Transport Residency / Los Ferronautas (2013)

The spectacular SEFT-1 is a road and rail vehicle created by Mexican artists – and brothers – Iván Puig and Andrés Padilla Domene, known together as Los Ferronautas.

SEFT is an acronym for the Spanish Sonda de Exploración Ferroviaria Tripulada (Manned Railway Exploration Probe). Designed to hijack railway tracks and traverse natural landscapes, the vehicle functions as a research device searching for otherworldly pasts and infrastructural histories. Its early adventures include journeys along the abandoned railways of Mexico and Ecuador.

The vehicle’s premiere UK expedition will begin in September 2013 with a month-long residency. Its base was canal side atelier in Blackburn where Los Ferronautas experimented with how to make the vehicle buoyant for future expeditions on canals and waterways, and collecting sonar imaging from the canal beds. From Blackburn they made a series of forays across the Northwest of England, presenting a programme of talks, film screenings and pop-up events as they made their way to AND in Liverpool, for an exposition in the city centre.

SEFT-1 was presented in partnership with The Arts Catalyst and will tour to London for a special exhibition in June 2014.