Lone Twin will ask the people of the South East to donate a wooden object of personal significance, be it a favourite pencil, a much used dining table, or the garden shed, to be used in the building of a sea-faring boat. At the heart of this project lies a fascination with people and their stories. The community, guided by a professional boat builder and using a combination of traditional and contemporary construction techniques, will then build a boat from the donated wood. The boat will be launched in May 2012 in a spectacular event that will include everyone who has participated in its creation. A book, collecting the stories about the contributors and their donations will be launched at the event, revealing each and every part of the boat’s community biography.
 
Crewed by trained community members, the boat will make a two-week maiden 'Olympic' voyage in June 2012, becoming the focus of four celebratory arts events. These will showcase regional and national artists from the fields of contemporary performance and the visual, text-based and sonic arts. A sense of individual and regional ownership will be fostered as outreach projects touching every group, school and business in the area ensure thousands of people are involved in the building and sailing of the boat. The wider public will be able to engage with the project and follow the boat’s journey online.
 

Lone Twin are Gregg Whelan and Gary Winters. The duo is widely regarded as leading artists in the field of contemporary performance. Formed in 1997 the company’s work is met with critical and popular acclaim as national and international audiences enjoy an ever-diverse range of works for stage, studio and public space. Recent commissioning partners include KunstenFESTIVALdesArts, Steirischer Herbst and the Melbourne International Festival. 2007 saw the company create two major new public projects; the eight-day performance Spiral, commissioned by the Barbican and Town Crying commissioned by Dott O7. In 2008 the company premiered Speeches, commissioned by the Barbican. This ambitious public project will visit various contexts across 2009 and 2010. In 2009 the company began work on a number of new projects including Beastie, a unique live experience for children and Street Dance, a community dance event to take place across three regions in the UK, premiering at Nottdance 09 before moving onto Dance East and Sadlers Wells.
 
In 2006 Whelan and Winters formed the collaborative ensemble Lone Twin Theatre. The company’s debut work Alice Bell premiered at KunstenFESTIVALdesArts before embarking on sell-out international tours. A second piece Daniel Hit By A Train, premiered at Wiener Festwochen and continues to tour. 2010 will see the company create a third work, completing The Catastrophe Trilogy, which will premier at the Barbican before touring the UK and Europe. A book featuring an edited collection of articles on Lone Twin will be published in 2010 by Black Mountain Press.