HUDSON RIVER, NEW YORK -- On August 15, 2008 artist SWOON's "Swimming Cities of Switchback Sea", a fleet of seven intricately crafted boats fashioned out of scrap wood and other salvaged materials, will embark on a voyage down the Hudson River from Troy, NY to Deitch Studios in Long Island City, Queens. A performance, guided by playwright Lisa D'Amour will be delivered from the decks of the vessels and the banks of the river in towns along the route. Each raft is powered with alternative energy sources, including bio-fuels and solar power. SWOON's larger-than-life "invented landscape" installation at Deitch Studios will receive the fleet September 7. The show opens to the public that day.
SWOON is a Brooklyn-based street artist who creates life-sized portraits of people she meets, using woodcut block prints and paper cutouts. SWOON's galleries are city walls, often in the environments that inspired the prints. Swimming Cities of Switchback Sea is SWOON's second solo exhibition with Deitch Projects. She is an international artist with major pieces in the Museum of Modern Art and the Brooklyn Museum of Art. Inspired by influences ranging from German Expressionist wood block prints to Indonesian shadow puppets, SWOON is a master of using cut paper to play with positive and negative space to create conceptually driven explorations of urban street environments.
On this project SWOON collaborates with award-winning playwright Lisa D'Amour who created a performance that draws up the many possible narratives and myths that might surround the vessels, the crew and the journey. SWOON also teams up with circus composer Sxip Shirey, Kinetic Steam Works from San Francisco, the band Dark Dark Dark (accordian, cello, upright bass, banjo) and Hudson river advocacy groups as the boats float down the river.
"Swimming Cities of Switchback Sea" is a two-part exhibit merging SWOON's newest portraits, found objects of urban decay and a sculptural floating city. Please see the website www.switchbacksea.org for tour dates.
When do you pass the Harlem River in NYC?
Posted by: Sedret | July 31, 2008 at 03:45 PM