Simulator . 2001. Installation for Homeport, curated by Public Eye.
Simulator referenced the life of the early 19th C. Eastern Cape leader Stuurman, the attempted political manipulation of his people by the colonial rulers (who aimed to use them as a buffer between the settlers and the amaXhosa) his imprisonment on Robben Island from which he twice escaped and his sentence, Transportation to exile in New South Wales where he died in hospital of a leg injury.
I had begun making this when the attacks of September 11 drew attention to the simulator, "a piece of equipment that is designed to represent real conditions".
The name Stuurman attached to the quay was cut from copper sheet. This was connected via the handles of the viewing device to thin aluminium sheeting that covered the inside and outside of the sunken boat.
The electrolytic circuit was completed by the viewer's body, when the two handles were gripped. The micro current that flowed through the system, caused by the proximity of Copper and Aluminium in a saline solution (sea water) resulted in the boat apparently disappearing in the murky water after a few days, as the aluminium oxidised and turned a dull non-reflective grey. The shadow-like silhouette of the boat against the sky could be dimly seen through the viewing port which was in effect an inverted periscope looking down at a mirror which reflected the scene above.
The intention was to monitor the possible degradation and transformation of the aluminium boat and the copper Stuurman name, with particular attention to the area - approximately 6 feet deep - at the border of sea and sky, that was covered and uncovered twice daily as the tide rose and fell.
A text on the quay rail listed various facts relating to Stuurman, and electrolysis, and the so-called Galvanic Table which list metals in a scale of Nobility, and the practice of protecting of valued metal components of ships (Bronze, etc.) by the nearby positioning of Sacrificial Anodes, made of less Noble metal.
"When two metals are submerged in an electrolyte, while also electrically connected by some external conductor, the less noble (base) will experience galvanic corrosion." Wikipedia
'Stuurman ' can be translated as Helmsman.
