That Ship Has Sailed

posted by on 2010.10.29, under art, culture, exhibition

Early last month I stopped by Machine Project in Echo Park to check out the ship that was rumored to have been built inside (and through) their small storefront space. The opening was packed, with crowds spilling out onto the street, and as soon as I strolled in I could see why – there was in fact a rather large ship taking up most of the space inside.

The ship, an installation by Josh Beckman called Sea Nymph, served as the site for seven weeks of maritime themed programs. Events ran the gamut from crocheting jellyfish, to lectures on navigation or pirates (the hacking kind though I believe), to a puppet show about Moby Dick. Unfortunately, that ship has now sailed, as it was taken apart last weekend. So – if you have not yet seen Machine Project’s majestic sailing ship, you will have to be satisfied with these here photos and videos.

As per their usual mode, Machine managed to cram art/craft/academics/tech and pure joy into an ambitions project, and then stretch it out over a couple of months of interesting programming. Take this as a lesson – if you can get to the next seemingly crazy thing they put on in there, you be sure not to miss it this time.

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