Elaborado conjuntamente por el M HKA (Museo de Arte Contemporáneo de Amberes) y la KU Leuven (Universidad Católica de Lovaina), este proyecto de investigación interdisciplinar a largo plazo se centra en un conjunto de obras específico, pero complejo. Obras polifacéticas y con numerosas posibilidades de instalación, inacabadas y con un final abierto: Ship of Fools / The Dockers' Museum (2010-2013) por el artista y teórico Allan Sekula (1951-2013). Alimentado de la investigación de los miembros del equipo, el proyecto continúa evolucionando en una sucesión de resultados de investigación, como esta plataforma digital.

Allan Sekula. Collective Sisyphus

Albrecht Dürer Sketching the Panorama of Antwerp in 1520 (The Dockers' Museum, object nr. 1), 1874
Print , 40.1 x 52.1 cm
ink, paper

W.B. Gardner, Alberto Durero esbozando la vista de Amberes en 1520, grabado, reproducción en blanco y negro en papel, según un oleo de 1873 de John Neuhuys, publicando en un suplemento de The Illustrated London News el 2 de mayo de 1874, 40,1 x 52,1 cm. Adquirido por Allan Sekula en eBay el 21 de abril de 2010. [TDM 1]


A nineteenth century engraving of the illustrated London news, based on a Flemish painting that depicts Dürer sketching the harbour of Antwerp from a boat, accompanied by a party of woman who’s garments are draped over the edge over the boat. The idea of Dürer as a port artist was new to Allan Sekula when he discovered this item. It’s part of a group of etches dating from the late nineteenth century, which is the beginning of the workers movements, and also the period just prior to the period of photomechanical reproductions. So they are all late steel-engraving reproductions. These double sheeted pages from the British illustrated press (DM01-DM02-DM03) have an interesting scale, they are tabloid-sized, together they make for a good presentation because of their intermediate scale. The scale is important for all the objects, the smallest is the miniature postage stamp (DM28), the miniature quality of the depiction of a vast space (harbour, sea) is very important throughout the Dockers Museum. There is something of this scaling in the Dürer print, you can see an Victorian interior scene, an intimate scene of almost domestic comfort, set a float on a small boat, in the vast environment of the harbour. It reminds Allan Sekula of the Hitchcock movie the lifeboat, which tells the story of a group of people on a small lifeboat and zooms in on the tensions between the characters on this small space.