Cristina Ampatzidou

Swinging the lamp is a nautical term describing the narration of sea stories. Referring to lamps slung from the deck head, which swing while at sea. Often used to indicate that the storyteller is exaggerating. Our residency at Badgast has been a 4 weeks field research in which we collected narratives from different people, living and working in Scheveningen. Our guests included a maritime biologist, former fishermen, the local lighthouse guard etc. These local legends, but also real stories, which sometimes surpass any imagination, have been the inspiration for the creation of Thalazee, an imaginary civilization and its history. Thalazee is an island dangerously threatened by the rising sea level. After many efforts to save their land, the inhabitants of Thalazee decide to undergo a series of genetic modifications to adapt to an underwater living. The story of Thalazee infiltrated the collection of local legends, being presented together in an audio installation, inside a container on the Scheveningen coast. (in collaboration with Giuseppe Licari, Badgast artist-in-residensy program, Scheveningen, the Netherlands, 2011)