Guppy 13 vs Ocean Wave; a Bas Jan Ader Experience, 2010 - Ahmet Ögüt

Never arriving in a place inspired the Kurdish-Turkish artist Ahmet Ö?üt, who works in Amsterdam, to create the work Guppy 13 vs Ocean Wave; a Bas Jan Ader Experience. In 2010 Ögüt invited the public to sit on a Guppy 13 sailing boat for a few minutes on the IJ, to experience what Bas Jan Ader must have felt like at sea. The only rule was that the members of the public had to get on the boat by themselves. The video is a fictitious documentary in which the Guppy 13 sails backwards with a different person on the boat every time. The music was composed by Henry Russel, and is played backwards. It was part of Bas Jan Ader’s last project. The video is actually a trip backwards in time.

The disappearance of Ögüt’s boat was very curious. In fact the Guppy 13 was stolen in Amsterdam after six weeks, but it was found again four months later. The police report of the theft is shown in the museum, next to the photo, the video and the boat.