In June this year I took part in Channel Surf, a floating art residency. A group of artists, writers and thinkers canoed 202k over 12 days along the Rideau Canal from Kingston to Ottawa in Canada.

I swam daily a part of our journey to experience the ‘in’ as well as the ‘on’ of the Rideau Canal.

I am currently compiling images from my swim footage and will be making a publication of text and drawings.

The Channel Surf project was created by the Department of Biological Flow and Gallery 101 in Ottawa hosted our home coming and Anarchiving event.

As well as the daily swims myself and artist Rebecca Noone and the Night Life Guard – Vanessa Rieger created the:

“The BanAm Aquatic Games”

This was less than a decathlon but more than a triathlon, the games are listed below.

–Under Canoe Karaoke: a submerged sonic performance.

–Rescue Race Relay: a moment of instructive play- a true social practice.

–New Gestures of Swim Intervention- a collaborative journey of inventive embodiment.

–How many artists does it take to sink a canoe? – Artists activate the empty space of an unoccupied canoe.

The finale was the un-national anthem. Song writer and fellow canoeist Jimmy penned the “Lockmaster” set to Miley Cyrus’ song ‘Wrecking Ball’ and an underwater choir performed as the closing event of the games.

 More images on flickr https://www.flickr.com/photos/135101204@N04/sets/72157654107339793

I was supported by the Irish Arts Council – Travel Award to enable me to take part in this project.

http://www.departmentofbiologicalflow.net/curated-events/channel-surf/

http://www.gallery101.org/