Public Water

Waters of Sound

Isolated elements from Waters of Time (Bill Launder, Basil Wright for Port of London Authority, UK, 1951) soundtrack:

music  (by Alan Rawsthorne) 9:15 mp3

location sound  11:07 mp3
narration  (Paul Dehn) 10:40 mp3
prose poem sound collage  5:08 mp3

"A gull could fly for eleven miles up river, on the back of a sea wind, and never leave Dockland…"

Extract from Waters of Time (Bill Launder, Basil Wright for Port of London Authority, UK, 1951).

The Fighting Temeraire tugged to her last Berth to be broken up 1838 by J. M. W. Turner

The Fighting Temeraire tugged to her last Berth to be broken up
painted by J. M. W. Turner, Bermondsey, 1838

Surrey Docks to London Bridge from We Was All One 1972

There must be a hell of a lot from Rotherhithe, that's the Surrey Docks, right the way down to London Bridge, a lot of jobs lost there wasn't there, yeah right the way down, and how many worked in the Surrey Docks at one time…

London, Southbank, River Thames, 15 October 2010

A sketch of plans for night-time reflection captured on iPhone between 18:05 and 18:15, inverted, shuffled and layered.  The superimposition of different sequences may be structurally symbolic of a conception of place as containing multiple temporalities.

Operation Orange Tree RNLI video

RNLI video of Operation Orange Tree mock rescue, 30 September 2010

London, Wapping Stairs, River Thames, 18 September 2010

London, Wapping Hermitage Moorings, River Thames, 18 September 2010

London, Victoria Embankment, River Thames, 14 September 2010

Last week, while reading about reflecting pools - those static waters of literal and metaphorical reflection [of which more notes imminent] - the reality of the weather in London made the Thames anything but reflective, instead I could only use a polarising filter to shift between its murky churned up mud and the steely monotone of the reflected light from the grey cloud dominated sky.

Operation Orange Tree

On the 30th September 2010 a major exercise code named ‘ORANGE TREE’ will take place in the Upper Pool from 2030(BST) to approximately 2230(BST), simulating a collision between a commercial non-passenger vessel and a Class V passenger vessel in the area off St Katharine Pier - HMS PRESIDENT. The event may involve the use of smoke.


more here:
http://server2.pla.co.uk/notice2mariners/pdf/M55_of_2010_w_-_Upper_Pool_-_Exercise_Orange_Tree.pdf

Reflections on reflections on water

In most cities there are large bodies of water. 

In London there is the River Thames
there are lakes in parks
the Serpentine in Hyde Park
numerous canals
Regent’s Canal.

In Melbourne there are also canals
which
unlike those in London
are constructed primarily for storm water drainage.

Not for transport.

In Melbourne there are the rivers Yarra
a fresh water river
and Maribyrnong
a salt water river.
There is Port Philip Bay
into which both rivers flow.


Public Water.

The idea of urban bodies of water as public space.

But what is ‘public’ about bodies of water? 

Urban space can be public
loose space
but it is often
increasingly
pseudo public
it is often
private space
where photography and filming is not allowed
without permission.

This has increased
with fear of terrorism
and photography in public space
can attract police attention.


What is the status of urban water? 

What is the nature
of the ownership of water
as
fluid public space
never twice stepped in.

Transport and Recreation.

Reflections on water
when photographed
what is the image?

Reflection is an image
water is a medium
and a lens
reflecting
and
reproducing
(albeit distorting).





Will the security guards at Canary Wharf allow me to photograph the buildings as reflected in the water?

River Thames, London Bridge SE1, 26 January 2010