Le Merle – Studies on Movement

Ce numéro explore la notion d’horizon et l’expérience de sa possible absence, nourrissant l’échange entre le Liban et sa diaspora. Il rassemble une constellation de pensées qui interrogent tour à tour les imaginaires de l’habiter et de l’exil, le jeu des frontières invisibles et de la distance, les pratiques de résistance dans la production d’images et les représentations politiques du sectarisme, de l’écologie et de l’expérience propre à l’urbanité Libanaise. La majorité des textes réunis ont été écrits avant le 7 octobre 2023, avant le génocide en cours. Il a été édité par Mirna Abiad-Boyadjian et François Lemieux qui remercient chaleureusement les contributrices et contributeurs.

Studies on Movement (2017-2020) looked to rethink the process of “construction” behind establishing fixed points at sea, starting from the dispute surrounding the Lebanese maritime boundary space. Maritime space here is marked as a differentiated set of points that can be plotted and controlled, a process of rationalization and abstraction that locates points on maps. Within that system, movement is no longer there, replaced by fixed relations in a simultaneous physical and abstract space. The project is a study in different parts of possible conversations around different notions surrounding such “constructions”. Taking the body as a point of departure, where this process of abstraction initially starts, to build alternative choreographic narratives: different bodies move towards an attempted stillness ¹.

Standing behind a camera and a long zoom lens
I zoom in to the furthest point
The end point of what I can see

The only fear I have is to confuse
the act of seeing with what is being seen

I know that the horizon does not exist
A sight that never seems to fit that knowledge

6 meters above sea level,
the horizon is 8.7 kilometres away

If I stand on my toes,
I gain a distance of 30 meters ahead

On a beach of a 1 percent slope,
3 cm error in vertical datum is 3 m of lost distance

19 years of tidal data is required for an accurate
establishing of a base point at any given location

For an observer on the ground with eye level at 1.70 m,
the horizon is at a distance of 4.7 km (2.5 nm)

For an observer standing on a hill or tower of 38.7 m height,
the horizon is at a distance of 22.2 km (12 nm) equal
to the breadth of the territorial sea

The imaginary line disappears from its fixed location
to resurface again somewhere else

A projected point can achieve stability when
the observer’s body does not move between horizontal levels

Within these laws, a point achieves stability
and should not move with the geography

In 2000, Israel installed a line of buoys
in the area of Ras Naqoura coinciding with the line
leading to point 23

In 2011, Israel removed the buoys floating along
this delineation, the same buoys were floating
further south prior to this date

Zooming in on a Buoy, found footage on youtube
of Nikon P900 zoom tests

The Lebanese government has different options to set the limits of its southern maritime border

Israel’s claim using a Lebanese
miscalculation in 2007

If Tekhelet was considered an island

Marked by the Lebanese government

Taking partial consideration of Tekhelet,
considering it something between
a rock and an island

If Tekhelet was considered a rock

Base point

When does a rock become an island?
A land mass is considered:

A rock if its is permanently above water
but unable to sustain human habitation
or economic life on its own

An island if it is permanently above water
and can sustain human habitation
or economic life on its own

A Low-tide elevation
if it is above water only at low tide

(United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea)

At sea, you would say: we are going to dive at this point or that

What point would that be?

Points that can’t be separated from each other
To mark a point at sea, I look towards the southeast and locate a point at shore and another point further towards the mountain to meet in one line
From the same place, I look towards the north-east and take two other points.
When the four points meet it means I am in the same location again

Does this require some kind of experience or training?

Sharp vision and memory, when we look towards the land, we should already know the different landmarks
For example, for a site I have located, a mosque minaret on the shore meets the statue of the lady in Maghdoucheh.
From the other side, from the north, the Jammal building in Saida meets another building at Mar Elias hill.
When the four points meet, I know this is the location for Harf el Rejme

If the landmarks change at land, you lose your point at sea
If my body changes position while I turn my head from left to right, the location is no longer a point

You try to be still
It’s very important that we are still and do not
move.
I stand opposite the current, move one leg slowly
without force, my knees bent. It depends on how
strong the current is. If the current is stronger,
I move both legs

from a conversation with a diver

Movement of a point of a deep water wave

This section presents elements from the installation “Studies on Movement” presented between 2017-2020, a project melding video, sculpture and drawings by artist Ghida Hachicho.→