Ilya & Emilia Kabakov
Installation “The Ship of Tolerance”
Warehouse A’, Thessaloniki port area
The mission of the “Ship of Tolerance” -large scale installation, wood construction, sail made out of children paintings- is to educate and connect youth of different continents, cultures, and identities through the language of art.
It is a conceptual piece by the internationally renowned artists Ilya & Emilia Kabakov, that is meant to reflect how divergent cultures interpret tolerance and how these interpretations overlap. The ship’s sails are stitched together from paintings by hundreds of local schoolchildren from different ethnic and social backgrounds, and will convey a message of tolerance and hope. By participating in the creation of this ship children will learn about respecting different cultures and ideas while appreciating how they differ from their own. In short, through this creative process they will both demonstrate and gain a vibrant lesson in tolerance.
Originally modeled after an ancient Egyptian sailing vessel, the Ship itself measures 20-meters long by 7-meters wide and was first launched in Siwa, Egypt in 2005; it was then created over a dozen times across four continents, in cities like Siwa, Venice, San Moritz, Sharjah, Havana, Moscow, New York City, Zug, Rostock, Capalbio, Rome, Chicago, and London.
The project is officially and proudly presented by the Ilya and Emilia Kabakov based in New York, in a joint collaboration with MOMus-Experimental Center for the Arts and Donopoulos International Fine Arts. The “Ship of Tolerance” was made possible due to the valuable help by its donors, Ilya and Emilia Kabakov Foundation, Stavros Niarchos Foundation (SNF), Bloomberg Philanthropies, David and Susan Rockefeller, Zoi Psarra Papageorgiou and Alexandra Boitsi Papageorgiou, the partnership by the ThPA S.A.-Port of Thessaloniki and the Thessaloniki Tourism Organisation and the support by schools and organizations, such as the Papageorgiou General Hospital, OSTEN Art, the Anatolia College, the De La Salle College, the Deutschen Schule Thessaloniki, the Arsakeio Schools in Thessaloniki, the Primary School of Nevrokopi and the 16th Primary School in Drama. The project in Thessaloniki is under the aegis of the City of Thessaloniki.