Salford Dérive

'One of the basic situationist practices is the dérive (literally: "drifting"), a technique  of rapid passage through varied ambiances. Dérive involves playful-constructive  behaviour and awareness of psychogeographical effects, and are thus quite different  from the classic notions of journey or stroll.' Published in Internationale Situationniste #2, 1959 I am always interested in exploring the underside of the city, particularly when it  includes rivers. Today on a rainy Bank Holiday Monday, we set off along the Irwell, to find out what happens to it beyond Victoria Station, where it disappears on the map. This usually means it is culverted, but in this case not.  There are so many  bridges that it almost disappears, but there are no tunnels, and to our delight, we  kept refinding it.  Once the river has gone under New Bridge Street, there are riverside paths on both sides,  green and lush, giving the impression of being far from the city.  But then the path takes us back to the margins of the city, the edgeland, which is  mostly overlooked.

The Age of Revolution 1789-1848 by Eric Hobsbawm

Book Review

Reading Eric Hobsbawm's book 'The Age of Revolution 1789-1848' is like swimming in a rough sea. The next wave of information hits you before you have surfaced from the last one leaving you overwhelmed and a little disorientated! It is a dense book. Each paragraph merits a chapter of its own, and each chapter a book. But if you are looking for an overview of a period of history that did more than any other to shape our current situation, then this is the one.

Hobsbawm is not the easiest of writers, but I've had this book for probably 20 years, and as an introduction to the difficult reading I'm going to have to do once I start my MA, I decided to tackle it, and set myself a 30 page/day challenge. In order to fulfil my timetable, I had to accept that I would not absorb much of the information, but the broad picture did sink in, and it has been a fascinating read.

The Marxist credentials of the writer are never far from the surface, but considering the period covered by this book, they provide an ideal structure for political and economic analysis. In particular, the chapters on the Industrial Revolution, Nationalism, the Labouring Poor, and Secular Ideology really helped me to understand what happened in Manchester and why.

Nearly 50 years after its publication, this book is still a goldmine of information, and a great starting point for further study.                                              

Leaf Street, Hulme

I've been feeling creatively frustrated recently, so to get a bit of perspective,  I wrote down everything I've done over the last year. I realised that alongside the collaborations which have been really great fun and really successful, I've done a lot of research that for one reason or another, hasn't translated into actually making things. So I've decided to use the research for the 'Placed' exhibition proposal that has yet to find a home, and make another artists' book.

When I showed 'Cow Lane, Salford' last year, lots of people asked me if I would make a book about Hulme, so I've been studying maps looking for an appropriate street. I've found the perfect one, just next to where I used to live. Leaf Street was laid out in the 1830's when the new district of Hulme was being planned. It's seen a lot of changes, but  has kept it's original location. The book will show the three waves of development in Hulme from 1819 to the present day.

I'm hoping to get it finished in time for the Manchester Artist's Book Fair in October, and if possible, have copies for the Rogue Open Studio. It will be similar to the one I made about Cow Lane, Salford, and I will be using what I learnt to speed up the production process! I've done the research this week and have already started drawing the illustrations, so am on track to meet my deadline.

Installation at Farfield Mill, Sedburgh.

On Tuesday morning I picked up a transit van, loaded it up with 2.5 tonnes of sheets, with the help a few friends, and drove up to Farfield Mill to set up my latest installation.

Building these sheet installations takes time and energy, so I was pleased that Farfield Mill had found me two volunteers, Dan and Jenny, who both had the ideal mixture of patience, creativity and stamina. The three of us, plus my partner B, spent Wednesday and Thursday developing a piece that responded to the local landscape, and the results can be seen below.  We tried to incorporate elements that can be seen in the Howgill Fells, crevasses, shale hillsides, waterfalls, and gentler lowland pasture.  You can see the results here.

Manchester Time Piece - update

We launched Manchester Time Piece in style on Midsummer's Day, 21st June.  With over 400 twitter followers, and lots of media interest, Tern Collective followed the shadow of the Beetham Tower from 7am to 7pm, mostly via maps and shadow plots due to the absence of sun!

During the day we had visits from the press, and were featured in the Guardian and MEN, who created an animated shadow map based on our shadow locations.

The project was also part of the Manchester Art Crawl and we will be hosting a round table discussion about the project on Tuesday 26th July at the Burlington Fine Art Club

We are delighted with how the day went, and are now starting to think about how to document the project, and where it might take us next.

Manchester Time Piece

It's all go now for the new art project 'Manchester Time Piece' which launches on 21st June. It is a project of Tern Collective, which is made up of me, Jude Macpherson and Jacquline Wylie.  We've been working together for about a year now, and this is our first big project.

On Midsummer's Day, we will turn Manchester into a giant sundial using the shadow cast by the Beetham Tower, also known as the Hilton Tower, at 47 floors, the tallest building in Manchester. The project grew from another project proposal we made which never took off, but this one certainly has. We submitted it for the Manchester Art Crawl and the Burlington fine Art Club - both fringe events for the Manchester International Festival, and it was accepted by both!

We have been experimenting with social media, and that seems to be working really well, the project is getting lots of interest on twitter, and we have a blog and a facebook group which so far are a bit slow, but hopefully will pick up.

Last week we had the opportunity to go to the top of the tower, which was amazing - we will be going back to take photo's of the shadow as soon as we get a decent day. In the meantime, here is a photo of the view down Deansgate.

If you want to follow us on Twitter, the project is @McrTimePiece. The Facebook group is Manchester Time Piece and our blog is at http://manchestertimepiece.tumblr.com

'Flood'

Today was the installation day for 'Flood' created by me and Jane Lawson on the bank of Chorlton Brook, for Chorlton Arts Festival's Big Art Walk.  After weeks of planning and making, it is finally up and it looks great.  We are hoping it will survive for the 10 days of the festival, as it is very vulnerable to vandalism!

The piece refers to the history of Chorlton which is situated on a flood plain of the Mersey River. Chorlton Ees, now a nature reserve, was used as a flood meadow until the river defences were built, which ensures  that the Mersey no longer overflows.

For the installation, we turned a tree into a giant flood gauge by cladding it in a knitted sleeve made from copper wire with bands marking the levels of contemporary and historic floods. The floods we have represented are one local historic flood, the 3ft flood that overflowed Chorlton Brook in 1961, and three recent floods, the 6 ft flood in Sheffield in 2007, the 8 ft flood in Cockermouth in 2009 and the 10ft flood in Pakistan in 2010.

By showing how high the water rose in these recent devastating floods, the audience has a glimpse of the visceral experience of seeing familiar landmarks underwater, and it brings into peoples consciousness the real impact of flooding. We used copper electrical wire to make the connection between one of the causes and one of the effects of climate change.

On Saturday we will lead a group of people on a flood walk from the installation through Chorlton, following the contours of different flood risk areas, showing which areas are currently vulnerable to flooding according to the Environment Agency, and how flood risks may increase in the future. We will be assisted by local climate change experts.

It has been a great experience working with Jane, one of my closest friends, and I think the piece looks fantastic. It is up until May 30th, so go and see it if you can.