7 Boats

Seven grey boats blend into their grey surroundings where they are randomly distributed on the bank of the canal, as if they had just been pulled on to land. Only the attentive passer-by will notice that these are not real boats at all, but boat-shaped sculptures. More specifically, they are concrete casts of the insides of boats, which are typically hollow. This method of construction contributes to the fact that each boat is suddenly no longer perceived as a functional object, but as a pure form with special aesthetics. An inversion from light to heavy takes place, lending the work a particular quality when water levels are high and the boats are below the surface. Susanne Windelen created this sculptural and poetic work as part of the Bildhauer-Symposium for the Binnen-Hafen. The boats are made up of seven 5-8 meter long castings of different pigmented types of concrete. They rest on a terrace-like ledge on the embankments of the Vinckekanal and were welded together with metal chain links.
2015 update: The sculpture was damaged by vandals. Its current presentation has not been approved by the artist.

Further reading:
StadtKunstFührer: Skulpturen im Duisburger Stadtraum, ed. by the Stiftung Wilhelm Lehmbruck Museum, Duisburg 2012, p. 189.