A Vessel of Night

CCA Interuniversity Charrette - First Place 

Team: Lauryn Marchand & Thomas Emerson​

Site: Halifax Harbour, Nova Scotia

The act of arrival is quiet. The swimmer leaves the illuminated edge of the harbor and traverses across the dark surface of the basin. Sound dulls, movement slows, and the city begins to recede. On the raft we are introspective, allowing the harbor to grant us space for interpretation. Here we are invisible, critical, and aware. The body floats between destination, removed from the ground that normally organizes our movements and perceptions. To swim is to be immersed.

Looking up we notice a familiar tone, a flickering projection that reminds us of our departure—it is artificial. Here, the vessel leverages multiple camera obscura to retain and project the light pollution from the surrounding cityscape. These projections are not original, nor intentional, but they exist and passengers will bear witness.

An overwhelming self-realization arrives, and among the water we notice Halifax again. Ships brush by, aircraft draw faint arcs above, and the skyline flickers across the water’s surface.

This is not separation, this is a performance.

The vessel, utilizing the space created by water and the light from the city, becomes a theatre. The city performs from a distance while swimmers gather quietly within the darkness of the harbor.

Our trip is close to expiration. We witness the quiet persistence of the harbor and begin to yearn the feeling of breaking the spectacle of the city. Briefly, but long enough to envision the alternative, something closer to this time on the raft, something cleaner, something for the future.

This feeling can be taken back to land. With the water so close by...