for “an apologized. Eventually, without meaning to do so, actress” admitted to having been left in I developed a mutually amicable relationship suspense, anticipating some kind of with the Russian-speaking Israeli seamen. We performance. Not wanting to disappoint, I did an fell into a synchronized table routine until one of awful impression of Tallulah Bankhead clutching them remarked that I was “becoming table her precious ring in the 1964 film Lifeboatđon the trained,” and a deck worker dared me to sit with bridge one evening, followed by an even worse the mix-race deck crew, at the bottom of the butchering of Monica Vitti’s African dance in hierarchy. I accepted the dare and kept rotating L’Eclisse. I was sent away by the night team duty tables regularly after that. officers Alex and Genadi to educate myself on đđđđđđđđđđWork flowed around mealtimes like a river the Russian movie hit of the moment, The Best around rocks. The day began with a 6:00 a.m. Day Ever by Zhora Kryzhovnikov and breakfast, which I usually missed due to lack of Toomuchproduction.18 They implied that the only self-discipline. Lunch was at noon and dinner at difference between my movie stash and theirs 6:00 p.m. The week, in turn, was divided by port was that mine pretended to be highbrow. “Just arrivals, emergency drills, a Thursday bar night, a e - f l u x j o r n a # 7 5 — s p t m b 2 0 1 6 đ M i B h v k T h e P r f c t C o n convert it to black and white,” suggested Alex, Saturday pause for Shabbat, and the occasional when I complained that The Best Day Ever was weekend sunbathing. too realistic. đđđđđđđđđđ“Routine maintenance” became a đđđđđđđđđđOur employer certainly fancied itself a collaboration among us, one that was disrupted highbrow operation. ZIM’s seventieth anniversary only by port maneuvers and the rituals invented advertising book, ZIM 70,đis something of a to mark the fluctuating hours, days, weeks, and hagiography, and would have the reader believe months of the crew’s contracts. I was allowed that people and culture are at the heart of the into all parts of the ship, including the control firm’s ambition.19 The book is lined with historic

09.18.16 / 18:22:45 EDT photo spreads abstracted from the fearsome and rejoicing until someone realizes that the complex annals ofđtwentieth-century Jewish chancellor has signed the documents migration history.20đ These rest comfortably next “Shuvalkin, Shuvalkin, Shuvalkin.” The officers to a heart-warming message from the current on board the Zim Quingdao loved this story and president of Israel, followed by similar texts from compared it to the ever-present stamp of the minsters of transportation and Monrovia that appeared on all the paperwork for intelligence.21đPlayful, illustrative, and dated the Israeli ship. “When we’re forced to sign it, we drawings produced for the company in the past 07/14 sign it with a made-up name,” they crowed, "as if by both Israeli and international artists are to mock those who impose the rule." accompanied by newer, faux-documentary đđđđđđđđđđOnce, wondering if the engine does in fact images of the contemporary corporate narrative, keep anyone awake, I recited from Allan Sekula’s which includes portraits of sea-women Fish Story. The paragraph draws a comparison professionals, ZIM’s first captains (among their between the speed of an engine and a human number a Basque communist and a retired heart on amphetamines: British Royal Navy officer), spies, and mentions of “the first Hebrew ship” ZIM’s Kedmah. Today And thus the general spirit of the ship was all of ZIM’s ships are maritime citizens of Malta one of mournful and weary anticipation of and Liberia. unemployment, heightened by a pervasive đđđđđđđđđđThe book makes elaborate references to the insomnia caused by the vibration of the warm relationship the company has had with low-speed Hyundai-Sulzer diesel running celebrities from all fields: the architects Al at 100 PPM, the speed of an amphetamine- Mansfeld and Dora Gad, the singer Naomi driven human heart.23 Shemer (who, it states, composed a song for the company in exchange for a trip to France), and “It’s the other way around,” said Andrei, the countless artists including the playwright Russian-Israeli engineer. “It is the heart of the Eugène Ionesco, the poet Avraham Shlonsky, and engine that will follow mine and slow down once I the painters Emmanuel Mané-Katz and Marc fall asleep right next to it.” The first part of the Chagall. Beyond the advertising, the nature of quote rang true, however, given that the company the relationship between the company and the has reported declining profits for quite some artists is a mystery. time. đđđđđđđđđđThe accompanying texts foreground đđđđđđđđđđThis information is consistently absent experience as the prime product and currency of inđZIM 70, it is as if it was removed deliberately the company: always romantic, exciting, and by someone familiar with Easterling’s “Cheaters daunting, like a continuation of David Ben- and Believers.” Instead, the book mixes Gurion’s 1937 speech “Going Down to the Sea” on anecdotal and factual information about the building a “Jewish boat settlement,” a maritime company to produce a utopian and sterilized kibbutz.22 chronicle, with short stories and brief texts spun đđđđđđđđđđWhen I showed the book to the crew, most to advance a narrative of uninterrupted progress. were upset that they didn’t get a copy. Debating The text skillfully positions words like “floating the book’s quality,đwe entered into discussions museum,” “art,” “luxuries,” and “advertising” about authors who write on art, capitalism, race, next to each other in the same sentence. It is ports, militarization at sea, and conflict logistics. dizzying, dazzling, and an altogether brilliant The sailors called Renée Green’s wallpaper example of the logical laws of advertising and “pretty” and accused Keller Easterling of writing in the language of power. resentment and cynicism when I described her đđđđđđđđđđBut while the company has rubbed essay “Believers and Cheaters.” “I suspected you shoulders with the crème de la crème of high would be a heretic, that’s why I didn’t mention culture, the real reason it has sustained itself for God until now,” added Genadyi, a zealously so long it that it is deeply entrenched in the religious officer. Their favorite was an anecdote politics and economics of not one but several relayed by Walter Benjamin in his essay on Franz conflicts – matters that appear in the pages of Kafka. In it, the Russian chancellor Potemkin is ZIM 70 only if you know where to look. For in the midst of a serious depressive episode and e - f l u x j o r n a # 7 5 — s p t m b 2 0 1 6 đ M i B h v k T h e P r f c t C o n example, this is how the book comments on the refuses to sign any of the documents piling up on company’s strategy in the 1970s: his desk. Since any mention of his illness enrages the Empress Catherine, the other The opening of ZCS was accompanied by an counselors are beside themselves in trying to extensive advertising and branding figure out what to do. Then, a low-ranking clerk, campaign in the three continents which the Shuvalkin, simply takes the papers into the line connected. The ZCS logo was displayed chancellor’s room, forces a pen into his hand, on the sides of the route’s ships and ZIM and has him sign all of them. There is much produced advertising fliers to promote the

09.18.16 / 18:22:45 EDT innovative service and describe its privatized it was an extension of the Israeli Navy, advantages to potential clients. participating in active military operations on a number of occasions. It morphed quite naturally Left unmentioned is the fact that the Israeli Navy into a licensed transporter of dangerous cargo painted its intelligence-gathering vessels the worldwide, including weapons that are today still same colors as the ZCS logo. Operating at the exchanged between the governments of the US height of the Cold War, the most important of and Israel. And much like in the past, while our these intelligence ships was the INS Noga 08/14 ship that is “officially” Israeli makes no stops in an electronic any Arab countries, many others chartered by the ,(האל) aka the Leah ,(הגונ) communications “snoop ship” that was also used company enter every port. Since going private for wet ops, such as the successful plot to the company has adapted to the regime of global kidnap nuclear whistleblower Mordechai capitalism. Its company branding now promotes Vanunu. ZIM’s trademark seven stars were patriotism and tradition alongside sometimes painted on the Noga/Leah in the port multiculturalism and impartiality, but the secret to avoid drawing scrutiny.24 marriage of business, oligarchs, state, and war đđđđđđđđđđIn the same vein, ZIM 70’s official company didn’t disappear with the false flag of the INS history notes that the freighter Dolphin was sent Noga. to breach the Egyptian blockade of the Suez đđđđđđđđđđI can’t help but wonder what work of Canal in 1967.25 It failed, but did succeed in contemporary art will commemorate the passing through the Straits of Tiran on June 7, “Irangate” scandal that shook the Ofers in 2011, 1967 after Israel had taken control of the entirety in which a bizarre series of events led to claims of Sinai. In fact, the Dolphin’s planned Suez that the company’s ships were docking in Iran transit was intended as a provocation against with the Mossad’s approval tođallegedly provide Egypt, and the tanker was carrying an IDF cover for infiltrators or for picking up agents.31 detachment aboard.26 And if the cargo container ships we’ve been đđđđđđđđđđAnd what about the actual artworks sailing during this residency someday become a commissioned or donated to the company by “floating museum,” which real museum – and artists mentioned in the company book? which real history – will be nesting underneath đđđđđđđđđđAn impeccable woodcarving decorating the the advertisement? lobby of the company’s headquarters spells đđđđđđđđđđBy the halfway point of the trip, the crew “Friend-ship.” Credited tođ“P. Savage,” I was told and I had accumulated a joint cache of that the piece commemorates ZIM’s involvement formidable rituals, including weekly barbecues in the creation of a national cargo carrier in on G-deck. The tradition continued well into the Ghana, the Black Star Line, founded in 1957.27 Gulf of Aden, right between Yemen and Somalia, đđđđđđđđđđThe name “Black Star Line,” drawn from the except on that particular night we wrapped 1920s “Back to Africa” movement, was meant to ourselves with barbwire and turned on both the evoke the diaspora’s “coming home” now that bright outdoor projector and the water canon. independence was secured.28 Ultimately That same evening, the “secret passenger” on dismembered by the government, the line was board showed up andđtried to park his weapon used to transport peacekeeping forces to Liberia between the tightly positioned plastic chairs, to during the 1989–96 civil war. The woodwork on the amusement of the crew. display seems more appropriate the moređone đđđđđđđđđđThe secret passenger is one of many knows about ZIM’s history of shipping timber out competing actors in the hybrid military- of West Africa.29 The “Friendship” display contractor industry that sprang up in the wake of outlives it all: the Black Star Line, the artist the new war on piracy launched in the 2000s.32 himself – who seems to have fallen into China Ocean Shipping Company, Wallenius obscurity – and the era of bonhomie between Wilhelmsen Logistics, Torm A/S, and Maersk Israeli and postcolonial African leaders that have all hired armed guards to accompany their collapsed in the 1970s as Israel came to be seen ships. The policy is incentivized and supported by these states as just another colonizer rather by insurance companies that offer premium than a postcolonial ally. rates to ships traveling with private military

đđđđđđđđđđA similarly well-made maquette of the e - f l u x j o r n a # 7 5 — s p t m b 2 0 1 6 đ M i B h v k T h e P r f c t C o n contractors, and supplemented by the navies of vessel Patria Monrovia, exhibited in the main independent powers and of the multinational window of the head office, commemorates not Combined Task Force 150 (CTF-150) based out of one but an entire series of ships for which Bahrain, where the United States docks its Fifth separate shell companies were created. One Fleet. The extraordinary expansion, history, and such ship, Roniz, ran between Iran and Israel in root causes of the militarization of the Gulf of the 1950s and ’60s; the name spells “pipeline” Aden is described in incredible detail by Debora backwards in Hebrew.30 Cowen in TheđDeadly Life of Logistics: đđđđđđđđđđBy the crew’s account, before ZIM

09.18.16 / 18:22:45 EDT Artist’s personal space on board Zim Qingdao.

Artist’s personal space on board Zim Qingdao.

09.18.16 / 18:22:45 EDT The growing reliance on private security not the table early. only provokes conflicts regarding what đđđđđđđđđđA ship will guard its fragile and destructive officially counts as violence, who can myths36 – ship myths, like all myths, make the legally kill whom, and who can be armed chaos and inequality more tolerable for a where; it is also a central pillar in a broader populace who will fight wars over these same recasting of the relationships between stories. At sea, they are the motivational fuel for space, law, and state sovereignty.33 surviving the underpaid routine. Discussions on

10/14 race, politics, and religion are rare and quick. But The public long-wave radio on board regularly the consensus on why the oligarch loves a attested to the accuracy of Cowen’s account. contemporary artist so much was overwhelming Now and then the unidentified male voice of our amongst believers of all stripes: it’s all about “a defender would burst out of the radio, pretty picture” and an image of the artist next to threatening to shoot a boat unless it returned to the captain for the company’s next PR book. Or Berbera Port, which he mispronounced as as Hito Steyerl has put it: “It just works for “bArbara,” as if the port was a jilted wife and he him.”37 her avenging brother.34 đđđđđđđđđđIt works for him at a distance in a gallery, in đđđđđđđđđđ“Why is he threatening the boat?” I asked, a freeport storage box, and at the worldwide after this warning had interrupted our picnic for grand openings for which he is rubber-stamping ađfourth time.đ approval, at the advice of an enthusiastic đđđđđđđđđđ“There must be a reason,” responded the marketing manager. It works for him in spite of chief mate. The officers didn’t bat an eye. the crew, who step over the Indian port workers đđđđđđđđđđ“I understand that pirates are people too that sleep on the bare deck and carry the artwork and that it’s their job to target us, as it is mine to up and down the ladder. Or perhaps because of protect us. But I don’t really care for the politics them. of it. Or politics in general to be honest. I just đđđđđđđđđđTowards the end of the tour, I set up a want to do my job and go home to see my exhibition along the corridor leading to the girlfriend,” said the secret passenger. It is the canteen – for crew eyes only – gave away all my only conversation we share. prints, and was saluted off the ship in Shanghai. đđđđđđđđđđWhile the chief mate took the threats đđđđđđđđđđA month later, during a burst of sea-legs seriously, Alex, a skeptic among the officers, melancholy, I wrote to the bird catcher, who has wore a shirt bearing a popular rendering of a become a friend, to inquire about the legacy of pirate for the duration of the passage, my residency. “You know, I’m a bit disappointed, I occasionally adding a rhetorical question or two: was expecting scrutiny and rumors, but no one “All the warships and security and they can’t said a thing. It back to usual boredom here and even kill a few pirates?!” everyone moved on. It is as if you were never đđđđđđđđđđBut that would defeat the purpose. Imperial here.” He sent this response from a satellite e- military power at sea is defined by its ability to mail service, economizing on adjectives and convince the world that it can contain all real and punctuation to save precious e-mail coins. imagined terror, while simultaneously đđđđđđđđđđThe presence of artists on container ships, maintaining these dangers indefinitely. And so at first bedazzling, has become the new norm the bridge receives an automatic telex about the within the logistical routine of global commerce, ever-potent threats every evening, while the of which the container ship itself is a living radio announces, “We got this!”35 It is a complete exhibit. Having been on a circular route for ten system, moving from threat to response, threat years, the cargo ship I sailed on, and any other to response, without requiring us to intervene. ship like it, has surely amassed a vast permanent đđđđđđđđđđAt rare times during the voyage an collection on the subject. This collection could unidentified prankster on the radio uttered, constitute a floating museum, or rather an “Meep meep … meep meep … meep meep” These extraterritorial floating museum complex. occasional meeps continued to pierce the waves đđđđđđđđđđA museum of the ideal citizen, with a of channel sixteen, long after the Chinese particularly strong selection of archives on the coalition warships on which the prank was trajectory of the Ukrainian-Russian-Israeli blamed were nowhere in sight, and the security e - f l u x j o r n a # 7 5 — s p t m b 2 0 1 6 đ M i B h v k T h e P r f c t C o n engineer-mechanic who today occupies so many telexes had stopped. Bored and with no enemy to engine rooms on ships. defeat, our secret passenger triangulated the đđđđđđđđđđA museum of the flawed concept of time. radio intruder and determined that the meep- The time of day doesn’t just shift back and forth meep signal was coming from inside the ship. He as the ship sails. Rather, the very concepts of quietly circulated the news over lunch, hopingđto time and value change amidst different catch the sneaky roadrunner red handed, but the nationalities whose work contracts operate on crew just shook their heads and kept eating. different terms, at varying pay rates unadjusted Disappointed that no one seemed to care, he left for inflation since the nineteenth century. đ

09.18.16 / 18:22:45 EDT đđđđđđđđđđA museum of objects for hyper-productivity, crew meaningless – you may observe but not of institutional design, with each cup carefully share. This is a solipsistic privilege usually labeled, each drawer positioned exactly in reserved for state officials and corporate accordance with rank. industry insiders. đđđđđđđđđđA museum of a relational order-space, a đđđđđđđđđđWhile art shouldn’t necessarily rely on the space that is defined by the coexistence of the didactic methodology of gathering facts obtained things it contains. A space in which nothing is through access, art that capitalizes on the allowed to be useless or out of place. An order 11/14 ambiguity of the situationđto conceal the that follows the militant power system on board, nuances of its production in accordance with which actually extends into a twenty-four-hour corporate demands isn’t the same as art that lifestyle. willingly chooses to avoid the banality of đđđđđđđđđđA museum of imperial cartography, of explanation. It’s like committing a crime under military geography, of private security industry the cloak diplomatic immunity: while you might booms, past and future. not get away with murder, small transgressions đđđđđđđđđđA museum of indifference; of boredom and like speeding are certainly okay. Everyone does casual racism; of pornography, etymology, it, and you’ll never get anywhere if you don’t. But cultural relativism, and the “nominal” family of such capitulation is unbecoming in the extreme. men, all formed through shared meals and video đđđđđđđđđđSure, many art initiatives today are games, without women; of chameleon flags of manufactured with the aid of oligarchic convenience, creative bureaucracy, and the drum sponsorship. Some of the more elaborate “art- beat of Hyundai engine techno music drenched washing” initiatives of the recent past include in sweat and blood and crushed bones. opening a Louvre in the UAE while the Tate and đđđđđđđđđđUnfortunately, this museum would never MoMA pleaded with the Emirati government to have any visitors, except for the port authorities, stop barring artists and academics from entering the sailors’ wives, and a few select enthusiasts the country.38 Art residencies are a modern form willing to wait for the ship for twenty-four hours of advertising. Sponsoring art is perceived, much only to be immediately rushed off the premises like recycling and sending memos denouncing because everythingđmust get where it is going as sexual harassment, as a signifier of progressive fast as possible. And now artists-in-residency. politics. It provides a great smokescreen for đđđđđđđđđđAt the heart of the Container Residency lies government initiatives and commercial ventures a promise of opportunity: to explore this of all kinds. museum, to be at once in a spectacular space đđđđđđđđđđEach of us participates in commercial and an anti-spectacular place. The opportunity exchange, no matter how much we might desire for access and direct participation. The not to. Artists simply cannot produce art locked opportunity to rest, or perhaps to ride from point away in towers, and we are undoubtedly part of A to point B, as one sometimes takes the ferry to the same social ecosystem as the sailors, work. More importantly, the opportunity to be curators, and museum-goers.39 And I agree that paid to work as an artist unrestrictedly. But is the institutional critique of the 1970s and ‘80s this promise actually realized? has itself become an institutional product. đđđđđđđđđđThe potential problems – the agendas and đđđđđđđđđđBut to reject all institutional critique conflicts of interest – presented themselves long entirely is premature and defeatist. Accepting before we set sail. The cultural buffer zone that the status quo inhibits any progress the is usually part of a residency – that is, the discipline might make in the future and curator, museum, or cultural institution that diminishes what has been achieved in the past, facilitates it – was absent, and the contract was including what has made most art residencies offered directly by the company. The contact possible. If parrhesia – speaking truth to power – demanded, in multiple bullet points, the artist’s is at the heart of institutional critique, then the total collaboration with the company’s PR rejection of all institutional critique assumes initiatives, to which the artist must lend his or that we’re all equal now, and that provocation is her name without hesitation. Detailing the no longer necessary or effective. perceived duties and obligations of the artist in đđđđđđđđđđThe question is not whether to participate, an authoritative, legalistic tone, the document e - f l u x j o r n a # 7 5 — s p t m b 2 0 1 6 đ M i B h v k T h e P r f c t C o n but how. An expanded institutional critique need was clearly drafted by someone skilled at not be a scandal-product, nor another Fountain contact writing and yet unfamiliar with – and signed by R.Mutt. Rather, it could offer a studied indifferent to – the discourse of contemporary look at the corporate sponsorship of art, and art. The contract also included a nondisclosure could facilitate direct dialogue among artists, agreement, serving as catchall insurance against curators, and institutions, paying particular any possible unforeseen contagions. attention to the demands made by sponsors.40 It đđđđđđđđđđThe nondisclosure agreement effectively could also generate discussions on how art rendered the artist’s access to the ship and its produced under these financial arrangements is

09.18.16 / 18:22:45 EDT evaluated, and by whom. It could launch a Mari Bastashevski is an artist, writer, and researcher. debate about the complexity of residencies that Her installations – the result of extensive field and take place in an environment where it is very data research – combine texts, photographs, and documents, exploring how secrecy within systems of difficult to negotiate the competing exigencies of state and corporate power contributes to the politics, war, commerce, and art. At a minimum, perpetuation of armed conflicts. She was one of the an expanded institutional critique could foster a six artists selected for Container Residency 01. She is discussion about what is actually advertised by currently a world fellow at Yale. You can reach her at [email protected], maribastashevski.com, an artist for an oligarch, and what is made 12/14 or by tweeting @maribst. secret. đđđđđđđđđđAs it stands, when an artist is invited to sail aboard an armed container ship and trusted to turn the event into PR, she is indeed an actress playing an artist in an advertisement, a reality exhausted by itsđcommercial function. A container-ship residency extends the logic of containerizationđto art, artists, and their easily transported institutional critiques. Putting things in readily stackable boxes limits the ability ofđartists and dockworkers alike to interfere with the accumulation process. đđđđđđđđđđAnd that’s the con in the “perfect con.” While such opportunities might provide a temporary fix forđan artist, the means of their production prevent the creation of a work of art. Instead, “experience” is accepted by all parties as the interchangeable currency of the arrangement. Any artwork is a byproduct, anđescapistđentertainment infamous for the crew for exactly a week until it is discharged for a sequel.đThis byproduct – however provocative, radical, or ambitious – is secondary to the PR effort, and to the contractual fine print in which the artist not only tacitly agrees with questionable business practices, but also elevates them, usually for farđless than what is promised by a “like-for-like” market exchange. And we’re told so to our faces, if not by our ever- forgiving and confused audiences, then by the sailors and the art-loving oligarchs themselves. đđđđđđđđđđ× Thank you tođthe crew of the Zim Qingdaođfor the many poignant conversations, especially the team of engineers and deck workers, and officerđAlexander Shapiro,đwhom I promised to credit in bold red font. Thank you to my indefatigable, brilliant research assistant and fact checker, Paul Mutter. Thank you to Laleh Khalili, Sveta Libet, Daniel Trilling, Emma Beals, Elisha Baskin, Marian Kaiser, Adrien Cater, Hester Keijser, and Isabelle Darrigrand for your time andđ a sound advice, to the Hackquarium collective and Kunstbetrieb, and to Kostiantyn Strilets and Shaw Xu for technical and logistical assistance. All images copyright of the artist. e - f l u x j o r n a # 7 5 — s p t m b 2 0 1 6 đ M i B h v k T h e P r f c t C o n

09.18.16 / 18:22:45 EDT đđđđđđ1 http://eipcp.net/transversal đđđđđđ18 ZIM operated its own freighter In the memo, the management /0106/raunig/en/print The trailer for The Best Day Ever named Noga that was built in of the ship had stated explicitly (Самый лучший день) can be the 1960s in France. The INS that all photography was đđđđđđ11 viewed on YouTube Noga was built in Holland in the forbidden during the passage For the ZIM container-ship https://www.youtube.com/watc 1950s, so they only shared a through the Suez Canal. residency, the resident artist h?v=e9HF1Pl5Pg0&list=PL2By_FFavTnLa4mWe7dS a7n2d1 fwTqe9re of course not However, according to the signs a contract with ZIM 2lxppwZyrNQ the same vessel. captain and the crew it appeared requiring him or her to provide that only photographing one work created during the đđđđđđ19 đđđđđđ25 sensitive operations, the residency to an auction, the ZIM 70 is a PR book produced by But from 1967 to 1975, fifteen offloading of dangerous cargo, proceeds of which will be the company to commemorate other freighters – all from and military installations was donated to charity. This is also 13/14 the seventieth anniversary of its Europe or the US – rusted at truly prohibited. the case with shipping company founding in 1945 anchor in the canal’s Great Bitter owners Philip Niarchos and https://www.documentcloud.or Lake, unable to transit the route đđđđđđ2 George Economou, who hold g/documents/2862198-annivers at all. It was dubbed the “Yellow “Legacy,” their art in a warehouse until it arybook70.html Fleet” for the sand that piled on .comhttp://www.zim.com/ab appreciates in value. Art is a the ships’ decks over the years. outus/pages/legacy.aspx lucrative side gig and thousands đđđđđđ20 See Ken Jennings, “There Once of works are stored away. The “Above all, you had to find a Was a Country in the Middle of đđđđđđ3 value of some of these ship.” Claude Levi-Strauss the Suez Canal,” Condé Nast “About XT Group,” collections eclipses the GDP of reached safety out of occupied Traveler, February 22, 2016 xtholdings.com, 2015 some small countries. Also see Europe on the Capitaine Paul- http://www.cntraveler.com/st http://www.xtholdings.com/#! J. L. Holzgrefe and R. O. Lemerle, chartered by the ories/2016-02-22/there-once- about-us/c17bj Keohane, Humanitarian Emergency Rescue Committee in was-a-country-in-the-middle- Intervention: Ethical, Legal, and 1941. See of-the-suez-canal. đđđđđđ4 Political Dilemmas (Cambridge: http://www.transatlanticpers See 2016 profile of at Cambridge University Press, pectives.org/entry.php?rec=1 đđđđđđ26 forbes.com 2003). 54.. Also on board were Anna For an brief account of Israel’s http://www.forbes.com/profil Seghers, André Breton, and the seizing of the Sinai, see e/idan-ofer/. In 2006, Forbes đđđđđđ12 novelist Victor Serge. Walter http://www.itnsource.com/sho ranked Yuli Ofer as Israel’s In 1609, Hugo Grotius’s Mare Benjamin committed suicide tlist/RTV/1967/12/14/BGY5061 twenty-seventh richest person Liberum defined trade as the only one day short of getting on 40252/. See also M. B. Oren, Six http://www.forbes.com/lists/ foundation of the international board a ship, although according Days of War: June 1967 and the 2006/81/biz_06israel_Yuli-Of maritime order. Freedom of the to Hannah Arendt, he didn’t see Making of the Modern Middle er_QQIM.html. Seas is a concept founded on a solution in Israel nor in the East (New York: Oxford colonial expansion, capitalism, United States. A monument to University Press, 2002), 156, đđđđđđ5 and the extraterritorial absence Benjamin was, by coincidence, 165. The crew of the Dolphin was John Reed and Mark Odell, “Zim of a rule of law. erected in Spain by Dani released after the episode failed agrees restructuring with Karavan, an artist whose murals to produce resounding creditors,” Financial Times, đđđđđđ13 now figure prominently in the condemnation by the UN, and January 23, 2014 “ Family Foundation seventieth-anniversary Israel and Egypt reached an http://www.ft.com/intl/cms/s gives £10 million towards Tate publication. See impasse regarding the /0/58e5ff40-8440-11e3-b72e-0 Modern’s new development,” http://walterbenjaminportbou circumstances under which 0144feab7de.html#axzz4A9TPdY tate.org.uk, July 2, 2013 .cat/en/content/lobra. Nasser would let oil tankers HV http://www.tate.org.uk/about flying flags of convenience past /press-office/press-releases đđđđđđ21 the blockade in exchange for đđđđđđ6 /eyal-ofer-family-foundation - ZIM’s relationship to clandestine certain security guarantees. See gives-ps10-million-towards- operators is made quite clear in M. B. Oren, Origins of the Second :רעוסםי“ ,Reut Shpigelman ,tate; “25 million gift for London the company’s official history Arab-Israel War: Egypt, Israel הלשןושארהןועברבדיספהלהרזחםיצ Calcalist, May 30, 2016 Business School's Old when it notes that ZIM’s ships and the Great Powers, 1952–56 ”,הנש http://www.calcalist.co.il/m Marylebone Town Hall,” and personnel helped run the (London: F. Cass, 1992), 54–55. arkets/articles/0,7340,L-368 london.edu, September 26, 2013 “Aliyah Bet” operation, which Absent fromđZIM 70đis the 9168,00.html https://www.london.edu/news- secretly transported Jewish account of the freighter Inge and-events/news/landmark-25- passengers to Israel under the Toft, another “test case” for the đđđđđđ7 million-gift-for-london-busi nose of the British Mandate. For blockade that ended with the “Israel Corporation Approves ness-schools-old-marylebone- more on the operation see vessel and her Danish crew Spin-Off of Kenon,” sec.gov, town-hall#.VzlC2ZMrKYV. http://www.palyam.org/Englis impounded by the Egyptians for 2015 h/HaMossad/mainpage. almost a year between 1959 and http://www.sec.gov/Archives/ đđđđđđ14 1960. edgar/data/1611005/000119312 Anshel Pfeffer, “Israeli Shipping đđđđđđ22 515005166/d846607dex991.htm Tycoon Sammy Ofer to Be This speech was written in the đđđđđđ27 Knighted in London Next Week,” wake of the great Arab unrest of I. Lewis, “Nkrumah Was a True đđđđđđ8 Haaretz, November 13, 2008 1936 that included a massive Visionary: A Genuine Pan- “As Zim sinks, Ofer family’s UK http://www.haaretz.com/israe li- strike at the Port of - Africanist,” The New Crisis 45 shipping cos prosper,” Globes shipping-tycoon-sammy-ofe r- Jaffa. See Z. Ra’anan, “Israel – (July 1998): 44–46 English, February 2, 2014 to-be-knighted-in-london-n ext- Bridge or Bridgehead? Some https://books.google.com/boo http://www.globes.co.il/en/a week-1.257124 Regional Transportation Aspects ks?id=ZlkEAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA45 rticle-as-zim-sinks-ofers-uk - and Trade Effects,” Israel &lpg=PA45&dq=black+star+nkrumah+garvey shipping-prospers-100091409 6 đđđđđđ15 Studies Forum, vol. 18, no. &source=bl&ots=SuhfVU- Spring 2003): 107–26; 113 nHa&sig=XQOmgYS_FUGsGqUMxjhi0TE5) להבוגתהןוטרסברפועםיחאה“ http://www.jstor.org/stable/ kA4&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjFkq2S :לטנזוריקימלש ’הקושקשהתטיש‘ đđđđđđ9 OPMAhVE8j4- .41804924 ”,סבולג – ’םיפוצהתאהעטמ‘ :רפועתביזעמסמהדספה“ ynet, Globes, July 26, 2009 KHY_SAOYQ6AEIUTAL#v=onepage ”,הנשבםינוילימתורשע April 9, 2013 http://www.globes.co.il/news đđđđđđ23 &q=black%20star%20nkrumah%20g http://www.ynet.co.il/articl /article.aspx?did=1000484057 Allan Sekula, Fish Story arvey&f=false es/0,7340,L- (Düsseldorf: Richter Verlag, đđđđđđ28 74 ,(2002 ”,ץ6רđ1אđđהđđđתאבוזעלןווכתמרפועןדיע“;html.4365721,00 ,https://issuu.com/polinecia/ The original Black Star Line .הליה , זר“ ynet, April 8, 2013

e - f l u x j o r n a # 7 5 — s p t m b 2 0 1 6 đ M i B h v k T h e P r f c t C o n docs/fish_story._allan_sekul a. active from 1919 to 1922, was :’הקושקשהתטיש‘לעהעיבתברדסה http://www.ynet.co.il/articl founded by the Universal Negro – העיבתהתאךושמירפועןדיע ;es/0,7340,L-4365210,00.html The đđđđđđ24 Improvement Associationđin the ”,לצנתיאללטנזוריקימ John Reed, “Idan Ofer: Fleeing Israel’s New Populism,” Financial Marker, February 15, 2010 P. Hounam, The Woman from US. It carried passengers and Times, April 12, 2013 http://www.themarker.com/law Mossad: The Story of Mordechai cargo between American and http://www.ft.com/intl/cms/s /1.568298 Vanunu and the Israeli Nuclear African ports. As the first /0/36ce978e-a294-11e2-9b70-0 Program (Berkeley, CA: Frog steamship line owned and 0144feabdc0.html. đđđđđđ17 Books, 1999), 75–76; N. Mann, operated by African-Americans, it inspired the Ghanaians to ,םיהשיאטנלירב“ ”’,הקושקשהתטיש‘תארדשנ :ראלקש“ ynet, December adopt its name, and the black ”,ריוואהוהשביה đđđđđđ10 ynet, September 15, 2008 http://www.ynet.co.il/articl 30, 2000 star itself for their own flag. See 56 לשיקנדספה :םודאבםיצ“ es/0,7340,L-3597138,00.html http://www.ynet.co.il/articl “West Africa: Black Star Line’s ”,ןושארהןועברברלודןוילימ Port 2 Port, May 29, 2016 es/0,7340,L-3192074,00.html. . Role in Ecomog,” allAfrica.com,

09.18.16 / 18:22:45 EDT September 14, democratic globalization. 2001http://allafrica.com/sto đđđđđđ33 Oneđexample, which is a quite ries/200109170419.html. Debora Cowen, The Deadly Life absurd but also common of Logistics: The Economics of phenomenon, is that radical art đđđđđđ29 Piracy (Minneapolis: University is very often sponsored by the Danny Zimrin, of Minnesota Press, 2015), 157. most predatory banks or arms February 1, traders and completely ”,הקירפאמתונורכז“ 2012 đđđđđđ34 embedded in the rhetorics of the https://dannyzimrin.wordpres Berbera Port is the maritime city marketing, branding, and s.com/2012/02/01/%D7%96%D7%9 economic entrepôt of the self- social engineering.” See also B%D7%A8%D7%95%D7%A0%D7%95p%roDc7laimed Republic of Gerald Raunig, “Instituent

%AA- Somaliland. 14/14 Practices: Fleeing, Instituting, %D7%9E%D7%90%D7%A4%D7%A8 Transforming,” 2006 %D7%99%D7%A7%D7%94/ đđđđđđ35 http://eipcp.net/transversal The IMB Piracy Reporting Centre /0106/raunig/en/print: “If đđđđđđ30 uses three threat-level institutional critique is not to be Interview conducted with the indicators: 1 means that vessels fixed and paralyzed as company in Haifa on March 29, should be on the lookout for something established in the art 2016. The Patria and Ronitz are danger, 2 indicates moderate field and confined within its also named in Appendix B of Uri risk, and 3 is a full alert denoting rules, then it has to continue to Bialer, Fuel Bridge across the extreme risk. develop along with changes in Middle East: Israel, Iran, and the society and especially to tie into Eilat-Ashkelon Oil Pipeline, Israel đđđđđđ36 other forms of critique both Studies, vol. 12, no. 3 (2007): About terrorism, Israel and within and outside the art field, 29–67 Palestine, war in Ukraine, such as those arising in http://www.jstor.org/stable/ Neptune, women, masculinity, opposition to the respective 30245672. Other ships named on the origin of religious rituals. conditions or even before their the list, such as the Siris (lost in formations. Against the 1973) and the Nivi appear in the đđđđđđ37 background of this kind of pages of ZIM’s anniversary book, “Why and for whom is transversal exchange of forms of though without mention of their contemporary art so attractive? critique, but also beyond the involvement in the Israeli- One guess: the production of art imagination of spaces free from Iranian pipeline venture. For a presents a mirror image of post- domination and institutions, further listing of ZIM tankers democratic forms of institutional critique is to be from this era, see Danny Zimrin, hypercapitalism that look set to reformulated as a critical March 17, become the dominant political attitude and as an instituent ”,השקבב ,אלמלכימ“ 2012 post-Cold War paradigm. It practice.” https://dannyzimrin.wordpres seems unpredictable, s.com/2012/03/17/%D7%9E%D7%9 unaccountable, brilliant, 9%D7%9B%D7%9C- mercurial, moody, guided by %D7%9E%D7%9C%D 7%90- inspiration and genius. Just as %D7%91%D7%91%D7%A7%D7%A any oligarch aspiring to 9%D7%94/; and Yossi Melman, dictatorship might want to see “Inside Intel: The Story of Iranian himself … Both models operate Oil and Israeli Pipes,” Haaretz, within male bonding structures October 11, 2007 that are as democratic as your http://www.haaretz.com/print - local mafia chapter. Rule of law? edition/features/inside-int el- Why don’t we just leave it to the-story-of-iranian-oil- and- taste? Checks and balances? israeli-pipes-1.230884. The Cheques and balances! Good entity controlling EAPC was governance? Bad curating! You registered in Lichtenstein in see why the contemporary 1959 with 10 percent Iranian oligarch loves contemporary art: ownership. it’s just what works for him.” Hito Steyerl, “Politics of Art: đđđđđđ31 Contemporary Art and the “What’s the mysterious story Transition to Post-Democracy,” behind the Ofer Brothers’ ‘Iran- e-flux journal 21 (December gate’?” +972, May 31, 2012 2010)../journal/politics-of- art- http://972mag.com/whats-the- contemporary-art-and-the - mysterious-story-behind-the- transition-to-post-democrac y/. ofer-brothers-iran-gate/1548 4/; đđđđđđ38 תוניפסבןריאלוחרבוהדסומינכוס“ Mako, June 1, Javier Pes, “MoMA and Tate ”,רפועתחפשמלש 2011 directors urge UAE to lift artists’ http://www.mako.co.il/news-m travel bans,” Art Newspaper, ilitary/security/Article-d43 June 1, 2015 f142b11a4031004.htm; Ryan http://theartnewspaper.com/n Jones, “Report: Israeli ews/museums/director-of- commandos operated inside moma -and-tate-modern-urge- Iran,” Israel Today, June 5, 2011 uae-to -lift-artists-travel-bans-/ http://www.israeltoday.co.il /NewsItem/tabid/178/nid/2281 đđđđđđ39 4/Default.aspx. Nato Thompson, Seeing Power: Art and Activism in the Twenty- đđđđđđ32 First Century (Brooklyn: Melville John-Clark Levin, “Maritime House), 3. Mercenaries or Innovative

Defense? Private Security & the đđđđđđ40 e - f l u x j o r n a # 7 5 — s p t m b 2 0 1 6 đ M i B h v k T h e P r f c t C o n Evolving Piracy Threat,” War on In “Politics of Art,” Hito Steyerl the Rocks, September 29, 2014 writes:“But now we need a quite http://warontherocks.com/201 an extensive expansion of it. 4/09/maritime-mercenaries-or - Because inđcontrastđto the age of innovative-defense-private- an institutional criticism, which security-the-evolving-piracy - focused on art institutions, threat/; Hazel Healy, “How the orđeven the sphere of war on piracy became big representation of large, art business,” New International, production (consumption, September 2013 distribution, marketing, etc.) http://newint.org/features/2 takes on a different 013/09/01/pirates-keynote/. andđextended role within post-

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