The Unreachable
2 Cargo ships transformed to create mutual tension between connection and disconnection, starring an unreachable landscape.
With the 2 principles "gazing from a distance" and "unreachability" I started a design process, translated on 2 former cargo ships.
Placed on a location chosen with a very wide stretch of canal making it possible to have one boat in direct connection with the quay/environment, and the other boat tens of metres away completely isolated from the mainland.
The two boats are opposites and are called the "Connected" and "Disconnected". On the Connected one arrives via a floating pier that invites visitors to come in, this boat is a social place where people get together, have a drink and sit down to look out over the water. All windows on this boat generate a view of the Disconnected boat floating mysteriously in the distance. The Disconnected boat is framed and highlighted in such a way that it creates a general desire to want to reach this place.
People always want to be in the place they can't get to, so I offer them the opportunity to cross over to the Disconnected boat. With the help of a raft and a rope, one can pull oneself to the other side, the crossing is a journey into the unknown. A maximum of four people can take place on the raft in order to allow the experience to continue in all serenity. The first border of unreachability is crossed.
Once arrived on the Disconnected, the raft remains floating in that place so that no other unwanted guests can come and disturb the experience. The visitor is still completely unaware of what can be experienced on the Disconnected boat. From the deck, there is a long balustrade around the entire boat, from which one can look down to an atypical landscape that is so alienating that one automatically becomes silent.
I was inspired by Iceland's lunar landscapes, volcanic craters and the moon itself. Places that form the backdrops of science fiction films because these are always places where normally people could never be, it has something alien and strange.
This is precisely the trigger to want to be there so badly. Countless people share the same dream of reaching the moon because they know it is practically impossible. The fact that my landscape lies at a depth in a boat that cannot be reached brings with it a kind of eternal unattainability.
Those who feel compelled can spend the night on the boat; there is accommodation that also provides a panoramic view of the unattainable landscape. A unique quarantine. The landscape consists of a mix of massive rocks. Because of the mass, the boat lies deep in the water to isolate it from the outside world. During heavy rainfall, puddles form in the irregular surface. Instead of a drainage system, I put floor heating under the rocks that will absorb the heat and become so hot that the water mass will gradually evaporate. This is a reference to sulphur fumes coming from a volcano crater or a geyser becoming active. People can see the boat fumes from afar, adding to the mystery and curiosity...
After enjoying this desolate beauty, one returns to the Connected boat. Visitors can describe their experience, but to believe it, you have to see it with your own eyes. There will be a continuous back and forth between the two boats until the point where someone decides to spend the night there. However, none of this is communicated, making it very unpredictable and the experience all the more exclusive.