by Terrie Goldstein, Publisher
On Sunday night my husband and I were treated to another form of art, the Swimming Cities of Switchback Sea, a flotilla of intricately hand crafted vessels which navigated the stretch of the Hudson River between Troy and the New York harbor from August 15th to September 7th.
Imagined as a hybrid between boats and bits of land mass broken off and headed out to sea, the Switchback vessels made stops in towns long the river bringing performances and music. The intricately crafted boats were fashioned out of scrap wood and other salvaged materials and powered with alternative energy sources, including bio-fuels and solar power.
In the mid-Hudson Valley, they docked in Saugerties, Kingston, Beacon and Nyack. Over the course of three weeks they made their way toward their home port – an invented landscape tucked into a niche along the East River in Long Island City, Queens.
On August 24th, my husband Clay and I viewed the flotilla from the Beacon shoreline. With a crew of 60 including artists, engineers, musicians and friends they conducted an hour-long performance sharing the imaginary story of how the Swimming Cities of Switchback Sea flotilla was born. The Beacon Point Park was a perfect setting as the sun set and the grey skies hosted flocks of geese flying in formation. Then the scene was spot lit with the Hudson River as the backdrop. It was good old fun with singing, dancing, and jokes flying back and forth. Clay said it was reminiscent of his days at Provincetown.
Visit switchbacksea.org