2014ARTS ON THE WATERWAYS

ARTS ON THE WATERWAYS

Waterways in England and Wales are special places where people, nature and the arts can flourish. Even in a busy city a canal or river is a place to slow down, to dream. They are elegant, contemplative and gritty, gliding through the UK’s most creative cities and outstanding countryside, as well as disadvantaged areas.

Initiated in 2012, the Arts on the Waterways programme connects the Canal & River Trust with the contemporary arts. The programme offers time and space to artists, producers and curators to create work and engage new audiences for both the waterways and the arts.

We work with a range of partners engaging actively with local communities. Waterways are becoming the longest cultural space in the UK, flowing into areas that the arts find difficult to access. Arts on the Waterways has been made possible through strategic agreements with Arts Council England and the Arts Council of Wales.

FOREWORD

This year the Trust’s arts programme grew rapidly. Over 20 projects involving 50 artists were made possible through Arts on the Waterways, rebuilding the historic rapport between artists, rivers and canals. The collection of new artworks reflected the variety of waterways in England and Wales, ranging from inspirational adaptations of ‘found’ Kennet & Avon Canal songs by the brilliant folk ensemble, Dead Rat Orchestra to the evocative words of Canal Laureate, Jo Bell.

We also enabled an international collaboration through a new initiative with the London Legacy Development Corporation in the Olympic Park and Dutch collective, Observatorium. They worked with local craft students to design and install a scaled up re-imagination in sculptural form of the former lock keeper’s cottage at Carpenter’s Road Lock in the middle of the Olympic Park.

Tim Eastop and Ed Fox, Canal & River Trust

Wench, yowm the colour of ower town:concrete, steel, oily rainbow of the cut.

Birmingham RollerLiz Berry

THE CUT

Pioneering folk group, The Dead Rat Orchestra, took to the waterways between London, Oxford and Bristol for a floating tour aboard their river boat, Gemini II. The band composed and performed original music inspired by extensive research into the social and industrial history of the waterways, often reprising rough canal songs of the past. No two performances were the same, reflecting the bands improvisational ethos or what they call ‘freedom to play’.

The Cut, The Dead Rat OrchestraPhoto: Bruce Therton and Jana Chiellino

NEWTON’S COTTAGE

Newton’s Cottage was a temporary, ambitious architectural artwork sited at Carpenter’s Road Lock in the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park. The “cottage” was an enlarged timber-frame edifice echoing the structure of the old lock keeper’s house that once stood at Carpenter’s Road. The project was designed and built by Dutch “arty-techt” studio, Observatorium. A series of public events were curated at Newton’s Cottage to raise awareness of the significance of this historically site.

Newtons Cottage, Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park, Observatorium. Photo: Thierry Bal

ARTISTS IN RESIDENCE WALES

2014 marked the first year of a three-year collaboration between Glandŵr Cymru, Canal & River Trust in Wales and the Arts Council of Wales, creating seven artists’ residencies, including two in collaboration with European partners. The project was conceived to emphasise the sig-nificance of canals in Wales and showcase the rich social and industrial heritage that is still relevant in contemporary Welsh life.

After Gastineau (digital collage from a series reimagining Picturesque prints of the North Wales canal system), Andrew Dodds. Photo: A Dodds

THE LOCK SHIFT SONGS

BAFTA award-winning sound artist and composer, Kaffe Matthews, premiered a new sonic installation jointly commissioned by the Trust and IF: Milton Keynes International Festival in 2014. Kaffe collected sounds and stories, and devised new songs in an 80 mile walk along the Grand Union Canal from London to Milton Keynes to create an immersive 36-channel composition. People experienced the final piece lying down in large ‘sonic beds’ in a shop in Milton Keynes.

Lock Shift Songs, IF Milton Keynes International Festival, Kaffe Matthews. Photo: Shaun Armstrong

BLACK COUNTRY VOYAGES Partners Ikon GalleryLead Artists Ikon Youth Programme, Juneau Projects Waterways Birmingham Canal; Stourbridge Canal;

Walsall Canal; Titford Canal; Wednesbury Old Canal; Wyrley & Essington Canal; Dudley Canal

CANAL LAUREATE Lead Artists Jo Bell Waterways Various

CANALOLOGY Partners Arts Council EnglandLead Artists POST Artists’ Network Waterways Lee Navigation

CLAY CARGOPartners British Ceramic Biennial; Central Saint Martins Lead Artists Clayground CollectiveWaterways Regent’s Canal; Grand Union Canal;

New Main Line; Trent & Mersey Canal

CHORAL FIELDS 1–6Partners Hayward GalleryLead Artists Emma McNallyWaterways London Docklands

LEAD ARTIST IN RESIDENCE WALES 2014Partners Glandwr Cymru; Arts Council of Wales; AddoLead Artists Andrew Dodds; Alan Goulbourne Waterways Llangollen Canal; Shropshire Union;

Pontcysyllte Aqueduct; Monmouthshire & Brecon Canal

MUSEUM OF WATER Partners Somerset HouseLead Artists Amy SharrocksWaterways Regent’s Canal; Montgomery Canal

NAVIGABLE WATERS Partners Stroud Valley Arts; Waterways Museum at

Gloucester DocksLead Artists Emily Joy; Ralph Hoyte; Colin Higginson;

Simon RyderWaterways South Wales & Severn Waterway region

NEWTON’S COTTAGEPartners London Legacy Development Corporation;

Moira LascellesLead Artists ObservatoriumWaterways Bow Back Rivers

THE FLOATING CINEMA: EXTRA-INTERNATIONALPartners The Legacy List (Charity of the Queen Elizabeth

Park); BFI; King’s Cross Central; UP ProjectsLead Artists Somewhere Waterways Regent’s Canal; Stratford Waterfront;

Lee Navigation; Limehouse Cut; St Katherine’s Docks

THE LOCK SHIFT SONGS Partners Milton Keynes International Festival 2014;

Arts Council EnglandLead Artists Kaffe MatthewsWaterways Grand Union Canal; Regent’s Canal

THE CUT Partners Sound and Music; Arts Council England;

ArnolfiniLead Artists The Dead Rat OrchestraWaterways Thames; Kennet & Avon Canal

TUG 2Partners Waterside Arts Centre, SaleLead Artists Dog Kennel Hill Project; Dance4Waterways Bridgewater Canal

URBANFLOWEVENT (RIVERCITIES) Partners Arts Council England; Thames21Lead Artists Carolyn DebyWaterways Lee Navigation

PROJECT LIST 2014

Canal & River Trust, Registered Charity No. 1146792 Design: Kellenberger–WhitePrint: Unicum | by Gianotten Printed Media

The Canal & River Trust is the guardian of 2,000 miles of historic waterways across England and Wales, caring for the nation’s third largest collection of listed structures, as well as museums, archives, and hundreds of important wildlife sites. The Arts on the Waterways programme was initiated by the Trust in 2012 in partnership with Arts Council England, and more recently with strategic support from the Arts Council of Wales. We work with talented artists and leading arts institutions to inspire more people to experience and appreciate our waterways. To learn more about the Canal & River Trust and how to donate please visit canalrivertrust.org.uk