Kayak Libre provides a temporary experimental infrastructure in the form of a kayak taxi service along the waterways. The fare is a conversation.

The Kayak Libre water taxi is an artistic vehicle to explore the ideas of progress and belonging. Specifically, it examines an idea of progress rooted in speed, efficiency and connectivity, and how it relates to human desires for autonomy, mobility and community. It is a slow, contemplative vehicle that allows close observation of and connection with the rapidly changing physical environment of the area.

The interactive map features location-tagged excerpts from the conversations aboard the vessel: radical visions for utilising the rare slice of public space that the waterways provide, and possible futures of mobility. We welcome proposals from user groups to upload their own data and link it to the map in order to join the conversation about design of a sustainable and progressive future.

Next steps: This research process unearths today’s off-grid alternatives, which will constitute the transitory architectures of tomorrow. We identify examples of these ‘experiments in living’ and will deploy them in a ‘tactical fiction’, a film scenario which casually invokes these experiments as an established part of daily life. Fictionalisation allows these experiments to be imaginatively scaled up and elaborated, but also provides the means for them to be reabsorbed into real life.

credits

concept … Manu Luksch
project assistance … Rachel Hill
project website built by Pete Ashton, powered by WordPress and Cloudmade
kayak cover design … Susanne Morthorst Staal
production consultant … Mukul Patel

about the artist

Manu Luksch, founder of Ambient Information Systems (ambientTV.NET,) is filmmaker who works outside the frame. Manu Luksch uses film and interdisciplinary work to explore the effects of emerging technologies on: daily life, social relations, and urban and political structures. Particular zones of focus are the borders of public space, the weave of the urban fabric, surveillance and the gaze, and security and identity systems. Her way of working emphasizes research, process and collaboration – often with groups whose experience and expertise is under-recognised.

Projects are shown at venues and festivals internationally, such as in “Featuring Cinema” (Coreana Museum of Art, Seoul 2011), “Hors Piste” (Centre Pompidou, Paris 2008), “Goodbye Privacy” (Ars Electronica, Linz 2007), “Connecting Worlds” (NTT ICC, Tokyo 2006), “Satellite of Love” (Witte de With, Rotterdam 2006), to name a few.