Architects
Matt Bua
"The Henry Hudson Mutiny Memorial Drive–thru Kiosk"
My title, “Henry Hudson Mutiny Memorial Drive–thru Kiosk” refers to my hope that the structure will house a quick Wikipedeia–esk glance at the death of Hudson, the limeys’ beating of scurvy, other nautical follies, and boat–inspired architecture.
The moment before a sea–worthy vessel goes completely below the surface due to unforeseen problems, it creates a diagonally–posed object on the horizon. My installation for the “AHOY!” exhibition takes this dramatic shape. It will appear as if the rear end of the sinking ship has been transported, as is, inland to the Woodstock area and made habitable once again.
The ship–shape lean–to will become a kiosk, a public notice board where the public can put up fliers. I will initiate the process by putting up information which will help the audience free associate many themes related to Henry Hudson’s journey. For instance, some of my flyers will be about mutiny and some about the history of scurvy. Other posters will examine such drowning and sinking phrases as ‘watery graves’, ‘sink or swim’, ‘deep six it’, ‘treading on water’, ‘Davy Jones’s locker’, and ‘treading on thin ice’. The flyers and information sheets will be tacked up on the inside of the sinking ship. This is like a roadside attraction or a public information board. At the same time the kiosk will provide shelter
My process is improvisational, but I know that in order to create a frame that emulates the curve of the stern of a boat, it will be necessary to use fresh cut saplings found on site. The sheathing will be made of distressed, aged milled lumber from a defunct lumber mill. This material will make the ship look old because the wood has been lying outside for a long time. My goal is to make the Half Moon look half sunk.
Visitors may get inspired by browsing through a copy of Visionary Drawing Building, a book and web site. They present an archive of speculative structures that only exist on paper. The project is conceived by Matt Bua and Max Goldfarb.
Bio
Matt Bua's recent work takes form in large–scale elements in architecture that are both functional and fantastical. These spaces are created out of found objects and other sustainable resources. Bua’s present project is the construction of small–scale examples of vernacular, experimental, and visionary architecture on a piece of land in Catskill NY. Each structure focuses on specific themes and usages that are integrated into the surrounding community. The land obtained for this project contains the peak of Vedder Mountain, which is named after Jessie Van Vechten Vedder, New York State’s first female historian, and author of the History of Greene County. A Vedder Mountain Summit house is in the works.
Bua earned a BFA at East Carolina University, NC. For the past 15 years, Matt Bua has worked collaboratively on public installations that actively engage the community in an elastic process that blurs the line between fact and fiction, intuitive and deductive, order and chaos. Past projects include a parasitic museum attached to the backside of the Brooklyn Museum; a PS1/MOMA sponsored East River rafting expedition that investigates some of Roosevelt Island’s anomalies; a purge of the jumbled memories from an old Colonel’s House on Governor's Island for Lower Manhattan Cultural Council; and raising sunken Scottish fishing boats from the dead for Grizdale Arts in the Lake District of England. Cribs to Cribbage, which opened Spring 2009 at Mass MOCA includes an oversized crib that has morphed its way out of the 2nd floor gallery window to the ground below and has formed an experimental structure that will introduce the game of Architectural Cribbage in which others can join.
