“In Maurilia the traveler is invited to visit the city and at the same time to examine some old postcards that show it as it used to be… If the traveler doesn’t wish to disappoint the inhabitants, he must be careful to contain his regret at the changes within definite limits: admitting that the magnificence and prosperity of the metropolis Maurilia, when compared to the old provincial Maurilia, cannot compensate for a certain lost grace. It is pointless to ask whether the new city is better or worse than the old one, since there is no connection between them, just as the old postcards do not depict Maurilia as it was, but a different city which, by chance, was called Maurilia, like this one.”

― Italo Calvino, Cities and Memory 5 – Invisible Cities

What Makes the Boat Float is inspired by the morphing of identity of fast growing cities of south east Asia; specifically Macau SAR. (China)

“在摩麗里亞（Maurilia)城，旅客被邀請去參觀城市，同時看一些舊明信片，明信片顯示摩麗里亞的昔日風光…..如果旅客不想讓摩城居民失望，他必須小心，刻意別透露對城市變遷感到的遺憾：同時他心底認為，與老土的舊摩麗里亞相比，新的摩麗里亞大都會雖然輝煌與繁榮，卻無法補回失去的典雅。問新城究竟比舊城好還是差，這是毫無意義的，因為他們之間沒有聯繫，正如舊的明信片不能代表摩麗里亞一樣，它們只象徵著一個不同的城市，碰巧地被稱為摩麗里亞的城市，像眼前這個。”

－卡爾維諾，《城市和記憶之五》–《看不見的城市》

《水能載舟》的靈感源自東南亞快速發展的城市，特別是澳門的轉變。

Yves Etienne Sonolet is a French visual artist born in Paris. He holds a Master Degree with honors in Fine Arts from the ISDAT, Toulouse France and since then is based in Macau SAR. In his work he is interested in mixing media using urban landscape as theme and support. He has been teaching digital media, photography and video as visiting professor at the universities UMAC, USJ and HKUS.