Cultural identity is always acquired, not innate. Our conceptions of cultural values and our identification with a cultural identity are characterised by images, ancient narratives and metaphors. People use heavily symbolic objects such as flags, souvenirs and images to demonstrate their affiliation. We made use of this symbolic language in our work. In the concept of our project, a boat wreck symbolises the cultural heritage of Turkey.
The works of collabor.at always focus on adaptation and empathy. We settle in a place and immerse ourselves in what it is telling us. We collaborate with the people of that place and include them in our work. The idea of leaving fingerprints during the work is derived from the art of Yves Klein, who had nude models leave colour prints of their bodies on canvas, directly documenting artistic events.
Since it was not possible to find a genuine ancient boat wreck in Sinop, as the captains and boat builders had repaired their old boats over and over again, we started to build our own wreck ourselves using scrap wood and waste material found on the boat construction site.
In the course of the construction, more and more people came to collaborate. In a ceremony based on an old tradition, the boat was eventually carried through the city to the Prison of Sinop, accompanied by a large group of people. Every person to touch the boat was asked to “Trojan Boat”
Cultural identity is always acquired, not innate. Our conceptions of cultural values and our identification with a cultural identity are characterised by images, ancient narratives and metaphors. People use heavily symbolic objects such as flags, souvenirs and images to demonstrate their affiliation. We made use of this symbolic language in our work. In the concept of our project, a boat wreck symbolises the cultural heritage of Turkey.
The works of collabor.at always focus on adaptation and empathy. We settle in a place and immerse ourselves in what it is telling us. We collaborate with the people of that place and include them in our work. The idea of leaving fingerprints during the work is derived from the art of Yves Klein, who had nude models leave colour prints of their bodies on canvas, directly documenting artistic events.
Since it was not possible to find a genuine ancient boat wreck in Sinop, as the captains and boat builders had repaired their old boats over and over again, we started to build our own wreck ourselves using scrap wood and waste material found on the boat construction site.
In the course of the construction, more and more people came to collaborate. In a ceremony based on an old tradition, the boat was eventually carried through the city to the Prison of Sinop, accompanied by a large group of people. Every person to touch the boat was asked to dip their hands in blue colour so that they would leave traces.
The title “Trojan Boat“, which we owe to an old man in the harbour who thought that the boat looked like the famous trojan horse, is an ironic allusion pointing to the narratives of the wars and heroic deeds of our history.
To us, this wreck symbolises freedom and plurality; liberated from its initial meaning and purpose and built by many people -as can be read from the coloured traces- in a Trojan action at night, it was then carried to the former prison of Sinop. It will remain in the prison until it collapses and will protest against inhumanity and the restriction of the freedom of thought.
Johanna Reiner and Johannes Hoffmann from collabor.at produced the artwork together.