“….what has happened to the vessel as an object? From this simple question, expecting it to be behind a door in a Te Papa Tongarewa storage facility, I was quickly pushed and pulled ... blown toward and into the vessel in question.
Built, exhibited, stored on a trailer, sailed, what are the potentials of an objet d’art, pushed out to sea? Although decommissioned, ballast is weighted with a particular provenance. Since decommission the vessel has been cared for, not simply left in the tidal mud, but still it exists within a littoral zone, a space between? If within a intertidal zone, a place that is redefined twice a day with regular fluctuations, what actions are to be taken? When, with the incoming tide, I’m forced to consider what happens between tides. At the moment of return is there an archive of what once was, or does the tide erase what once was. How does one engage with an archive in a tidal zone if all is in a continued state of change, with origin starting at both the last cycle and the first tide? Where does one stand when attempting to engage in such a zone?
The following actions originate from childhood interest and first experience of employment as a sailing instructor on the island of St. Croix in the USVI. Those interests now inform a position to engage with a vessel, an objet d’art that has avoided the archive. This allows empirically engaged research to inform the collection of material related to those actions. As an audience member myself, is this a means to transpose fleeting moments into tentative contexts where I hold them for as long as possible? Let' us consider language for an affective archive.
Let there be space to moving forward and back simultaneously with use of an “object of desire” / “tool to navigate” / “transitive object”
Once place a top a building, with approximate coordinates described as 41°17′26″S 174°46′55″E, what does it mean to return to a found object, one that once looked out toward a distant offing? Now, located at approximately 41°09′09″S 172°59′37″E, where and when will engagement occur? What does it mean for an object to change once another set of hands alters it’s static trajectory? What does the object become? When re/instigating this dialogue, what do I, as active participant within the object, become?
This inquiry has been made possible through the generous financial support of Mike Cole who provided the means to acquire the boat. My parents Jacqui and Richard are integral as they have provided and aided in finding the space to store the vessel at or near their home in Upper Moutere, Whakatū Nelson.
Parts may not be perceived to always be moving. So, how can an archive of these parts be static, and if perceived as static, what does the movement look like? If understood as moving, what will occur during navigation between moments? If this imperceivable movement were to be described visually, where could interest in this inquiry be said to have originated? By what means will these questions be charted? Will a prescribed outcome be altered in form so one might float upon the sea?
These notes will be returned to and expanded on over time. Some holes may appear, these will be addressed in due time.