Fernando Prats: Gran Sur

Fernando Prats' project is, in all senses, an epic and poetic journey in which he insists on art as a journey in pursuit of the unknown, in which it is still possible to escape from banality and literalism. Gran Sur was inspired by Ernest Shackleton's newspaper advert for recruits for his fateful Antarctic expedition: "Men wanted for hazardous journey, low wages, bitter cold, long months of complete darkness, constant danger, safe return doubtful, honour and recognition in case of success". Through a compendium of photographs and archival materials, Prats' installation, recorded in this volume, draws out the implications of the blackly humorous advert to resonate with larger experiences of migration and dangerous travel. Fernando Prats (Santiago de Chile, 1967) is representing Chile at the 2011 Venice Biennale.