JAMES CAPPER - WALKING SHIP

Bringing together drawings and maquettes, WALKING SHIP presents a 10-year chronicle and the final visual synopsis of MUDSKIPPER, a 12-ton, hydraulic amphibian sculpture by British artist and RCA alumnus James Capper. Researched, drawn and developed over the course of a decade, MUDSKIPPER is the latest iteration of James Capper’s 'Offshore' division of mobile sculpture, to be launched on the River Thames, London in the spring of 2019. Drawings of WALKING SHIP will be on display at StudioRCA (from 16 February until 22 April), before the fully realised MUDSKIPPER takes up residency at Battersea Power Station, where it will be moored at the Pier directly in front of the iconic riverside building from 18 May 2019. 

Inspired by the evolution and ingenuity of biological lifeforms, James Capper’s MUDSKIPPER draws from the organic world to create a hybrid sculpture that challenges the limits between art and engineering. MUDSKIPPER is a fully-mobile and operational sculpture that us es two hydraulic legs and component treadpad feet to shift between aquatic and terrestrial environments, echoing the macro-ecological vaults made by early mudskippers, bravely leaping onto the terrain of a new and unknown world.