The Lone Twin Boat Project (2012)
Building a beautiful 30ft boat from wooden artefacts donated by the public and sailing it around the coast of the UK, as part of the London 2012 Cultural Olympiad. Fair enough.
Getting it to berth in Milton Keynes, possibly one of the statistically furthest points from the sea and commissioning a unique series of accompanying songs and music by Adrian McNally and The Unthanks. That’s IF!
This is the first of three images from this project in the exhibition. This one shows the simple job of getting the boat off its transporter and into location in Queen’s Court in the middle of Centre:MK, by swinging it via a massive crane from the service road over the surrounding buildings, whilst much hand-wringing took place worrying about the point-loading on the road (!).
It’s not the most artistic shot, but portrays a sense of what goes on behind the scenes to bring extraordinary work to the people of Milton Keynes. And a nice early call to add to the more nocturnally-focused programme of events to cover.
Image #1 - this one
Image #2 - the boat Collective Spirit in close up, in situ in Queens Court (link)
Image #3 - what it meant to people (link)
What these images don’t show and what I was able to capture with full access to inside the boat, rather than the public viewing platforms, was how the inside was just as fantastic, creative and whimsical as the outside, if not as lacquered to a high sheen for sea-going use.