Knife Ship I, 1985
Steel, wood, plastic coated fabric, motor
Closed, without oars: 7 ft. 8 in. x 10 ft. 6 in. x 40 ft. 5 in. (2.3 x 3.2 x 12.3 m)
Extended, with oars: 26 ft. 4 in. x 31 ft. 6 in. x 82 ft. 11 in. (8 x 9.6 x 25.3 m)
height with large blade raised: 31 ft. 8 in. (9.7 m)
width with blades extended: 82 ft. 10 in. (25.2 m)
Guggenheim Museum Bilbao, Spain
Photo by Balthasar Burkhard, shown in performance, Il Corso del Coltello

Fabricated by MOSTREFIERE, Torino, Italy; Engineer: J. Robert Jennings
Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation
Gift of the Fondo Rivetti per l'Arte, Torino
Originally used as prop in performance, Il Corso del Coltello, Arsenale, Venice, Italy, September 1985
Installed 1997

The Knife Ship became the protagonist of the performance held in Venice on the Campo dell'Arsenale, September 6, 7 and 8, 1985. With its corkscrew and blades folded upward, the Knife Ship echoed vertical structures such as the campanile of San Marco and the parapet of the Arsenale, while its color, red, could be associated with the city's ancient ceremonial ship, the Bucintoro. By coincidence, the knife, with its blades and corkscrew, could be equated with fish and snakes, the two biomorphic shapes used by Il Corso del Coltello co-author Frank Gehry in his architecture.