Hard Transits

HARD TRANSITS reprises three Norwegian ships used as expeditionary vessels into the Arctic, all carrying individual dramas that hint at the problematic entry into the modern period for the fledgling nation. The fourth ship is Swedish. Each ship holds a 'void space': extraneous architectures carved into the ships, splicing one story into another.

Northern Star

134 cm l x 56 cm h x 37 cm w

53” l x 21” w x 16” h

drawing by Joost Kors 118 cm x 84 cm / 48” x 33”

Northern Star, left: the void space inside the clay frigate mimics that of a 'black box'. The ‘black box’ records flight data, facilitating the investigation of aviation accidents.

Northern Star: bow attachment detail for installation

The NORTHERN STAR, a Swedish frigate, was sunk by a Norwegian military action, and helped define an emergent Norwegian state. The ship model on which my rendition is based, is found in the Tingvoll church in Norway. The original wooden carving was probably made by the drummer on the Tordeskjold fleet, Sjur Kjøl, likely in the early 1700’s.

Maud

140 cm l x 41 cm h x 49 cm w

55” l x 16” w x 19” h

In the ship MAUD, I’ve used a passageway to connect the writer Knut Hamsun’s birth cabin to the ‘Führerbunker’ – Hitler’s Berlin bunker. Hamsun, the remarkable Norwegian Nobel prize recipient for literature, became infamous his miscalculation to support Hitler at war’s outset, and who is subsequently part of post-war Norway’s rehabilitation project.

drawing by Joost Kors 118 cm x 84 cm / 48” x 33”

Maud hull and deck (with indent of Hamsun 'birth cabin')

Maud obverse

Maud hull and deck (with indent of Hamsun 'birth cabin')

Gjøa dimensions 138 cm l x 35 cm h x 42 cm w

Gjøa: detail of Saz Leaf void

Gjøa: foreground

Fram: background

drawing by Joost Kors 118 cm x 84 cm / 48” x 33”

The FRAM (below) was the first purpose-built arctic capable vessel, and now beloved by Norwegians. It was commissioned by explorer Fridtjof Nansen for his 1893-96 expedition. The ship ((‘Forward’ in English) was designed to freeze into the Arctic ice sheet and float with it over the North Pole (in fact, it did travel within the ice sheet for three years).

In my ceramic version of the Fram, a bomb-damaged corridor from the July 22nd terrorist attack in Oslo, Norway, is embedded within the ship’s hull.