Installaties / Beelden

MotherDuck goes to Cornwall

(See pictures below!)










DUCKUMENTARY 44.7ºN, 178.1ºE
A film by Patrick Gofre and Marga Houtman (2008, 42 mn 48 s)

When, in 2003, visual artist Marga Houtman read a newspaper report about the fate of thousands of plastic
toy ducks lost overboard in 1992 during a storm on the Pacific, she became both fascinated and compassi-
onate. In 2005 she created the Mother Duck, a gigantic plastic duck 2.5 metres in length, that sets out to
find her children.

Patrick Gofre (visual artist and film maker) and Marga Houtman filmed the quest. Among other places, they
landed in Cornwall where – just as along the Dutch coast – people expect that in the near future some of the
plastic ducks that were shipwrecked in 1992 will come ashore.

The adventurous journey made by the little ducks over the world’s seas had also awakened the interest of
oceanographers, since any ducks that might come ashore could help to map the ocean currents.
In addition to the search carried out on beaches and on the sea, the biggest duck race in the world was also
visited, and a number of scientists had burning questions put to them, such as: what is the origin of the plastic
duck as a bath time toy? Where do the warm feelings come from that a toy duck calls up in young and old?

It is not just Gofre and Houtman who are fascinated by the phenomenon of the plastic duck: the public was
captivated everywhere the artists turned up with the mother duck.
And then you have the collectors. One of them said that the plastic ducks help him in the struggle against
ageing and conformity.

This film demonstrates more than clearly that the plastic duck is not just a children's toy.





SCREENINGS:

2009

Kunstroute Soest (NL)
Cultuur-dorpshuis De Spylder, Warns (NL)
FILMFRONTFESTIVAL, Gorkums museum, GORINCHEM (NL)
LES JARDINS DE DRULON (FR)
R EJECT FESTIVAL Rotterdam (NL)

2008

RIALTO THEATER Amsterdam (NL)
INT. FILM & VIDEOFESTIVAL PLATFORMA VIDEO8 Athens (GREECE)
NORTHERN FILM FESTIVAL Leeuwarden (NL)

PREMIÈRE:
DUTCH FILM FESTIVAL Utrecht (NL)









August - September 2007

MOTHERDUCK GOES TO CORNWALL

A 2.5-metre plastic duck is visiting the Englisch coast of Cornwall. She is looking for her ducklings who are
expected to make landfall on the southwest coast of England after a voyage over the great oceans.

In 1992, during a storm on the Pacific Ocean, 29.000 plastic bathtime toys - such as ducks - fell over board
from a container ship that had left China bound for America. Via the coast of Alaska they reached the Bering
Strait in 1995 and, after having withstood the rigours of the Arctic ice, ducks have been observed in the last
few years on the eastern American seaboard.

Thanks to the little ducks' adventurous journey scientists have been able to gather important data about the
ocean currents.

The little yellow bath toys are now expected to make landfall in Cornwall and other beaches on the southwest
coast of England.

Visual artist Marga Houtman from Warns (NL) created MotherDuck afther reading a newspaper report in 2003
about the journey undertaken by the ducklings.
Uptill now MotherDuck has sought in vain for her ducklings in the Dutch waters. The announcement that the
plastick ducklings are expected on the English coast one of these days was the ultimate opportunity fo the
Mother duck to go looking for her babies there.

The expected reunion of the MotherDuck and her ducklings will be recorder in a short documentary by Marga
Houtman made in collaboration with visual artist and video filmmaker Patrick Gofre. The influence of the
wandering plastic ducklings on people and nature will play an important part in the film.