Twenty-one mismatched Oars – overpainted with flowers, birds, talismans and geometric forms – line one wall of the pavilion, evoking Venice’s maritime histories of movement, displacement and exchange. Once used for a specific purpose, they have now lost their function. Their arrangement draws attention to institutional presentations of artefacts as fixed bearers of meaning. Himid treats history not as a pristine find, but as material to be altered and handled. The found oars become layered surfaces of memory, resistance and revision.