Edward Clydesdale Thomson developed his new work Bound to the Miraculous inspired by the fateful sailing journey of Bas Jan Ader. In the summer of 2025 it will be presented for the first time in the Groninger Museum, exactly 50 years after the beginning of Bas Jan Ader's journey.
It is fifty years ago in 2025 that conceptual artist Bas Jan Ader departed from Cape Cod in the US with a tiny sailboat to the Netherlands. He was supposed to have a solo exhibition in the Groninger Museum, but never arrived. His disappearance is fuel for speculation in the art world. Where could he have disappeared? Suppose the boat would depart from America now, where would it end up? Through the installation by contemporary artist Edward Clydesdale Thomson you follow the boat in real time.
Suppose Bas Jan Ader's boat would depart from America now, where would it end up?
Through the installation by contemporary Scottish-Danish artist Edward Clydesdale Thomson (1982) in the Groninger Museum you follow the boat in real time. The viewer can follow the journey and stays continuously informed about how the current weather conditions on the ocean are and how rough the sea is at this moment. In form and content Bound to the Miraculous is a unique installation. It tells the story of an individual seeking freedom, testing the limits of his own possibilities and giving expression to a romantic longing for what lies beyond the horizon.
In the museum, simultaneously with Edward Clydesdale Thomson's installation, a small exhibition about Bas Jan Ader can also be seen. Here documents and photos about Bas Jan Ader's Groningen roots and about his original plan to complete his project In Search of the Miraculous in the Groninger Museum will be shown, among other things.
