SWIMMING CITIES / SWITCHBACK SEA + SERENISSIMA

ALWAYS GET ON THE BOAT

I’ve never been the same since this happened. Ceremoniously christened by Papa Neutrino himself, set adrift down the Hudson River for two weeks from Troy, NY to New York, NY for a grand exhibition of Caledonia Curry’s incredible work—our matriarch and project leader, otherwise known as Swoon. I helped construct the vessels in Troy, played the Preacher Captain in the shows we performed onboard in riverside towns along the way and piloted Alice, the prettiest ship in the fleet, featured above. We then took them apart, shipped two to Slovenia along with some salvaged materials from Brooklyn streets, constructed a new one there named Ol’ Hickory, and motored across the Adriatic Sea for another two week voyage to crash the Venice Biennale. Again I was helmsman for Alice, leading a crowdsourced conception of a show en route which I then directed—an abstract performance entitled The Clutchess of Cuckoo, named such by Captain Doyle, and scored by the ever-haunting and magnanimous Dark Dark Dark. For our final act, we crept up the Grand Canal at midnight with the band playing on deck for only a handful of romantic couples and wandering souls who happened to find themselves gracing bridges in those quietest of hours. If you can find yourself a copy of the Austrian documentary Empire Me, by Paul Poet, you’ll find us there as well as scattered amongst the pages of local publications along our route, including the New York Times. The moral of our story I think is that hope floats through everything and homemade beauty and hard work is recognized and welcome everywhere you go.

WHEN I AWOKE FROM MY SLUMBER

SHOW PREP ON THE HUDSON

SHOW PREP IN VENICE