Schiff für Münster / Ship for Münster

Ludger Gerdes’s contribution to the 1987 Skulptur Projekte in Münster is both a ship and an island. Surrounded by meadows, the long, narrow island was constructed with a sandstone wall around the perimeter and a moat surrounding it. There are two poplars and a small wooden temple-shaped pavilion on the island, making it look like a ship traveling towards the city center.

As a work of garden art, land art, and a physically accessible entity, Gerdes’s work brings together multiple themes: The overall installation is reminiscent of a typical Westphalian style of moated farmyard, but also brings to mind well-known paintings such as Arnold Böcklin’s Isle of the Dead (1880). At the intersection between art and nature, the Ship for Münster sets the stage for numerous metaphors about life as a boat journey, and serves as a concrete anchoring point for desires and daydreams.

Further reading:
Skulptur-Projekte 1987 in Münster, eds. Klaus Bußmann and Kasper König, Cologne 1987, pp. 97–104.