The project Castaway was presented on the Art Amsterdam 2011 through Parc-Editions as a part of the No Holds Barred. The installation consists out of an old metal boat, cut in two pieces, with a small house attached to the back. Inside the boat a video is shown about the story of me and Hendrik Hamel van Gorkum. In the summer of 2010 I was invited for a residency in the South Korean village where Hendrik Hamel, the Dutch bookkeeper of the East India Company, had washed ashore in the 17th century. After 13 years of imprisonment in Korea, Hamel escaped to Japan. For several reasons I decided to follow my 'Dutch ancestor' in his footsteps and so I escaped the residency and left for Japan. The video that is shown inside the boat narrates of this history.    Journal of my escape from the residency-program New Hamel's Castaway in South Korea: Hamels escape in 1657:  Korea 12 08 2010 Hollando-Nagasaki Jetske New Hamel VerhoevenTo the Villagers of Do Ryong and to my compagnions Thank you for thy goodness, thy hospitality. Please, do not misunderstand. I have been treated more than well since I have come to this village. Freedom is calling me and its voice is getting louder every day. Today it is 343 years, 11 months and two weeks ago since my ancestor has left Korea to take his chance on the Great East Sea. I will follow him to the land of the rising sun as I am the New Hamel. By the time you will read this my ship has lifted his anchors. (...biddende dat de Almogende onse lijtsman wilde sijn, ). If the winds are favourable I will be back on time to finish what I have started. All's Well that Ends Well. Yours Sincerely, 12 08 2010 05:55 AM goodbye-letter on the door of my room in the residency  06:00 AM last view on the village I leave behind, taken from the taxi  05:00 PM arrival at the port of Busan, South Korea     8:30 PM introducing myself as the New Hamel    13 08 2010 07:00 AM getting close to the Japanese shore  a father and his child bring me to a gasstation just before Hiroshima.    09:30 PM after being brought to a place just before Kobe by a friendly couple listening to classical music, I get a lift from Wakaru. He takes me out to dinner in Kobe to eat Kobe-steak and then brings me to the bus-terminal in Osaka where I take the bus to Tokyo.  14 09 2010 03:00 PM After meeting my collaborators Non Grata and Orion Maxted in Tokyo we leave for a small village where Ichiro organizes an 'All-Soul's day'. We get prepared to make a performance in which we introduce Hamel's coming to Japan. |
