Radical Seafaring

Reviews / Votes

"In the 1975 performance In Search of the Miraculous, Dutch artist Bas Jan Ader was lost at sea on his way across the North Atlantic. After studying this piece in 2006, Parrish Art Museum curator Andrea Grover began a decade of research on site-specific artworks on water--a venture that culminated in the innovative exhibition, programming, and publication Radical Seafaring...Radical Seafaring demonstrates the relevance of the thinking of this era to the present and outlines a movement in response to current environmental and social issues while developing a strong historical and thematic framework that invites future additions."
-Public Art Review

"One of those 'Why didn't I think of that?' moments hit me when I opened the package containing Radical Seafaring . . . Excellent reproductions and short, engaging texts describe 25 artist projects that embrace the sea. They include Bas Jan Ader's famous 'In Search of the Miraculous' (1975), a long-distance sailing expedition that led to the artist's death; artist-designed vessels like Duke Riley's 2007 wooden submarine -- a replica of a crude but effective Revolutionary War craft; and an armada of rafts, floated from Slovenia to the 2009 Venice Biennale, by a group under the leadership of street artist Swoon (Caledonia Curry)."
-San Francisco Chronicle

"The elegantly silver-covered coffee-table book, which documents a current exhibition at Parrish Art Museum in Water Mill, N.Y., belies the mostly rugged and ragged nature of the projects showcased, but fits the dreamers' enchantment. Radical Seafaring introduces the reader to conceptual artists from around the world who have -- whether individually, in collaboration with someone else or as collectives -- explored architecture, made cultural and political statements, and expressed quixotic notions without the limitations of terra firma."
-San Diego Home/Garden