Statement of Intent ___________________ Storm Tossed Ship (Gonna Make It To The Ocean) Storm Tossed Ship (Gonna Make It To The Ocean) is a video artwork which couples an original guitar-and-voice song with a brief, looped video clip of a stream of urine pushing an expended cigarette butt, which floats in a white porcelain toilet bowl. The song, which is sung in a puppet-like voice that is barely discernible itself, features the singer describing himself as a storm tossed ship, a giant squid, a captive whale and a rusted pail, all of which are going to “make it to the ocean.” The back and forth movement of the cigarette, slight up-and-down rock of the camera, and constant gurgle of splashing water reinforce the simple rock-and-roll structure of the guitar strumming. By featuring a familiar but not specifically discernible public bathroom location and a slightly nonsensical but tangentially relevant song, the work constructs an implied narrative that the viewer must complete for his or herself— an act which engages the viewer’s imagination. By infecting the viewer’s imagination with a catchy song, the work can reemerge in viewer’s consciousness when prompted by specific related events, such as urinating, finding a cigarette butt or thinking about the ocean. This process of dormancy and re-emergence is echoed in the subjects of the piece (ship, squid, whale, pail, and cigarette butt). Finally, the work can self-replicate via the singing and humming of infected viewers and be transmitted to others.