The project focuses on the territory of Eastern Sicily, which has its starting point on the borderline of commerce: street vendors and roadside traders. This particular form of vending – deeply rooted in tradition – consists of a kind of trading system in which the traders move with their trucks on specific days between cities, neighbourhoods and small towns in the region.

They generate seemingly anarchic performances, but we find out that they are governed by a system of rules and precise timing – mostly unwritten and informal – silently respected by all the actors involved. These laws are the result of relational connections and proximity, which have always characterized commercial and human exchanges in this area of the world.

We may describe this phenomenon as one of the first examples of commercial and communication globalization in these places, far from any common media progress in technology.
Economic Border is a platform featuring two documentary films, 150 colour prints and more than 50 interviews carried out during a three-year tour of the area. The video sample is a spontaneous portrait of an average working day in the family of Nino Caruso, one of the most representative street vendors in Sicily.