E M P T Y | V E S S E L | P R O J E C T | N E W S # 1 9 | D E C . 06 . 05
SATURDAY, DECEMBER 10 ::: Knot Just for Pirates
An On-Board Knot-Tying Class. Details below.
SUNDAY DECEMBER 11, HIGH NOON ::: A Great Elephant Moves
Tying lines, opening the retractable bridge and moving the boat. Come for the spectacle.
After the move, join us for
SUNDAY DECEMBER 11, EVENING::: Dinner and A Movie.
A film collaboration and culinary sensation on the Gowanus Canal. Delicious meal and a chance to make your own EV myth. Scroll down for your invitation.
T H I S W E E K
SATURDAY, DECEMBER 10 ::: Knot Just for Pirates ::: An On-Board Knot-Tying Class
Taught by the lovely and twisted Maureen Flaureghty. Find out how to identify which knot is the one for you in any situation. Learn all the knots you will ever need on our vessel or elsewhere(...). This class will culminate in a knot tying competition and other party games. A shot of rum is included with registration (for adults!).
2-4p, $1-25 sliding scale, maximum class size is 16
This class will be held on board EV, our salvaged WWII rescue boat docked along side the Carroll Street Bridge. All proceeds go to fund construction on the boat.
email
pz@emptyvesselprojectREMOVEANTISPAMMEASURE.org to register.
***at the boat
SUNDAY, DECEMBER 11, HIGH NOON ::: Moving
We will need all hands on deck to move EV from one side of the Carroll Street bridge to her new home on the other (much greener!) side. We have no engines and no tiller. We will get the lovely
retractable Carroll Street Bridge opened for us and pull her through with ropes. We will certainly need your help and plenty of moral support. We might even need musical accompaniment. Bring gloves, your marching band, a flask, kites, streamers, balloons, a fiddle, pulleys, levers, and line.
SUNDAY, DECEMBER 11, day ::: Proteus Gowanus Chamber of Culture Open House
Stop by the Proteus Gowanus interdisciplinary gallery and reading room for a cup of hot chocolate, learn about seven fantastic organizations in our neighborhood, appreciated the old bridges and take a Pedicab ride down to visit EV.
FREE, 12-6pm
***Proteus Gowanus, 345 Nevins @ Union
& at the boat
SUNDAY, DECEMBER 11, evening ::: Dinner and a Movie
A film collaboration and culinary sensation on the Gowanus Canal
Dinner and desserts prepared by chef Hannah Marcus and served in a silo on the Gowanus waterfront. During the meal, guests will be invited to join our staff cinematographer at EV, a salvaged World War II rescue boat docked adjacent to the silo, to create their own 5 minute movies. Pirates, mermaids, midshipmen, and landlubbers will all have a part to play. This is your chance to forge a new watery myth.
All films will be screened during dessert and guest will go home with a copy of their own film on DVD.
The meal will be followed by a special musical performance by Cameron Hull.
Drinks at 7p; Dinner and Movies at 8p
400 Carroll Street, Brooklyn
West Side of the Carroll Street Bridge
2 blocks from the Carroll Street F/G stop
$25. includes wine, dinner, dessert and DVD. Flexible pricing for groups and EVP volunteers. Contact
pz@emptyvesselprojectREMOVEANTISPAMMEASURE.org for more info/to reserve. There are only 40 seats at dinner.
This is a fundraiser. All proceeds will fund installation of a waste-oil fueled heating system on the Empty Vessel Project Boat. We are a not-for profit organization and will happily provide IRS-friendly receipts for your donation.
U P C O M I N G
A DAY IN JANUARY ::: Midnight, The First Snow Storm
APRIL 2006 ::: GRAND OPENING ::: Empty Vessel Launch Festival
We are accepting proposals for events and collaborations. Email
as@emptyvesselprojectREMOVEANTISPAMMEASURE.org to discuss your wintery watery scheme.
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.
To take a look at a bird’s eye view of the boat’s location, check out the
http://maps.google.com satellite image at
http://tinyurl.com/7eu5q.
For directions by train:
http://www.hopstop.com. We are 2 1/2 blocks from the Carroll Street Stop on the F and G trains.
H I S T O R Y
Aviation rescue boats like EV are referred to as the "Miami's" because they were constructed by the Miami Shipbuilding Company (MSC) on the Miami River. MSC operated from 1906 to 1960. It began in 1906 when Captain K.M. Large started a repair yard for fishing boats on the south shore of the Miami River.
In 1939, the Miami Shipbuilding Corporation won the contract to boats for rescuing downed pilots during World War II. The Miami class crashboats were designed based on the fast rum-runners the Mafia had commissioned during prohibition. They were all 63 feet in length (19.2 meters) and displace 22 tons. In their prime, they could reach a speed of 42 knots. Their normal range was 400 nautical miles.
Ultimately Miami Shipbuilding was to deliver between 560 of these craft to various customers, the last being delivered as late as 1956. Between 1943-44 at least 25 63-foot small crash boats built by Miami Shipbuilding were transferred to the USSR. Little information is available about EV's Slavic twins.
S H I P ’ S L O G
Heat on EV: In our utopia, we will create a pod that runs on garbage - a figurative cultural machine that is fed exclusively on our culture's literal debris. We would like to heat the vessel with waste oil. Our initial experiments have been with appropriating a small oil-burning, water-circulating home heat boiler. We are not sure that we have considered all our options. We are investigating diesel stoves and other oil-compatible solutions. We need your (or your neighbor's, your uncle's, that strange guy's who lived in the trailer down the street from your grandpa's farm) stories of waste-oil-burning success or failure. Email
pz@emptyvesselprojectREMOVEANTISPAMMEASURE.org. We are hungry for advice.
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 extinguishers
**10 gallon plastic buckets with lids
**toaster oven
**vegetable steamer
**wet/dry vac
**50,000 –100,000 BTU oil-burning
boiler OR a diesel stove
**a Franklin stove
**solar panels
**12V batteries
**a transformer 120V to 12/24V
**another small boat (canoe, kayak, motor)
**life rings
**marine paint
**small fans
**beautiful material in bulk to face ceiling (about 12' x 42') - tin would be fantastic
**plywood for skinning the ceiling (about 12'x 42') - 1/2" or 3/4"
**pretty old single-pane windows
**handles, hooks, small cleats
**steel
**aluminum for constructing a gangplank
**railings
**water hose
**plastic 50 gallon barrels
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.
Johns Manville (www.specjm.com) has donated formaldehyde-free insulation.
BuildItGreen? (www.bignyc.org), a salvaged building materials warehouse in Astoria, has contributed some great slotted floorboards to face the cabin walls.
Mojo Fine Art Moving has been very generous with their trucks.
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 $110. towards our goal of $500. to make the warm water run through our lovely heating loop and radiate warm air through the vessel. Thank you!!!
You can make a financial contribution to the EVP on our website at
http://log.emptyvesselproject.org or by clicking here:
https://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=_xclick&business=info%40emptyvesselproject%2eorg&item_name=Empty%20Vessel%20Project&no_shipping=0&no_note=1&tax=0¤cy_code=USD&bn=PP%2dDonationsBF&charset=UTF%2d8
Thanks to the Madagascar Institute, we have a 501c(3) Non-Profit number we can provide you for your contribution. Give to the Empty Vessel Project = save on your taxes.
We are also looking for sources of official money that will fund the Empty Vessel Project in the longer term 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.
H E R O E S
Visual Resistance
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, Leah Beeferman, Brent Arnould, The Dave Carter Quartet, Estee Pierce, Alison Prete, Jason Enghert, Rosie Weinberg, Johns Manville, Black Label Bike Club, New York Harbor School, Eric Forman, Gregory Zaslavsky, Leslie Stem, Andres Colapinto, Anney Fresh, Justin Green,
BuildItGreen?, Mojo Fine Art Moving, Dave Sharps
W H A T I S T H I S ?
The Empty Vessel Project is an action, art, and sustainability experiment. We salvaged EV, a WWII rescue boat, to create a space for re-imagining the post-industrial urban environment. We
are a non-profit, volunteer-run organization and encourage participation on all levels.
EV is moored on Brooklyn's Gowanus Canal. The boat is our first project. We invite you to come join us on board to work and play.
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.
Please forward to all potential co-conspirators.
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