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The Bosun's Whistle

AARK Archipelago Art Residency in Korpo Finland 2016

ETLAB, Helsinki, 2017

Video (Color, Sound, 17')

Projection on the gallery's wall.

A boatswain’s call, or “bosun’s whistle”, is a pipe-whistle used on naval ships by a boatswain. Historically the boatswain’s call was used to pass commands to the crew when a voice could not be heard over the sounds of the sea, especially during a storm. Flying set pieces began appearing in theatres from the mid-17th century, (the first Venetian Opera House with stage machinery opened in 1637). Seventeenth-century sailors often found employment rigging and flying in theatres. As on a ship, they used to communicate with each other through whistles, with different whistles offering different meanings and commands. If an inexperienced actor happened to be walking across the stage whistling, he or she might find a set piece coming down from the fly loft above or a trapdoor opening under their feet. Since then it is said that it brings bad luck to whistle in theatres. The Bosun’s Whistle consists of a succession of video sequences of the same scene, shot during a three-week residency at the Archipelago Artistic Residency in Korpo (Finland). The scene shows a wooden apparatus typically used to support boats onshore during the winter or when undergoing repairs. The stockpile, looking like a dismantled open-air stage, was found as such in the shipyard beside the art residence. Each sequence lasts one minute, and each subsequent sequence is displayed after a vertical wiping transition created by amateur editing software and a Bosun’s pipe-like whistling performed beside the camera during the filming on site.