Designed by Paul Selway and built by Maddie Leach and Graham Hoyte, this 2006 work was commissioned and curated by Natasha Conland and Charlotte Huddleston, shown by Te Papa Tongarewa, Te Whanganui-a-Tara, November 4, 2006 until June 10, 2007.
In 2015, in an effort to refuse the sailing vessel’s ability to attain the status of cultural commodity, Leach decommissioned MBP as an art object. First the object was sailed as part of a Wellington Classic Boat Regatta, then efforts were made to sell the boat. Eventually, Leach proceeded to act in a way that ennobled reciprocity as a form of rational and decolonized exchange, gifting the vessel to the next custodian, Matt Holland. In 2019, after discussions with Leach regarding how one might dispose of an object d’art of my own, I was put in contact with Holland. On 26-11-19, after reaching an agreement I became the next / current custodian of the sailing vessel from MBP (Holland came to name the vessel, Maddie).
Maddie is a sailing vessel of open potential, which currently exists within a liminal zone, an in-between zone. In a focused sense, a machine able to questioned as both a machine with a body as well as without, which has the ability to be defined by an explicit function while simultaneously and poetically speak to the following questions — What if Tacita Dean could sail Donald Crowhurst’s Teignmouth Electron, or the sea shanties sung for Part III of Bas Jan Ader’s In Search for the Miraculous on his return to The Netherlands? What might be done if Marcel Duchamp’s original Bottle Rack (Porte-Bouteilles), 1914, was found at this moment in time? What might be drawn from entering the water of Heraclitus’ river? — How might MBP be returned from where it has been found (Motueka / the other side of the river / Cook Strait), to waters below, looking back up toward its place of origin, Te Papa Tongarewa?
Met with Maddie Leach on the 6th November 2021. Sitting at the park in Devonport and looking back towards Helen Escobedo’s public sculpture, Signals (1971), we discussed the boat, which was no longer considered an art object as it had been “…pushed out to sea.” We agreed this designation allows the potential of engagement to be considered as both ‘simply just a boat’ and simultaneously holding potential to again become an art object, if the current custodian wishes to claim use in that way.
Floating, a thought on an object pushed out to sea.
In an email dated 6 August 2019, Leach explained the boat was stored in various location, including the Plimmerton Boat Club and later the home garage. In 2009 the boat was first used after being encouraged to sail it by some enthusiasts from the Boat Club. Graham Hoyte was present. (photos above of this use)
In 2012, the boat (including copies of plans and artist notations were included in Peripheral Relations: Marcel Duchamp and New Zealand Art, curated by Marcus Moore with the Adam Art Gallery.
I was after this that Leach attempted to sell the boat before making it available to the first person to pick it up. It was during this process that the boat was ‘decommissioned as an art object.
Now, how will I engage with this boat… this vessel?