The Crystal Ship (2008)
The
Crystal Ship is a journalistic narrative that approaches the visual
working practice of Marcel Broodthaers as a contextual frame to
interpret a series of landmarks within an Antwerp neighborhood. In the
late 1960’s Belgian art community the Antwerp address of
Beeldhouwersstraat 46 was the location of a gallery cryptically titled
A379089, or A Space. On September 29, 1969 Marcel Broodthaers presented
one installment of his museological displays at this gallery.
Conceived
of as an artist book, lecture, and sculptural installation, The Crystal
Ship documents an exploratory narrative that uses both historical and
observational information as a filter in order to address and construct
alternate readings for a series of landmarks existing at that site.
Eagle
Apartment
Palm Tree
Museum
The Crystal Ship is published by Bywater Bros. Editions and Etablissement d’en face projects, Brussels, Belgium.
The Performance
The
narrative of The Crystal Ship was performed at a book launch held in
the garden of Beeldhouwersstraat 46, now the organic clothing shop
Mandragora. This garden was previously the site of two Broodthaers
works. One, a text work painted on white plaster wall in the garden,
the other is Le Pluis, filmed in the opposite corner of the backyard.
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Documentation
of the event along with the sculptures produced to illustrate the text
in the book were displayed in vitrines borrowed from the Royal Storage
in Leuven and exhibited at BELvue Museum for Belgian History in
Brussels, Belgium.
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