CIRCUMNAVIGATION AS ART

In the fragmented reality of our present, there exists a fragment of human endeavor that has emerged as a self-sustaining work of contemporary art. The wind-powered vessel, the sailboat, is the only human creation that, using the energy of natural elements—water, air, earth, and fire—can circumnavigate our planet.

Five hundred years ago, the first such feat was recorded. Today, thousands of people undertake this journey, which is far from an ordinary trip. Water and wind move our piece of earth, the boat, while the fire in the sailor’s chest is his knowledge and courage. Nowhere is space more profoundly felt than in the middle of the ocean, with a straight line of the horizon all around or with a night sky filled with stars above. Circumnavigation by wind-powered sailboat is the most encompassing performance humankind has ever executed.

An ancient Greek fragment says: there are three types of people—the living, the dead, and those at sea.

CONTEMPORARY ARTWORK

Circumnavigation is a fragment of our thinking that allows us to deeply understand solitude and connection, the universal spirit of beauty that unites us with nature and with one another – on a blue ball orbiting in the Universe.

We consider that these five hundred years of tracing circles around our planet are a work of art of unprecedented dimensions and proportions. At the heart of it are we who belong to the sea, the Sea People.

circumnavigation
sailborat

WE CELEBRATE

September 8, 2022
500th anniversary of circumnavigation

It is on that date in 1522 that the ship Victoria of Magellan-Elcano’s expedition sailed into the port of Seville having completed the first circumnavigation ever recorded.

Today, five centuries later, people are still sailing and circumnavigating based on the same principles, using solely the energy of natural elements to trace this magnificent circle – with no other interest save for admiring the beauty of nature. To this day, a sailboat remains the only work of human hands that can achieve that without using any additional energy. We celebrate skill bound to instinct, the power of will and the freedom of imagination.

CONTRIBUTION TO FRAGMENTATION MUSEUM

Sailing trip around the world as an artwork

Everything is included, dreams above all. Circumnavigation art is a fragment within contemporary art that lacks formal boundaries. The charted map of moving points is an image that is never fully complete. A sequence of experiences, continual supplementation, and the changing image is the new fragment. Under the appearance of permanence, absolutely everything is in constant motion.

It has been calculated that the number of grains of sand on all the world’s beaches is not large enough to describe the number of stars in our visible cosmos, let alone the planets.

sailing-boat-watermaker

TAKE PART IN THIS DREAM PROJECT

This project is launched by fragmentationmuseum.com and circumnavigationart.com

We expect you on board of this journey and encourage you to invite to join us any of your friends who share the same convictions as to the necessity to protect the sea, the oceans and the environment. 

User-friendly and simple registration guarantees that your personal data will not be misused. The data we invite you to share – your name or pseudonym, the name of the boat, a photos, videos, texts, locations or other data related to the sea – will be used exclusively for the creation of this work of art. 

The first half millenium is now!

Join us! Become a citizen of the Sea People