The first word I learned to say is guaita. My paternal grandmother would take me for a walk in the trolley, and as we wandered around she would point at things with her finger and say: “Guaita Laia, guaita!”. She spoke a particular Catalan, she would say guaita instead of mira (look at). Guaitar means to watch carefully, analysing what is observed. Vigilant. Jo guaito 👀️ 

/ˈgwaj.tə/ 




ABOUT

NOTEBOOK 💬️

RESEARCH BIENNALE

Alternative Explorer Performs an Algofiction


SAN MEI GALLERY

Collective Ritual of Longing


DIS/CONNECT

Communication in the Age of Isolation


METAL

El Arte de Hackear


MANIFEST INFÀNCIA I PANTALLES

El risc de les pantalles


ON THE DESK

ADG Laus


HANDLE WITH CARE

Actas BAU Design Forum 2017


© 2024 Laia Miret



DREAMS OF SLEEPING BAGS



HD TWO-CHANNEL VIDEO INSTALLATION WITH SOUND 


PROJECT

Dreams Of Sleeping Bags


VIDEO INSTALLATION

CEUTA

IMAGES

Laia Miret
Google Maps


THANK YOU

Haitham Dahbour
Hitcham


2023


Dreams are spoken of as if they belonged in an improbable pleasant future. What do you dream of being when you grow up? How would you describe the house of your dreams? In reality, dreams happen when we are sleeping, dreams are located in the present that escapes us, a present we are dislocated from. We try to read their symbols, we want to know what they mean to us, the hidden messages they illustrate. But dreams might often flow haphazardly, like the uncertain future.

I asked my friend Hicham, ceutí, how does he imagine Ceuta in 50 years. He told me that “dead, that Ceuta's dreams are empty, they don't exist.”


I spent a few months in the Spanish Schengen-excluded enclave with an NGO, helping people whose journey is to cross the Morocco-Spain border to reach Europe, dreamland. These video pieces are a collage practice that juxtaposes some of the moments I witnessed and experienced there, a document that brings evidence of certain migration strategies, police abuse of power, border violence and interrupted youth.





SKETCH OF THE INSTALLATION CONSISTING OF SLEEPING BAGS HELD TO THE WALL, LEAVING TWO RECTANGULAR SPACES FOR TWO SCREENS OR PROJECTIONS OF THE VIDEO PIECES 



︎ VIDEO PIECES UNDER REQUEST ︎






1. ANONYMOUS MOROCCAN BOY LIVING IN A TUNNEL


2. THE GUARDIA CIVIL STOPPING GOOGLE CAR





3. 3 YOUNG BOYS ARRIVE AT THE SHORE NEAR TARAJAL BEACH, 3 POLICEMEN ARREST THEM, A PUSHBACK





4. ANONYMOUS HANGING OUT THE WASHING


5. TRASHED WASHING MACHINE AND RUBBLE






6. FOG AND CALMED SEA, OPTIMAL CONDITIONS TO CROSS THE BORDER SWIMMING






7. A SPANISH TANK ON GOOGLE MAPS


8. MOROCCO-SPAIN LAND BORDER FENCE DISTORTED ON GOOGLE MAPS



9. MATTRESS ON THE SHORE OF BENZÚ


10. MATTRESS ON THE SHORE OF BENZÚ






11. POLITICAL SATELLITE PHOTOGRAPH OF CEUTA THAT SHOWS 
THE MARITIME LIMITS OF THE SPANISH TERRITORY