Seven Days: Vermont's Independent Voice

'Migration'

At the beginning of Albanian artist Adrian Paci’s video “Centro di Permanenza Temporanea (Temporary Detention Center),” people line up to board a plane. But as the camera slowly pulls away, the scene takes on a different meaning. Gradually the viewer realizes that there is no plane; these travelers are stranded on the tarmac, crammed onto a staircase to nowhere. “Caught between two places, these migrants represent Paci’s own history as a displaced person [he immigrated to Italy], shared by an increasingly globalized world,” writes Rachel Moore, assistant director at Stowe’s Helen Day Art Center. Paci is one of a dozen international artists and writers whose work exploring issues of physical and cultural dislocation is exhibited at Helen Day through November 25. Pictured: a still from Paci’s video.