WASHINGTON, August 28 (RIA Novosti) – A New York-based Russian husband and wife conceptual art duo have teamed up with hundreds of local children to create a “Ship of Tolerance,” an artistic vessel with a social message to be launched in September, organizers said.
The artists, Ilya and Emilia Kabakov, collaborated with New York visual arts organization “Studio in a School,” recruiting hundreds of children aged 5-13 in New York to make paintings interpreting the theme of tolerance, according to the project’s website.
From those efforts, 150 of the paintings will be selected and stitched into a sail attached to a 66-ft. (20-meter) wooden boat modeled on an ancient Egyptian sailing vessel, being constructed on Staten Island in New York harbor, the website said.
The ship is scheduled to be “launched” in Brooklyn Bridge Park September 27 as part of Brooklyn’s DUMBO Arts Festival. All the children who participated have been invited to attend the sail raising ceremony, after which “The Ship of Tolerance” will remain on view on the Brooklyn waterfront until October 8.
This is the fifth “Ship of Tolerance” the Kabakov duo have overseen, having earlier directed projects in Italy, Switzerland, Egypt and the United Arab Emirates. The Kabakovs plan to create a similar vessel in Moscow, the project website stated.
Ilya and Emilia Kabakov are among the best-known artists to have emerged from the former Soviet Union, having exhibited their conceptual works internationally since starting their collaboration in 1988. Although both artists were born in Ukraine, they identify on their website as Russian and live and work in New York.
