The Mahogany Pavilion
(Mobile Architecture nº1)
2004
Loch Long inverted sailboat (no. 73) [built in 1963 by Boags Boat Yard in Largs, Scotland], South American mahogany, metal.
First exhibited at the 26th São Paulo Biennial (2004), this work reveals an important element in Simon Starling's oeuvre: the boat. Here, this mahogany piece is positioned upside down and suspended by its own mast. Installed in the middle of a tropical garden, next to a type of mahogany tree, the work suggests both a tree and a shelter. In this piece, the wood used in the sailboat, manufactured in Scotland, returns to its place of origin: Latin America.
In addressing the flow of natural resource exports (from America to Europe), the artist proposes another inversion, in this case, of a geopolitical order.