TORP
Speculative design, 2018
what is it
TORP is a toolkit for establishing small extrajudicial territories within the boundaries of any US port. It provides visa-less seafarers the opportunity to dwell temporarily on land. TORP is an acronym for Territory of Radical Potentiality. It’s also an anagram for Port. TORP highlights the discrepancy between social reproductive labor and profit-producing labor at the Port of Oakland. The brand language of TORP is based on the Port of Oakland logo, as well the octagonal concrete benches at Port View Park, which overlooks the port.
Design Brief
Create a site-specific ‘filter’ that bridges virtual and physical worlds
Background
Many container ships that pass through the Port of Oakland contain at least one crew member who lacks a US D-1 visa. These crew members are barred from taking shore leave on US soil. Though they may spend up to 11 months aboard their ship, they are unable to take part in the everyday activities associated with docking at an overseas port: doing errands, calling family members, checking email, etc. These workers, who are so instrumental in keeping our economy productive, are physically confined by the immaterial, virtual barriers of international border law. They must remain on their ships. The shore, that place where water meets land, is a contested territory, a kind of border that cannot be traversed by these workers. What if there were a way to skirt this confinement?
water postcard
What if loved ones sent water from distant places to one another, to afford passage to otherwise forbidden places?
site research
Posters alert potential users of important site information, surface conditions, and depth boundaries of Port View Park
