Construction of the "Survival Boat for the 21st Century".

400 cm x 100 cm x 100 cm, laminated radiata pine and for a short period fibreglass skin, 1984.

     
    video clip from the performance in Swanston st
    January 1985

Construction of the boat began after my return from the 15 month residency in the Kunstlerhaus Bethanien, Berlin in March 1984. Lengths of radiata pine were cut into thin long slats, shaped under heat and pressure and laminated together with resorcinol resin glue. Construction was slow and demanding; especially the ratchet gears mechanism which was the force driving the boat forward and backward. There was no manual to follow; I was writing my own, 

The boat was due to be completed late 1984 with the intention to exhibit it in the Australian Sculpture Triennial December 1984 in Melbourne but the director Graeme Sturgeon dictated that all works in that exhibition were to be stand-alone objects and not involved with any performances. But in January 1985 an independent exhibition "Sculpture 85" was organised and my boat included as a performance work and then shown in isolated spots around the Melbourne CBD.

The performance in Swanston Street on New Year's Day 1985 attracted a lot of attention; a fragment of the work appeared on ABC TV. Arrangements to row the boat along the tram tracks of Swanston Street involved lengthy discussions with Melbourne Transport Authority who finally gave permission on condition that a traffic inspector supervised the placement and where necessary replacement of the boat to ensure that the Swanston Street trams could move unimpeded.

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Survival Boat for the 21st Century
on display at the Wagga City Art Gallery (as it was known then) late 1984.

400 cm x 100 cm x 100 cm, laminated radiata pine and for a short period fibreglass skin, 1984.

A test drive along the rail siding track at Wagga Wagga railway station.

400 cm x 100 cm x 100 cm, laminated radiata pine and for a short period fibreglass skin, 1984.

The Survival boat in performance along Swanston St Melbourne
January 1985

400 cm x 100 cm x 100 cm, laminated radiata pine and for a short period fibreglass skin, 1984.

400 cm x 100 cm x 100 cm, laminated radiata pine and for a short period fibreglass skin, 1984.

Swanston St Melbourne
January 1985
Boat left in various locations in the Melbourne CBD across several hours, apparently abandoned but under tight supervision.

The "Survival Boat…" without rower, and left in the space as a relic from some previous actions to which the observer must add their own narrative.

Survival boat in performance at
St Leonards railway siding, November 1985 Sydney. A work in the Perspecta '85 exhibition.

400 cm x 100 cm x 100 cm, laminated wood. Fibreglass skin removed, 1985.

Click here to read responses to this work;
Celia Winter Irving,
Tony Bond,
Chris Ashton (SMH), and a
footnote by Celia Winter Irving published in the Harare Herald Zimbabwe 2009.

Survival boat in performance at the
St Leonards railway siding, November 1985 Sydney. A work in the Perspecta '85 exhibition.

These images are in monochrome; shot on black and white film which adds a certain drama to the performance.

In November 1985 the "Survival Boat…" was involved with the perspective '85 exhibition in Sydney. This involved performance by rowing the boat along a section of the St Leonards railway siding, then installed in a small room at the Irving Sculpture Gallery at Glebe. While there, it was used in performance for short periods and then remained on display as a relic.

The second phase of the life of the "Survival Boat…" Took it to a group exhibition in Sydney under the umbrella of Perspecta 85 in November 1985. Its presence was focused at the Irving sculpture Gallery located in St Johns Road Glebe, Sydney. But in addition to this location it was also transported to the St Leonards railway siding where the artist rowed the boat some hundred metres along a disused railway track."

Originally, the boat had a fibreglass skin but after the performance in Melbourne this became damaged and unsightly.  As a result it was removed from the chassis. Minus the protective sheeting, the boat structure became much starker and much more vulnerable especially in the situation where fast commuter trains were roaring along side it.
The performance of St Leonards railway siding was filmed by the ABC and used in the Billboard series of art programs.

The boat was then returned to the Irving Sculpture Gallery where it was housed in a small and confined room. Here I rowed the boat along its defined wooden track to the endpoint where it threatened to topple over and crash to the floor. This created enormous tension for the onlookers with the space being so confined.
As someone observed; when the boat reached its tipping point the silence in the room became deafening.

For the remainder of the Perspecta '85 exhibition it remained in the Irving Sculpture Gallery as a relic from some earlier undefined actions.

400 cm x 100 cm x 100 cm, laminated wood. Fibreglass skin removed,

Andrew Saw filming for Billboard ABC 1985
Survival boat in performance at
St Leonards railway siding, November 1985 Sydney. A work in the Perspecta '85 exhibition.

400 cm x 100 cm x 100 cm, laminated wood. Fibreglass skin removed,

at Irving sculpture Gallery in performance
Survival boat in performance at
St Leonards railway siding, November 1985 Sydney. A work in the Perspecta '85 exhibition.

400 cm x 100 cm x 100 cm, laminated wood. Fibreglass skin removed,

Survival boat at Irving Sculpture Gallery resting quietly after performances, November 1985 Sydney. A work in the Perspecta '85 exhibition.

400 cm x 100 cm x 100 cm, laminated wood. Fibreglass skin removed,

Machina Persona exhibition at AGNSW 1991.

400 cm x 100 cm x 100 cm, laminated wood. Fibreglass skin removed,

To view the entire group of works in the Machina: Persona (AGNSW 1991); click HERE

After the Perspecta '85 exhibition closed the "Survival Boat…" was donated to the Art Gallery of New South Wales.
Iit has been in the collection ever since.