Privateers Reenactment
Will Pappenheimer 2017

Commissioned by and for the exhbition: The Augmented Landscape
Salem Maritime National Historic Site, Salem, MA

This work, premiering for the exhibition, The Augmented Landscape Salem Maritime National Historic Site, Salem, MA, envisions the reenactment of Privateering, the Revolutionary War form of Congressionally-chartered private naval action. Salem Privateer vessels were estimated to have captured approximately 445 ships, generating funds for the revolution while acquiring private wealth beyond the needs for warfare. The giant virtual ball of galleon-style ship masts featured in this work was obtained from disassembled ship models accessed from shared 3D model websites. It hovers and rotates out over Derby Wharf, as a gigantic conglomeration sculpture. It evokes both memories of profit mixed with patriotism and current forms of voracious wealth acquisition and politics, which test the boundaries of social contracts understood to be the bedrock of American idealism.

Privateers Reenactment, iPad view from Derby Warf, Salem Maritime Historic Site