Crossing/Drifting
solo exhibition
Basis, frankfurt 2025
curators: Lukas picard, Aslı özdemir
The work, created at basis as part of the AIR Frankfurt artist residency program, is a sculptural performative piece, consisting of a two-person canoe hand-built by the artist. Knowing nothing about boat building, Roman followed strict instructions downloaded from the web, to construct a boat that would serve as a communal vehicle for the Basis community. The canoe is an open platform for future explorations of the world and the mind through dialog.
On the occasion of the boat’s launch, a parade escorted the boat from Basis to the Main river, where the artist paddled together with one participant across the river, to the historical Fischerhalle arched halls where boats were once stored.
The metaphor of crossing the river has long served humans as a metaphysical denotation of some ideal realm to be reached, or a signifier of transformation: in Buddhism the crossing marks the transition from samsara to nirvana, while crossing the Rubicon means taking an irrevocable decision that would shape the future. The work invites its participants to decide what the crossing would signify for them, and to experience it physically.
Photos by: Aslı özdemir, Levent Kunt, Olga Appel
Boat design: Michael Storer
