Swimming Cities curbed by cops

I promise this will be the last post on the Swimming Cities of Switchback Sea. Today's NYTimes is reporting that the flotilla was stopped by police in New York Harbor yesterday and was issued summonses for two of the boats for lacking appropriate safety gear. The group was escorted to its destination in LIC by the Coast Guard yesterday.
The Gothamist has a brief interview with Swoon about the project.
The KSW blog has a description of the perils of navigating near the mouth of the Hudson.

Of the performance: Swimming Cities of Switchback Sea (with links)

The gathering crowd, pre-performance.

A good sized crowd made is down to Beacon Point for the Swimming Cities of Switchback Sea performance on Sunday Night.
I heard mixed, but generally good reviews of the hour long piece made up mostly of spoken narration with musical accompaniment. The highest praise I heard was lavished on the band Dark Dark Dark. The downside for me was that most narrators' monologues were difficult to hear over the waves, geese and the generator hidden in the bushes.

The floating stage
I really dig the idea of the itinerant troubadours drifting from town to town, drawing an entertainment starved community down to the waterfront for some diversion. (A more piratic version of this tale would incorporate such a diversion to give a second stealthy crew freedom to liberate the townfolk of the valuables in their homes whilst they linger on the river.)
In my mind, the performance node of this endeavor is just one part of the larger project that raises fundamental issues of community, ecology, and the pace of life at a point when mainstream and fringe rub against one another. Poetically, Swimming Cities of Switchback Sea is a floating (more intensive)analogue to the Habitat for Artists, and I enjoyed seeing the pitched tents nestled among the habitats, providing a sheltering space for a new set of artists on their journey. Both projects invoke the custom of artmaking to create temporary community, facilitating an exchange of ideas on a neutral ground.
The crew afloat on the Swimming Cities vessels is a loose conglomeration of groups, some tenously linked, not everyone knows everyone else it seems, acting as one that then leaves traces on the river folk with whom they share a moment along the way.

A cool photo by sucka pants of the fleet heading toward Bannerman Island. via fecalface

More Swimming Cities content:
Here's a review from Kingston with excerpts of the spoken text at thepiratebay.org
Brief Epigrams has some photos.
Flood is a film project that is being created along the way.
Reclaimed Home , a blog here in Beacon has some images.
The KSW blog has a running diary of the cruise.

More images of the Switchback landing in Beacon

Here are a few images, taken by Karlyn Benson, from last night landing of the Swimming Cities of Switchback Sea. Thanks for sending these over, Karlyn.

Swimming Cities arrive in Beacon, NY

The first of the Swimming Cities of Switchback Sea vessels pulled in to dock in Beacon, NY last night against an orange-lace sunset.
The third of the vessels arrive with the lights of Newburgh as backdrop.

A small Beacon delegation was on hand to welcome the exhausted crew of between 40 and 50 people distributed among the boats.

Given that the Hudson is a tidal river, with current flowing alternately North and South, the crew has had to rise at 5 am and be off by 6 am every day in order to take advantage of the favorable current.

Some of the Switchbackers made their way up to Main St for snacks before making camp at Spire Studios.

Jeff Caramegna succinctly summed up the evening's excitement of the new arrivals, saying "I pitched a tent....".

Sunday morn: Some of the Switchback crew bedding down among the Habitats.

After a day of much needed rest, the crew will be performing tonight at Beacon Point at 8pm.

The morning after the group's arrival in Beacon.

More Swimming Cities....

The NY Times ran a story yesterday on the Swimming Cities of Switchback Seas, inlcuded with the story online is a slideshow of the final preparations and launch from Troy NY.

I found the following image of the flotilla's stop in Albany along with a very brief critique of the performance at peonysinalbany.blogspot.

via peonysinalbany

Kinetic Steam Works, one of the Swimming Cities collaborative groups, haling from San Francisco has a couple of pre-launch images and abehind the scenes acount on their blog.

You can also check out bluecinema's(Angela Coppola) images of the performance scene on flickr.

Chicken John has been blogging from the perspective of the project's resident mechanic. Here's a video of the crafts in motion:

Swimming Cities of the Switchback Sea from ekai on Vimeo.

Swimming Cities of Switchback Seas lands in Beacon, August 23 24

Brooklyn-based artist SWOON is leading a flotilla of seven structures boats down the Hudson from Troy down around Manhattan and up to Queens. Known as the Swimming Cities of Switchback Seas, this flotilla is part of her upcoming exhibit at Deitch Studios in Queens, SWOON has amassed a collaborative team to pilot the vessels and hold performances at points along the journey.

On this project SWOON collaborates with playwright Lisa D'Amour whose
performance draws up the many possible narratives and myths that might
surround the vessels, the crew and the journey. SWOON also teams up with
circus composer Sxip Shirey, Kinetic Steam Works from San Francisco, the band
Dark Dark Dark (accordian, cello, upright bass, banjo) and Hudson river
advocacy groups as the boats float down the river.

UPDATE:

The performance at Beacon Point is now scheduled for 8pm on Sunday, August 24 (originally publicized as Aug 23). This particular performance in Beacon, NY is presented in partnership with Dia:Beacon and Scenic Hudson.

Other dates still on tap: Aug 20 - Saugerties, Aug 21 - Kingston, Aug 27 - Croton on Hudson, Aug 28 - Nyack. This whole passage will culminate on the evening of Sept. 7 with an opening reception at Deitch Studios at 4-40 44th Drive, Long Island City.

The flotilla consisting of vessels created using reclaimed and recycled materials, and powered with alternative sources of energy. This current project is preceded by a similar adventure in 2006 when SWOON and the Miss Rockaway Armada pushed off with the intent of floating down the length of the Mississippi River. On March 2, 2007, SWOON gave a talk at MoMA discussing her work and her experience with the Miss Rockaway Armada. Downloadable audio is available from MoMA's website.(scroll down about 3/4 of the way for SWOON's talk)