Cabin overlooking the ghetto

Half art project, half oasis for adventurous New Yorkers in the heart of the ghetto, only an hour by subway from downtown. This is the original and successful blend of Connie Hockaday, Chilean-born artist Texas 29. His creation is called Boggsville Boatel and Boat-in Theater, that is, vessels (boats, in English) converted into floating hotels with which discussions are held every night and watch movies in the Navy 59. This is Far Rockaway, a town in the imagination of the city is identified with violence, poverty and peligro.Situada in the Rockaways, Peninsula beachfront land in Queens, Far Rockaway is the nearby town of Rockaway Beach, the beach we sing The Ramones in the late seventies to make a pilgrimage site rock. Today, after years of ostracism, is the new sand-fashioned town, with surfers, live music and restaurants. A gastronomic boom and led to his bank to young artists looking for beach recreation.Your Boatel, which is presented as an art project sponsored by Flux Factory gallery in Queens, has seen some horrible luxury buildings, a bus depot and a group of new houses but uninhabited. In the distance you guess the airport, thanks to the constant drone of planes flying so close you can even play out the name of the airline. All this paints a very disturbing scene bathed in water from a canal outside a national park. Probably no one would identify the area with the word vacation. "It makes sense to ride the subway and come to spend a summer night in the ghetto?" Asks Hockaday. "Those who live in this neighborhood have been pushed so far by the society. Boatel who come to do so by choice.Sleep in one of five old ships donated by Zablozki Ari, the owner of the marina 59, costs just $ 50 (35 euros) per boat (fits two to five people). "It's just enough to keep the Boatel up, but the hotel and money are not important." His manager, Arthur Poisson, a French 23 years that has helped restore donated and recycled materials sums up: "Some people come with their provisions for the night and did not even greet the fishermen moored here. That's people have not understood anything. The importance of this project is to mix several nuevayorks when, after seeing a movie, and create engage in discussions of community spirit. In that sense it's art. Art is the context. Hockaday hopes to repeat next year with the help of Zablozki, who would like the Boatel grow. For now, the art flows: among the guests are people like the pairing of Mariella and Worth Christian, who held the Boatel 28 th wedding anniversary and say: "Even in the supermarket have treated us well. The neighborhood has a bad fame, but there are very good people. " In the background three neighborhood kids who can not swim in the water playing with lifeguards who has given Hockaday, who confesses happy: "They like the Christian and couples are what make this project worthwhile."