While an artist-in-residence at the Museum Kunst der Westküste in 2016, Susanne Kessler (b.1955, lives in Rome and Berlin) came across an illustration in the Föhr-Lexikon that is exceptional in terms of its graphic character and stands for a spectacular story: the image traces the odyssey of the steel full-rigged ship “Susanna” as it sailed around Cape Horn.
Led by its captain Christian Jürgens (1875–1959), of Föhr, the three-masted ship found itself embroiled in extended storms around Cape Horn in the winter of 1905, during its voyage from Port Talbot, England, to Iquique, Chile. Among a total voyage of 190 days, the crew spent 100 days (of which 80 were spent in storms with winds of force 10 or more on the Beaufort scale) fighting its way around the southern tip of the Americas.
The “Susanna” still holds two records today: by far the longest rounding of Cape Horn as well as the longest journey from Europe to northern Chile. This voyage is considered the most strenuous, brutal and courageous in the international history of sailing.
Susanne Kessler has set up a spectacular outdoor installation measuring c.60 x 40m. Attached to chestnut logs sunk in the ground, cork-filled tubes float on top of a substructure made of bamboo cane as they wind along corresponding paths. Placed at the edge of the North Sea, the installation will adapt to the rise and fall of the tides (plans subject to change).
The Museum Kunst der Westküste is accompanying this work with an exhibition presenting the process of its preparation. The artist is showing drawings, objects and films. These are joined by a drawing in space, the Mappa Mundi, as well as an installation translating the sketch of the wayward voyage.
