Venice, a city of streams and rising tides, of capricious floods and salty canals, has always been a cultural assemblage point. “15 Million Sandy Seconds” is a project which illustrates Venice’s deepest foundation – sand, which has been carried into the Adriatic Sea by rivers flowing out of the Italian mainland – as well as the constant tide the abiding city resists every day. Influences such as increasing tourism, worldwide trade, migration and cultural exchange are flooding Venice’s surface constantly and keep the city alive. Behind every façade – no matter how picturesque it might appear from the outside – everyday life is carried into tiny shops and piazzales leaving traces alongside Venetian canals. People keep moving from one side to the other, from the train station Sta. Lucia to San Marco and back. Giant cruise ships are crossing the observer’s sight, while Senegalese street vendors praise illegally purchased handbags. Tourists flood every pavement, every canal where they buy and watch and eat in order to leave wasteful traces in narrow alleys. The Biennale 2013 lasts for 177 days, which are 15 million seconds, or also 285 cruise ships arriving in Venice during that period. In other words, the number can be shown in 6 tons of sand running down from a giant hourglass into the Piazza Sta. Lucia.