E M P T Y | V E S S E L | P R O J E C T | N E W S | 10.12.05
The Empty Vessel Project is an action, art and sustainability experiment. In the summer of 2005, we salvaged a WWII rescue boat, brought it to Brooklyn’s Gowanus Canal and are using it as a space for harnessing and focusing the potential of post-industrial urban environments. The Empty Vessel Project is not-for-profit, volunteer-run organization that encourages participation on all levels. We host work parties, movie nights, seminars, concerts, dinners, and workshops. The Empty Vessel is available to realize your dreams and schemes.
Our newsletter is s a guide for your participation. It appears in your in box at the beginning of each week, listing events and tracking changes. If you have any suggestions for how this newsletter can be improved, contact
pz@emptyvesselprojectREMOVEANTISPAMMEASURE.org.
This is issue number 12.
UPCOMING
Work.
Work.
Play!
WHERE IS THE BOAT
Find us!
HISTORY
Boat logs!
SHIP’S LOG
Stuff getting done in time for winter!
WISHLIST
We need your old things! Clean out that storage space!
Proposals
Donations
FUNDRAISING
Got money? Got time?
Fancy Dinner, November 7
Tshirts
HEROES
If only we could name stars after all of you…
U P C O M I N G
SATURDAY, OCTOBER 15
Work Day
Finish the on-land wall. More rotten wood to replace, fibreglass and epoxy to apply. Build access ramp/balcony. Design and build sawdust toilet and a hut. .
1-8 p.m.
***at the boat
SUNDAY, OCTOBER 16
Work Day
Fix the door to the bridge (for real), fix a sliding door, put in a boiler, and continue Saturday’s projects.
1-8 p.m.
***at the boat
SATURDAY, OCTOBER 22
Introduction to the Neighbourhood
During Gowanus Open Studios (
http://www.gowanusartists.com) and the Gowanus Oktoberfest (
http://www.waterfrontmuseum.org/dredgers/oktoberfest.html), we would like to introduce ourselves and invite visitors to explore both the boat and the surrounding area.
12 - 6 pm, Free
EV will be open for coffee, strong drinks, warm soup and conversation. If you have been down to work on the boat, come for a cup of free borscht and to meet the rest of our crew.
The artist Leah Beefernan will be distributing her hand-drawn historical/fantastical maps of the Gowanus area. We invite you to use the maps as a guide to historical landmarks still standing and long gone, buildings that have been restored and reused, and a fantastical future, inspired by what is and what used to be. Visitors will be invited to come back to EV to record their discoveries and become part of the EV Gowanus Histories Archive.
Music, 2-4pm, Free
Brent Arnold (solo cello)
The Daniel Carter Quartet (Patrick Holmes, clarinet; Tianna Kennedy, cello; Ryan Sawyer, percussion)
Talk, 4pm, Free
Hopes, Dreams and Schemes:::The crew of the Empty Vessel will give a talk presenting our vision for the boat and the history of our young endeavor.
Artifacts from the vessel's history will be on display.
Films on the Canal, 8pm, $4-10, sliding scale
Lavender Lake (Alison Prete - 2000)
Hobo's Home (Noe Kidder)
Saltwater (Casimir Nozkowski)
About Lavender Lake:::
"South Brooklyn's Gowanus Canal, opened in 1866, was once hailed as one of the shortest and most important waterways in the world. It was also known as one of the world's dirtiest. Its putrid, perfumed airs were highly recommended for head colds. After one hundred thirty years of raw sewage, toxic sludge, dumped corpses and drowned dogs, the community continues to fight to clean up the Gowanus.
"Lavender Lake looks at what the promise of a new environment means to those who live and work in the Gowanus area: the funeral director has fought for decades for his vision of a Venice in Brooklyn; the environmentalist attempts to re-introduce oysters to the canal; the physicist working to turn the canal into a test site for transforming toxic sludge into kitchen tiles; the cops who fish a suitcase out full of body parts. Weaving together their stories with the past three years of progress and delays to flush out the canal, the documentary captures a blighted urban space of astonishing physical beauty at a critical moment of change. It shows a community dreaming and battling over a new and suddenly desirable urban landscape. Can a group of visionary citizens reclaim the waterway and build a viable neighborhood that is also a mecca for travellers?"
Do you have paintings, drawing, photos, etc. that you would like to display on EV’s walls to compliment this event? Contact
as@emptyvesselprojectREMOVEANTISPAMMEASURE.org.
***November 17:::Silent Films with Live Soundtracks (Gretta Cohn)
***November ??:::Field Trip::Tugboat Graveyard
W H E R E I S T H E B O A T ?
If you are interested in seeing the vessel and/or trying out the hammock, just come down to the Carroll Street bridge over the canal during a Work Day and yell. It's just 4 blocks from the Carroll stop on the F train. For directions by train: www.hopstop.com. The bridge is close to the intersection of Bond and Carroll.
To take a look at a bird’s eye view of the boat’s location, check out the maps.google.com satellite image at
http://tinyurl.com/7eu5q.
Our own entrance from Carroll Street has now been installed. Our new address is 401 Carroll Street. Brooklyn NY 11231. Try it out!
HISTORY
It is conceivable that EV may have been involved in the following record-keeping circus after Navy crash boats were transferred to Army Air Forces (AAF) in April 1943:
When given total ownership and control of all men and equipment previously attached to Navy Tech Services, the AAF did not ask for, nor did they get, any of the top management or marine experienced technical personnel to accompany these boats. This resulted in men now making policy decisions on the use and support of these vessels who could not tell the difference between an anchor chain and a limber chain.
One of the most universal principles of managing marine assets of men and vessels around the world, whether they are military or civilian users, large ships or small rowboats, is the maintenance of a "Log Book!" The AAF never issued any kind of policy directive governing the use or upkeep of such a document. It was common practice for AF boat units to keep and maintain "Log Books," many of them using Army or Navy Forms they managed to beg, borrow, or steal; but there was never a hard Air Force directive mandating such a record, nor was any AF Form for such record ever devised and prescribed.
Some boat units devised and made their own "log" forms. The result was that there is no permanently preserved record of what, when, where or even if a boat and/or its crew were engaged in anything.
The only record preserved in perpetuity that might shed some light on a boat units actions is the unit history. Men with marine skills were neither recruited nor trained to have talent with pen and paper, but most of these history reports look like they were written by some lowly clerk in an orderly room somewhere who had not the faintest idea of what or where the troops were doing. He was probably told to, "just put something down on paper and send it on up to higher headquarters so they won't be on our back about some damn delinquent report that is useless anyway!" These reports are loaded with info about the troops being dutifully in attendance at the Chaplains quarterly character guidance sessions, the subjects of the Commanders Calls, the troop I & E briefings, or a Medic giving a VD lecture. If nothing else was available to write about, the report would show how many attended the First Sergeants lectures on proper wear of the uniform.
***Glossary
Anchor Chain - A chain attached to the anchor
Bilge - The lowest part of the boats interior where water on board will collect
Limber Chain - A chain run through the limber holes for the purpose of loosening clogged debris
Limber Holes - Openings through frames to permit water to drain to the lowest part of the bilge
***Bibliography
Crash Boat History:
http://tinyurl.com/agjwy
Sailing and Sailboat Glossary:
http://www.jworld-sailing.com/glosl.htm
***Note
It is indeed probable that our boat is in an identical situation. The crew apologizes and promises to be better.
S H I P ’ S L O G
We are winter proofing in earnest. Leakey windows are being sealed. Rotten wood is being replaced. The rains are brutal but she can take it. We are preparing for the arrival of insulation and a boiler. The heating loop is ready and waiting. Work on a public walkway has begun. Do a dance and wish for blue skies.
IMMINENT, PENDING, AND CONTINUING PROJECTS:
For updates on ongoing projects, check out our TWiki at
http://log.emptyvesselproject.org. Advice is always appreciated. Don’t be shy. Please post.
W I S H L I S T
MATERIALS: We are creating a practice of re-use and salvage. We would like to give your old materials new life. Specifically, we are looking for:
**toaster oven
**coffee maker
**vegetable steamer
**wet/dry vac
**hot plate
**sturdy cooler
**camping stove
**tarps
**plywood (3/4 inch)
**50,000 –100,000 BTU oil-burning boiler (small)
**water tanks
**a Franklin stove
**tools (a good circular saw would come in particularly useful at the moment)
**automatic bilge or sump pumps
**a lead on used french fry oil (anyone work in a restaurant with a deep fryer?)
**solar panels
**12V batteries
**a transformer 120V to 12/24V
**another small boat (canoe, kayak, motor)
**life rings
**marine paint
**tie lines
**small fans for the bilge
**beautiful material in bulk to face the interior of the cabin walls (Does anyone have a good supply of free wooden wine boxes?)
We will haul away any material contributions. Please forward widely.
Contact
tk@emptyvesselprojectREMOVEANTISPAMMEASURE.org to donate.
Call for Wintertime Proposals: We are accepting proposals for projects this fall and winter. We are particularly interested in hosting projects in and around the boat that relate to sustainable architectures (social and physical), sea shanties, mysteries, and abandoned artifacts. The boat is also available for your workshops, talks, birthday parties, fashion shows, fish watching picnics, or anything else that could fit on or around our bit of salvaged history. Contact
pz@emptyvesselprojectREMOVEANTISPAMMEASURE.org with your fantastic schemes.
Material Donations: We are partnering with companies that have ecologically friendly materials and getting material contributions to the Empty Vessel Project in exchange for advertising. Currently we are working with Johns Manville (www.specjm.com) for formaldehyde-free insulation and A Real Good Plumber (www.arealgoodplumber.com) for a used boiler. Do you know a company that might be interested in showcasing their products on EV? Contact
pz@emptyvesselprojectREMOVEANTISPAMMEASURE.org.
F U N D R A I S I N G
We are looking for sources of official money that will fund the Empty Vessel Project as either (a) an arts project (b) an environmental project or (c) a social experiment and decentralized environment for skill shares. We need money for both infrastructure and specific projects. Are you a grant writer? In development? Know someone that is? Can you donate some computer time looking for appropriate sources of funds through the Foundation Centre database? We need to raise $10-20,000 to get through the winter. Contact
pz@emptyvesselprojectREMOVEANTISPAMMEASURE.org.
Upcoming fundraiser: FANCY DINNER, Monday, November 7. We are looking for a nice space, cooks, and donations of food from your store or restaurant. Contact
tk@emptyvesselprojectREMOVEANTISPAMMEASURE.org about our FANCY DINNER.
Do you want to design a T-shirt for E.V? Have blank T-shirts or ink you can donate? We are going to design and make a series of T-shirts to help raise money for the boat. The first will be done by Alex Lucas of CANTAB (
http://www.cantabpublishing.com/) and will be available on October 22, 2005. If you want to sell them in your store, we want that, too. Contact
tk@emptyvesselprojectREMOVEANTISPAMMEASURE.org about the EV clothing line.
We are also looking for individual donors to keep this project afloat. If you have any suggestions, or are interested in contributing, please contact
mm@emptyvesselprojectREMOVEANTISPAMMEASURE.org.
H E R O E S
Trevor, Andy Baker (it’s a fabulous heating loop!), GDM and Mike Topper (Twiki team extraordinaire!).
A history of heroes:
Danny, GDM, Captain Jim, Fictional Company, Ed, Michael, Madagascar Institute, Cindy Vanden Bosch, Dirty Fingers, Porkchop, northguineahills, Front Room Gallery, DJ Olive, Steven, Ed and Brooke, Paris 1968, Corey and the Free Store, Christian, Mike Topper, Alisa Blanter, Jesse Green, Leo Raphaely, Peter Field, Jeff Stark, Stephen, Lee Azzarello, Nathan,
ToddP?, Dan and Elizabeth, Trevor, Brian Spinks, Andy Baker, Shellshag (Jen and Shell), Urban Stitch (Alessandro and William), Paul Ford
Past Newsletters
--
PaulaZ - 12 Oct 2005
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