Canoe is a long (approx. 20') trough of water, resembling some kind of boat, on which a gunwale tracking mechanism slowly, endlessly paddles back and forth.

The longer description below is an extract from my 2000 MFA Thesis, which accompanied the first installation of Canoe at the Anna Leonowens Gallery in Halifax. It gives a decent, albeit dry, overview of the general functioning, and gets into some of the orginal motivations. It has been completely rebuilt since then, so parts of the description are no longer applicable. Here is a summary of the changes:

• in 2003 the trough frame was rebuilt out of aluminum, with gussets and bolts, so as to be fully collapsible
• the entire paddle mechansim was rebuilt in 2005-2006 out of lighter material and with much, much better bearings
• it has been shown with a parasitic wireless camera mounted near the paddle
• there is now a solar-powered, outdoor version

1. Description
Two 24' long welded steel armatures stand approximately two feet high, run half the length of the gallery and are bolted to floor two feet apart. Regularly spaced angle braces, also bolted to the floor reinforce them. Two end pieces are fabricated from steel flat bar, curved in as to resemble the prow of a watercraft.

A heavy plastic sheet (commercially sold as vapour barrier) is draped between the two supports and clamped in place, forming what is essentially a very long and large bag intended to hold water. The walls of this trough also serve as rails upon which a mechanized canoe paddle apparatus propels itself. Its materials are aluminum square bar and tube, bolted and riveted together. The paddle is powered by an electric motor and battery coupled to a crank mechanism (see appendix A). It moves at approximately four strokes per minute and travels the entire length of the trough in 21 and one half strokes, taking 5 to 6 minutes. Upon reaching the end of the trough, a limit switch (also called a bump switch) mounted on the paddle armature hits a stop-block and reverses the motor (see appendix B). The device then backpaddles, reaches the other limit, changes direction again, and so on. It paddles continuously back and forth across the gallery for the course of the exhibition. The machine is turned off at night and the battery recharged.

The trough is installed in the center of the west half of gallery two, parallel to the length of the gallery. A six-inch high retaining wall made of plywood surrounds the perimeter of the trough, painted to match the floor and sealed with silicone. This protects the gallery archives in the basement below, in the unlikely event of flooding due to catastrophic mechanical failure or audience tampering.

2. Contexts
The canoe paddle as a metaphorical device has a rich historical and contemporary presence. The canoe originated in native culture, its usage being generally practical as a means of travel and transportation. Later, the canoe was appropriated by the coureurs-de-bois and played and important role in the expansion of the fur trade, still as a practical technology. At the turn the 20th century the rise of industrialism spawned various back-to-nature programs, like the scouting movement and the summer cottaging movement. The canoe took on its contemporary role as leisure craft.

Inevitably this work brings up associations of Canadiana, and the paddle as a national symbol verges on cliché. Every giftshop at every tourist spot in Canada is likely to have a mug or a T-shirt with a canoe and/or paddle on it, meant to exemplify the Canadian identity. Beyond this, however, as an article firmly engrained in cultural memory, the paddle can signify a particular kind of relationship with the natural world, one that is complex and technologically mediated. I am interested in its contemporary connotations of leisure and idyll and how this is in contrast to its origins in utility, as it speaks to one possible outcome of technological obsolescence, and also the role of technology in shaping our attitudes towards leisure and work.