Les Artistes

Reclaiming, Deconstructing, Creating Waterspaces

Check In, Swim Out: A Floating Hotel as Art NYTimes

New York’s newest getaway is Boggsville Boatel and Boat-In Theater, a configuration of four refurbished pleasure boats and a houseboat, all moored around a jury-rigged floating platform.

Artist Constance Hockaday says she hopes to attract the romantic and adventurous to her floating hotel, one she describes as a post-apocalyptic adventure.

Under the auspices of Flux Factory, a Queens gallery, Boatel will be open Thursday through Saturday this summer. July is almost sold out.

“When you think about it, the water is the last remaining open public space,” said Jean Barberis, the artistic director of Flux Factory. “As artists and creative people venture more and more into the outer boroughs, there’s less and less unclaimed territory on land. But the water is still completely open.” Mr. Barberis said he sees the Boatel as part of a recent movement of artists exploring New York’s waterways, like Duke Riley, who staged a naval battle in a reflecting pool in Flushing Meadows-Corona Park, and Swoon, the street artist behind the wide-ranging flotilla of paddle- and steam-powered junk rafts known as Swimming Cities.

Swoon in Haiti & Braddock, Pa

Swoon and Her Band of ‘New York City Garbage Anarchists’ Drifts into Venice on the Adriatic AOC Green

The last time AOC checked on Swoon, she was headed for the 2008 Venice Bienniele. No longer a centerpiece of Swimming Cities, the project continues in India this summer.

Today the activist artist is working on her Konbit Shelter Project, created with the idea that a group of artists, engineers, architects, and builders could pool their individual knowledge, resources, and time to make a lasting difference in post-earthquake Haiti.

Under Deconstruction: Transformazium Pop City