“The last bit of Earth unclaimed by any nation-state was eaten up in 1899. Ours is the first century without terra incognita, without a frontier…We are looking for spaces (geographic, social, cultural, imaginary) with potential to flower as autonomous zones”
from ‘The Temporary Autonomous Zone’ Peter Lambourn Wilson

“Running water is more than a passive guide, it represents an invitation for a free ride into terra incognita.”
from ‘Early Man and the Ocean’ Thor Heyerdahl

“The natural element for industry, animating its outward movement, is the sea. Since the passion for gain involves risk, industry though bent on gain yet lifts itself above it; instead of remaining rooted to the soil and the limited circle of civil life with its pleasures and desires, it embraces the element of flux, danger, and destruction.”
from ‘Philosophy of Right‘ Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel

My artwork combines psycho-geographic exploration with highly crafted, material forms. I use boats and navigation in my artwork to create an uncertain space. My belief is that uncertainty brings about a heightened awareness of place. When we feel unstable we see more. In my very first boat projects in the canals around Providence, Rhode Island, I was struck by the unique perspective that navigating a city waterway allows. I saw the city from below street level. The people and cars were gone. The strangely empty city allowed for an unusual encounter with architecture and structure.

In my ongoing project called The Tide and Current Taxi, I ferry people throughout New York in a boat that I made. I study tidal charts of the harbor and use the tidal currents and river currents to push the boat all throughout New York City. The act of floating through adds a specific presence to ones own observation. The viewer maintains an awareness of their own balance and form as they absorb the details in their surrounding. This kind of observation creates something new out of something familiar. This is an attempt to ‘un-know’ the city. Furthermore, my project looks for unoccupied edges of social control– we float freely through the highly gridded city, in search of understanding, or just ‘in search of’. I continually insist upon re-exploring the metropolis. The coastline of New York City is constantly changing and developing; my projects navigate and record this transitional state.