San Lorenzo - direct
SD video
4mins
2004

Made initially as part of Hit & Run, Platform. Istanbul.
Performance / intervention programme curated by Smart Project Space (Amsterdam) for Platform (Istanbul).

I was invited to participate in the performance ( San Lorenzo direct ) aspect of Hit & Run project in Istanbul and also invited to develop an intervention based installation in the gallery space at Platform (“Manta Ray” shape with ramp, steps, grotto and problems)

The performance-based project developed for Hit & Run was San Lorenzo - direct. San Lorenzo is the name of a ship wrecked on along the coast of the Bosphorus. It is a performative video work which engages the wreck as a “landscape”.

The video documents one of the climbs I created on the ship - involving swimming out and climbing the ships’ bridge superstructure by means of its rusted windows, ledges and fixtures. With some imagination, despite the disaster of the wreck the rusting ship now provides a beautiful site along the city’s coast and the climbs suggest a new way of reclaiming or accommodating that site.

The ship is becoming “naturalised” - part of the scenery - a place for fun, exploration and a habitat for wildlife. There is an ironic beauty to the site - it’s something which fell out of the system due to human error or natural forces and now a new accommodation has to be made for it.

I called the climbing route featured in the video San Lorenzo direct because it seemed the most direct and interesting way of climbing the bridge structure. In places the metal was pretty rusty and fragile but it’s not so hard, about UK grade VS 4 - but without ropes and wet.

No topless bathing - Belfast has suffered enough. Sala Naranja, Valencia, Spain. 2005
Hit & Run ( Manta ray / San Lorenzo ) Smart Project Space / Platform, Istanbul. 2004
Beta. Solo exhibition. GtGallery. Belfast. 2004