residency at Arka Kinari – Flores Island, Indonesia
Painted on the surface of one of Arka Kinari’s old sails, this piece evokes the earliest sirens—those ancient creatures, half woman and half bird—whose song is an ancient spell that invites one to lose their way. It is a call that, as in the myth of Butes, draws the sailor away from the course of the known world and pulls him into its unfamiliar song. The sail thus becomes a resonant instrument for plunging into the depths of the ocean.
Kanvas Mutiny is a collaborative art project and residency program hosted by the cultural vessel Arka Kinari. Visual artists are invited to transform six of the former sails from the into a suite of massive artworks. These six sails will be painted by artists from each of the six continents that the ship visits throughout its voyage. The works of Kanvas Mutiny will no longer be working sails aboard Arka Kinari, but become available to exhibit, either in tandom with the ship’s voyages and ports, or independently away from the ship’s journey.
Arka Kinari is a seventy-ton sailing ship on a voyage to sound the alarm about the climate emergency and prefigure life beyond fossil capitalism. By day Arka Kinari hosts workshops, skill shares, and archives rare local music. By night the ship transforms into a stage for a floating performance.
