Cerberus. The Three Headed Monster
A Behemoth Press project at the 15th Venice Biennale 2016 Kuwait Pavilion "Between East and West: a Gulf" in collaboration Matteo Mannini Architects
We often use the words of pirate and privateer interchangeably, while in fact each has a particular meaning. Legally, there is a difference between a pirate and a privateer: unlike the pirate, the privateer holds a legal title, the commission from a government, a “letter of marque”. (S)he is entitled to fly a country’s flag. On the opposite, pirates navigate without a legal authorisation. Their only flag is the black-flag.
Nevertheless, this distinction so clear and elegant in theory was blurred in practice. Privateers often exceeded the limits of their licenses and navigated using forged letters of marque and, at other times, were armed only with licenses from non-existing governments. Somehow we could claim that privateers were not so dissimilar from contemporary freelancers. A freelancer is in fact a one-man company: an entrepreneur of herself. The life of a freelancer coincides with her own work: pure labor power at the service of a client. As for freelancers, the life of privateers was based on a contract with a sovereign, proceeding at their own private risk. Their actions were not illegal, but precarious. Their ventures were possible, because both operations -- blockade-running and smuggling -- occurred in the no man's land of a double freedom, the non-state sphere: first spatially, in the sphere of the free sea, and second, substantively, in the sphere of free trade.
In respond to the Kuwait Pavilion’s theme at the coming Venice Biennale, “Between East and West, a Gulf”, Behemoth Press (Amir Djalali, Hamed Khosravi, Francesco Marullo) in collaboration with Matteo Mannini Architects explored contemporary seafarers and old privateers: drawing from the legends surrounding a lost Ark, the figure of Rahmah ibn Jabir al-Jalahimah, oil tankers, cyber-armies and underwater network cables, they conjectured a project for past and the future of the Abu Musa Province islands in the Hormuz strait —Siri, Abu Musa, Tunb and Nabiu Tunb, Farur and Nabiu Farur.
These architectural interventions tackle the geopolitical condition of thePersian Gulf, focusing on the historical tensions for the supremacy over the transit channel between UAE, Iran and the other Gulf nations. The strategic position of the islands, their desolated landscape and their technological substrata, will not only unfold the hidden mythological layers of the region but also offer a delirious reading of the present conditions.
Inhabited Ruins
The Iranian Ministry of Heritage and Culture commissioned Matteom Mannini to lead an Iranian-Italian team of architects, historians and archeologists from the Universities of Tehran and Florence to conduct an archaeological campaign on the island of Farour. The excavation brought to light an exceptional monumental complex, which Mannini identified as the fortress of the notorious Qatari pirate Rahman Ibn Jabir al-Jalahimah (1760–1826).
The complex, considered so far only existing as a legend, includes various additions that were constructed in different periods. The oldest remains are those of a simple hypostile hall, originally used as a mosque due to its orientation towards Mecca. The steep staircase of a former observatory built in the Seljuk period became after the construction of an underground waterway (qanat) the access point for a monumental ab anbar (water cistern) from the Safavid period.
The only addition to the complex made in the post-1820s period is fortification on the East side of the complex. The fortification is made by an grid of partly underground 4x4m rooms, connected by passageways and lit from the above. These spaces were used by Rahmah ibn-Jabir and his company as temporary dwellings and safe deposits for food provisions and looted material.
Paradoxically, the same structures are today inhabited by a community of contemporary pirates and hackers, attracted to the island by the Iranian government's liberal policy over copyright infringement (as well as its hope to recruit the best expertise for international espionage purposes).
Despite the general peaceful attitude of the population of cyber-refugees, individuals have reportedly been involved in acts of sabotage against Alefba's headquarters in the neighbouring island of Tunb, as well as illegally helping some of Alefba's enterpreneurs to flee from their corporate environment.
So far, Mannini's team has not found any looted material, or pirate treasure which is likely to be hidden on the island of Farour. The local community has denied any findings. However, their accounts appear fragmentary and inconsistent, and further inquiries are expected.
Alefba
Alefba is an expansible corporate incubator, facilitating the encounter between entrepreneurs and venture capitals. The enterprise benefits from the free-trade zone status that the Iranian Government granted to the islands of Tunb in 2017, attracting investments from the region and making the island a thriving centre for cutting-edge research and development. The establishment of Alfeba marks the beginning of a new course in the relations between Iran and the US, after almost 40 years of political hostility and commercial standstill, and a new possibility for the establishment of extraterritorial spaces for cooperation among the two sides of the Gulf.
Alefba HQ are composed by a 300 x 1000 m plinth, constituting the corporate habitat, and Cerberus, a triangularly planned core directional unit. The plinth is composed by a series of rooms which size doubles according to their distance to the outer perimeter. The rooms provide a scalable and seamless working and living space, providing all the needs of a successful business life from basic reproduction to the highest organizational and representational needs of an office ecosystem. Cerberus' three heads are the a five-star hotel for temporary visitors and their delegations, a distribution centre and the offices of the CEO. The core of Cerberus is occupied by the assembly hall, which stages the democratic life of Alefba as well as the keynote speeches during the launch of new products. Alefba's entrepreneurs enjoy various privileges. No visa is be required to move to Tunb. Any convictions for copyright infringement, fraud, information theft or cyber-warfare are to be automatically canceled. Iranian authorities accepted the establishment a moratorium over dress code and morality in the island. Women, Lesbians, Gays, Bisexuals, Queers and Trans are encouraged to apply in the effort to create an open, safe and diverse working environment.
However, despite the liberal atmosphere and the promises of a thriving corporate lifestyle, some entrepreneurs were reported to have secretly eluded the island's capillary security system, fleeing towards the neighbouring island of Farour and joining its refugee cyber-army.
(Drawings and texts by Amir Djalali, Hamed Khosravi, Francesco Marullo, Matteo Mannini. Photos by Giulio Boem)
