ANDY WEBSTER
Reconstructed Houseboat, Fred & Ferry, Antwerp, Belgium
In July 1985, maverick environmentalist Vanda Chan set off in Arcadia, her homemade houseboat, sailing from Pulawat towards Pulpap Atolls in Micronesia. A storm caused her to change course, and Arcadia hit rocks near an uninhabited island. Chan believed she would be quickly rescued, but ended up spending over 8 months in solitude before being found.
Chan managed to salvage a few personal items, including geographer Élisée Reclus' atlas, a cassette player, a broken radio, and a box of cassette recordings from previous expeditions. Though irreparable, she fixed the solar power to run the cassette player. With no entertainment, listening to her cassette playlists became a daily ritual as she browsed the atlas. In complete isolation, Chan became engrossed in curating imaginary travels to the places depicted in the tapes and atlas. Her cassette archive transformed from a music compilation into a catalyst for virtual voyages, prompting envisionings of potential futures.
‘So the Red Rose’, is a reconstruction of Vanda Chan’s storm-damaged houseboat. Throughout the exhibition, the structure will serve as a venue for invited artists and musicians to respond to Chan's story, hosting live performances, contributing to an archive of audio recordings, playlists, and live radio broadcasts. The archive features over 80 hours of content curated by 50 guests, and contains group improvisations, spoken word, poetry, music, philosophical and social reflections, field recordings, experimental pieces, and classical compositions. The archive is played daily from within the houseboat structure.
So the Red Rose is a project by Andy Webster in collaboration with Derek Tyman first developed for the 2nd Arkadien Festival, Kunstverein Ebersberg. Germany, and subsequently for the Fred & Ferry Gallery, Antwerp, Belgium, and Bury Art Museum and Sculpture Centre, Bury, UK.
Alan Dunn, Peter Kees, Matt Lord, Brighid Lowe, Bryan Biggs, Matthew Bourne, Mediendienst Leistungshalle (feat. Alligator Gozaimasu), Frederik Vergaert (Intonarumorists: Rachel Daniels, Lena Derwael, Mathias Engelen, Milan Gillard, Kimi Vanheuckelom, Daan Vandezande), AMM-AllStars (Iris Watson, M. L. Hufkie, Out To Lunch, Dave Black, Graham Davis, Peter Baxter, Guy Evans, Eleanor Crook, Paul Shearsmith), Liam Jolly, Líadáin Éire, Tine Neumann, David Mabb, Florian Tuercke, Elisabeth Ajtay, Matt Wand, Nigel Prince, Huma Mulji, Voyager Quartet (Nico Christians, Maria Krebs, Andreas Höricht, Klaus Kämper), Helen Adkins, Gabi Blum, Martin Liebmann, Andy Abbott, Alain Chamois (Paul Rooney), Richard Hylton, Gillian Wylde, Frenzy Höhne, Thomas Judisch, Andreas Mitterer, Keiken (Tanya Cruz, Hana Omori and Isabel Ramos & friends), Andy Webster, Ralf Homann, Ryan Sehmar & George Saxon (SPECT ANON) Stephen Cole, Jan D’Hooghe, Redell Olsen, Paula Chambers, Floris Vanhoof, Peter Lemmens, Helen McCookery book, a.P.A.t.T., Wannes Deneer, Neil Chapman & David Stent, Daan Gielis, aRzu, Sam Genovese, Willem Boel, KRAMP, Gijs Waterschoot with Rien Schellemans, Lydia Hannah Debeer, Alice Maude-Roxby & Tansy Spinks, Agathe de Bailliencourt, Anne van de Star, Klaus Osterwald, Hans Hs Winkler.
For more information about the project: https://sotheredrose.org/