Hold on, this will be messy

The queer pirate as a thief or as disrupting element in the hetero-capitalist order of things.

Companionship cooooooompaninon ship (onions) and equality between pirates, matelots, crossing dressing.

Stealing hearts and sharing gold

Gems of healing

A spiritual journey of healing of carrying objects slowly over distance of not moving too fast or in a straight line.

Of just being

I over et år har Pia Eikaas jobbet med den stedsspesifikke installasjonen «Jeg fulgte en elv og fant havet», hvor SALTs maritime historie møter skeivt sjørøveri i forsøk på å skape et trygt, men samtidig utvidet, rom for fellesskap.

––

Over the course of a year, Pia Eikaas has been working on the site-specific installation «I followed a river and found the Ocean», where the maritime history of Salt fusions with queer piracy to create a safe, but also expanded, space for community.

ABOUT THE EXHIBITION

Inspired by the Golden Age of piracy in 17^th and 18^th century Europe, and more specifically the disregarded queer pirate culture that existed at this time, Pia Eikaas has created the site-specific installation «I followed a river and found the ocean» for SALT. The project emerged as a result of an expanded artistic research on queer piracy, as for instance the matelotage, a civil same-sex union amongst pirates, equal to marriage.

Several historical sources indicate that life at sea in a wider sense always has appealed to queer people, as ships often offered an alternative place and became a parallel community where one could easier break free from the laws and norms of society. This was especially the case for pirate ships, as pirates were not subjects to any state or church, they were truly free to create their own rules for living together. With this backdrop Eikaas has transformed SALT into a queer pirate ship, which aims to direct attention to the history of queer piracy which as other queer histories have been suppressed by heteronormative narratives. Through physical and performative gestures, SALT becomes a site for the celebration of queer piracy, and queer histories in a wider sense with roots throughout human existence in its entirety.

For Eikaas the pirates are pioneers – poor seamen that did not want to submit to the inequal and antidemocratic regimes of baroque Europe, where the kings wielded absolute power and the rights of the people were close to none. Extending from this the pirate ship, like many other queer sites, become a space for radical action, where the status quo is being challenged by community and action. In a time and cityscape shaped by neoliberal growth and expansion, in our present day, we still need alternative spaces and strategies for protest and revolt. Through her project for SALT, Eikaas wants to disrupt the order of things, make a mess, and oppose the heteronormative and capitalist structures that dominate our society. Can we like pirates sabotaged the colonial trade routes, sabotage the growth of nationalism and capitalist structures? By breaking norms and disturbing order can we find new and alternative communities that can benefit society at large?

ABOUT THE ARTIST

Pia Eikaas lives and works in Oslo. She holds an MFA from The Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts, and has an international exhibition praxis. Among some of the places she has exhibited are: Museu Do Louvre Pau-Brazyl BR, Unge Kunstneres Samfunn NO, Galerie Reinhart Hauff DE, Gallery Golsa NO, Parallell Vienna AT, Kristiansand Kunsthall NO and Kunsthal Charlottenborg DK,  she has also performed at The museum of modern art of Southern Norway and Moma PS 1(NYABF)US. 

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

«I followed a river and found the Ocean» is curated by Una Mathiesen Gjerde for SALT and  has been made possible through the generous support of Oslo municipality and The Norwegian Cultural Council.

Big Big thanks to Historian Marcus Rediker for Kindness, support and letting us use excerpts from his Brilliant book "Villains of All Nations; Atlantic Pirates in the Golden Age" Published by Beacon Classics.