During Art Central XL more than 25 art spaces and institutions join forces to put the spotlight on Rotterdam’s contemporary art scene. OMI presents, as part of the central exhibition, the work Suez by artist Hans Wilschut.

The Suez Canal is one of the world’s main transport routes, a waterway that connects Asia, the Middle East and Europe. It is vital for the transport of natural gas and oil from the Middle East, and for products from China. Hans Wilschut spent days filming the mouth of the Suez Canal from the Egyptian city of the same name. A constant line of bulk carriers and oil tankers pass through the narrow opening of the canal. The work captures both the ceaseless flow of goods and the fragility of this lifeline of the global economy. World trade ground to a halt in 2021 when the MV Ever Given, a 400-metre-long cargo ship carrying 20,000 containers on its way to Rotterdam, ran aground in the canal.

For the past 25 years, artist Hans Wilschut (1966) has been examining the urban landscape in photo series, videos, films and publications. The city as an architectonic and social space, and the accompanying tension, shape his view of the human environment.

Globalization, migration, climate change, tourism and urbanization are recurring themes in his work. Besides photography, video and film play an increasingly important role in his work, from the hordes of tourists in Hallstatt (Austria) to La Nave, a film about the famous suburb of Scampia in Naples. Suez, his recent film, shows the fragility of the global economy.