E M P T Y | V E S S E L | P R O J E C T | N E W S | 11 . 07 . 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.
This newsletter is your guide. It appears in your in box at the beginning of each week, listing events and tracking changes. Can it be better? Contact
pz@emptyvesselprojectREMOVEANTISPAMMEASURE.org with suggestions.
This is issue number 16.
UPCOMING
Field trip:::Staten Island Tugboat Graveyard.
Work day with plumbing fun.
EcoMetropolis? Conference.
More walls and windows.
EV Film Nights are back!
WHERE IS THE BOAT
HISTORY
Watery graves.
SHIP’S LOG
More of everything.
Pet oysters!
WISHLIST
We need your old things! Clean out that storage space!
Proposals.
Donations.
FUNDRAISING
Parties, fantasies, shoots.
HEROES
An anthem for each one.
U P C O M I N G
TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 8
Election Day
Field Trip:::Staten Island Tugboat Graveyard
Join the EVP crew and Trackstar for a ride on the Staten Island Ferry, a cycle treck to its southernmost point and exploring the very ghostly Tugboat Graveyard in Rossville.
Meet at 12:30p; leave by 1p; travel together by ferry and bicycle to 2385 Arthur Kill Road, Staten Island; arrive by 3:30p
***meet at Trackstar, 34 East 1st Street (at 2nd Ave.), Manhattan,
http://maps.google.com/maps?oi=map&q=2385+Arthur+Kill+Road,+Staten+Island,+NY
http://www.trackstarnyc.com
THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 10
Work Day (The special plumbing edition.)
2-9p
***at the boat
FRIDAY AND SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 11 & 12
EcoMetropolis? Conference
This is a co-production of the New York Open Center, the Continuing Education & Public Programs at The Graduate Center at CUNY, and the Bioneers Conference. The conference is open to the public.
***CUNY Graduate Center (365 5th Ave, at 34th St.)
http://www.ecometropolis.org
SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 13
Work Day
Walls and insulation (generously donated by Johns Manville).
12-9p
***at the boat
THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 17
EV Film Night:::Stalker (Andrei Tarkovsky, 1979)
8p, $2-10 sliding scale
***at the boat
**December/January**
Midnight, The First Snow Storm
Sort-of-Fancy Dinner, Tuesday, December 6
W H E R E I S T H E B O A T ?
We are at the Carroll Street Bridge over the Gowanus Canal. Our address is 401 Carroll Street, Brooklyn NY 11231. 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.
For directions by train: www.hopstop.com.
H I S T O R Y
What do you do with a ship when you don't need it anymore? You scuttle it. Leave it to rot away to nothing at the edge of water and land, shifting into and out of view with the tides.
Before we salvaged her, EV had been slated for demolition and a fate not dissimilar to that of the husks laying still in Rossville, Staten Island. Staten Island's Boat Graveyard, known to some as the 'elephant's graveyard,' contains the remains of tugboats, ferries and battleships dating back to before 1900. Unwanted vessels have been routinely left to decompose in this series of private ship yards along Staten Island's southern coast.
Join us on Tuesday to visit them. More ship graveyard history to come after a full sensory investigation.
S H I P ’ S L O G
Students from the NY Harbor School* have entrusted the EVP with 250 of own pet oysters. They are suspended in a 5-tiered net off our stern. We will be monitoring them for health and size. Come down during the first week of every month to measure oysters.
*The NY Harbor School is a 3 year old Brooklyn New Centruy High School founded by The Urban Assembly, South Street Seaport Museum and Waterkeeper Alliance as a maritime-theme based New York City public school. Check them out at
http://www.nyharborschool.org.
Construction is fantastic in the lovely peach Indian Summer light. The last of the rotting wood has (finally!) been replaced. Our walls and windows are nearly all framed out. The next few weeks may be your last chance to get a glimpse of EV's superstructure in any state of decay. We are getting more of everything done. Come down and enjoy the transition.
Kitchen on EV: We have a plug in soup pot, a hot plate for a magnetic stirrer (Thanks to Gregory Zaslavsky, mad scientist!), a camp stove and a coffee and espresso maker. We will install a water tank in the coming week.
Bathroom on EV: At the moment, its a bucket masquerading as a toilet. We would love help setting up a greywater filtration system that will deposit refuse into the canal in an ecologically friendly manner. Got any advice or suggestions? Email
pz@emptyvesselprojectREMOVEANTISPAMMEASURE.org. We need to install an upgrade by the weekend.
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:
**fire extinguisher
**10 gallon plastic buckets with lids
**safety goggles
**toaster oven
**vegetable steamer
**mailbox
**wet/dry vac
**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)
**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
**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.
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. Johns Manville (www.specjm.com) has donated formaldehyde-free insulation. 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? We need to raise $10-20,000 to get through the winter. Contact
pz@emptyvesselprojectREMOVEANTISPAMMEASURE.org.
FANCY DINNER has been post-poned until we find a suitably FANCY location.
There will be a SORT-OF-FANCY DINNER on Tuesday, December 6, 2005. We have a lovely Brooklyn house to feast at. We are looking for chefs and donations of food from your store or restaurant. Contact
tk@emptyvesselprojectREMOVEANTISPAMMEASURE.org about either DINNER.
Do you know anyone who works LOCATIONS for a film or photo shoots? EV is a great location and available for rentals. Do you know how we can get on a database to share/rent our wonderful resource? Contact
pz@emptyvesselprojectREMOVEANTISPAMMEASURE.org.
H E R O E S
New York Harbor School (fabulous oysters), Eric Forman (thanks for the soundsystem), Gregory Zaslavsky (Magnetic Stirrer with Hot Plate), Dan and Elizabeth (truck truck truck and understanding)
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, Bez, Brian, Alex Lucas, Leqah Beeferman, Brent Arnould, The Dave Carter Quartet, Estee Pierce, Alison Prete, Jason Enghert, Rosie Weinberg, Johns Manville, Black Label Bike Club
You are receiving this newsletter because you are involved in the Empty Vessel Project, or have at least feigned interest. To subscribe, or to be removed from this list, visit www.emptyvesselproject.org and click on the link to the mailing list. Please forward to anyone we may have missed.
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