Waterpod This Sunday!!

Waterpod This Sunday!!, originally uploaded by theoceanofblood.

We're already at 1/4th of capacity! RSVP quick to charmschooldesign at gmail.com to save your spot.

This Sunday 9/20!! RSVP required

Join us at the Waterpod on Sunday, September 20 for our first fundraising event for Swimming Cities: Ocean of Blood... on the Ganges 2010

• Event Opens 7pm
  
• Extremely limited capacity...tickets $40. RSVP required.
  
• Open bar cocktails & finger foods
  
• Oldtymie Upbeat Accompaniment by: Apocalypse Five and Dime (brass band), Boomclick, the Manhorse Quartet, DJ Death by Candlelight, and henna tattoos by Kali...
  

Friends & lovers, join us in your ballroom barge best for a romantic evening of love and liquor and suave sounds in the sexy sustainable environs of the Waterpod, docked at the World's Fair Pier, to watch the sun set on the summer.

Contact alita, charmschooldesign@gmail.com, for ticket info and RSVP. RSVPs close Saturday 9/19.

press kit page 1

press kit page 1, originally uploaded by theoceanofblood.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Swimming Cities announces our 2010 project: Ocean of Blood. We will host events throughout the fall and winter to raise funds and support beginning with a September 20th Sunset Cocktail Night aboard the Waterpod.

Website: www.weareswimmingcities.org
Press Contact: Alita Edgar, reversibleskirt@gmail.com, 917-306-1187
Blog: www.theoceanofblood.blogspot.com/

Mission Statement:

Ocean of Blood is an upcoming project by the New York City-based art group Swimming Cities. We will embark on a voyage through India in Spring 2010. We begin the journey with the Kumbha Mela festival in Haridwar, and travel on the Ganges River through Uttar Pradesh to our destination city, Varanasi. Our team of artists, mechanics, and performers will collaborate with South Asian artists, musicians and tradesmen to create a fleet of sculptural rivercraft. Once in Varanasi, the separate crafts will link together to form a single vessel and floating stage where we will present a series of performances inspired by the experience of our immersion into Indian culture. The Swimming Cities project and its past incarnation, the Miss Rockaway Armada, have each year explored our historical and societal connection to the rivers and waterways, traveling with handmade rafts, gleaning inspiration, friendship and knowledge. This year's project is the most ambitious and far-reaching yet, as we travel farther from home, and expand to include larger-scale collaborations.

About Us:

Originally founded by visual artist Swoon, the crew of about 30 collaborators has developed over the past five years. Drawn from many arts groups such as the Toyshop Collective, the Madagascar Institute, Cyclecide, the Floating Neutrinos, LEMUR, and from the Bay Area, Minneapolis and New York, the crew includes circus performers, carpenters, artists, mechanics, and musicians. The Miss Rockaway Armada, a flotilla of handbuilt rafts, traveled the Mississippi River in 2006 and 2007. Swimming Cities of the Switchback Sea floated down the Hudson River to New York City in 2008, and as Swimming Cities of Serenissima, from Slovenia to Venice in 2009.

press kit page 2: proposal & route

press kit page 2: proposal & route, originally uploaded by theoceanofblood.

click through to view large on our flickr!

text:

Proposal & Route:

SWIMMING CITIES is a diverse and evolving collaboration of artists, builders, and visionaries who come together each year to embark on a challenging large-scale project. Originally united through our common friendship and talent by the international artist Swoon, the group traces its roots back to the DIY raft project on the Mississippi River, the "Miss Rockaway Armada." Taking a new waterway each year, the project creates a vivid community of artists floating into towns to present an inspiring, interactive environment that encompasses art, sculpture, music and performance. Each year the Swimming Cities conceives new rafts and builds them with mostly found materials in an organic design process. The multi-layered and uncommon talents of our members inspire us to continuously look for new ways to materialize our style of unique living art.

For our upcoming project, we propose building a fleet of small sculptural rivercraft at the foothills of the Himalayas, in a cultural exchange with local South Asian artists and artisans. Our hand-crafted boats will traverse the Ganges river from Haridwar to the holy city of Varanasi. The journey begins at the rare Kumbha Mela festival, held in Haridwar once every twelve years. This holy festival of the Hindus and Shadu holy men of India is the largest gathering of humans on the planet. We will stop at towns and villages along the way to commission custom embellishments for the boats in the local style.

The Ganges snakes through an abundant farmland, producing largely cane sugar, which we plan to refine into ethanol with a floating still, in keeping with our concern for sustainability. The boats themselves are designed to latch together into formations of five that form a radial star to increase living and working space. This method allows us to create large spaces from the many small ones built to fit through the low and narrow bridges of the Ganges. Propulsion relies on several different ingenious systems using a combination of locally obtained motorcycles to drive paddle wheels, long-tail diesel motors and wind power.

At last, the Ganges will deliver us to Varanasi. Said to be the oldest living city in the world, its vast history is ingrained in the layered patinas of its architecture and culture. On the banks of this holy city, the boats will merge to form a large, floating island theater. There we will present visual and musical events in collaboration with local musicians. This culminating event series allows the builders and crew to engage the people of Varanasi. People and boats will produce an ambitious performance, themed on the experiences of our adventure and the boundless historical and cultural richness of India.

For the first time, we are seeking collaborators in India for creation and building, and for performance. We are also actively seeking support from arts institutions, NGOs and sponsoring organizations. We plan to fundraise our projected budget of $90,000 over the next six months through local events, a fine art auction, and contributions. 

March 2010: Arrival in Haridwar for Kumbha Mela festival.

April: Build container arrives at build site in Alahabad. Three weeks of building. Launch at end of April.

May: Arrive in Varanasi. Two weeks performance preparation.

June: Performances begin.

July: Dismantle and pack boats.

Some Recent Press

An Artists’ Armada to Venice on Ancient Waterways -- crew member Porter Fox for the New York Times

Entropy in Venice -- Jerry Saltz for New York magazine

Barging into Venice -- Vanessa Grigoriadis for New York magazine

propane, propane

propane, propane
Originally uploaded by theoceanofblood

hawking hot tamales on Shumanci last Saturday. you missed it. or not.

check back for updates on events in the near future.

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