Ship of the Zipper

Ship of the Zipper

  • 2004
  • Radio Control : 25 x 60 x 20cm
    Ship : 300 x 1137 x 465cm
  • material : Radio Control Version/Fiber Reinforced Plastic, Motor and Radio Control Unit
    Boat Version/Foamed Styrol, Urethane Paint,Fiber Reinforced Plastic,Fishing Boat

Gazing down on Tokyo Bay from an airplane window, the ships and boats
moving over the water and the track of waves they left looked to me like zippers.
It gave me the idea to build a radio-controlled ship in the shape of a zipper tab,
which I used to “unzip” the lake in the park. The difference from a real zipper
tab is that it dosen’t always proceed along the same route.

works_ship-of-the-zipper_image01
works_ship-of-the-zipper_image02

I got to thinking that I’d kike to build a gaiant zipper tab that people could ride in and zip open
the ocean, which I’d want to watch with everyone from the mountains or from the air.
At the Setouchi International Art Festival, they made the condition that people would be able to
ride in the ship, so it had to pass a strict ship inspection. Thanks to the efforts of a great number
of people, we built azipper tab 11.37 meters long weighing 5.3 tons.

works_ship-of-the-zipper_image03
works_ship-of-the-zipper_image04

Seats on the ship were placed facing each other in order to make optimum use of
the limited space, so people sitting opposite each other naturally put their legs
in alternating directions. When we noticed that our legs resembled the alternating
teeth of a zipper, we all laughed. I discovered that the interior of the Zipper Ship
was also the zipped up space of the zipper before it is unzipped.

works_ship-of-the-zipper_image05
works_ship-of-the-zipper_image06