Maelstrom - 27.10.17
Date: 27th October 2017David's new permanent public installation, Maelstrom, launches today in Chester alongside new works by Bedwyr Williams, Kate Gater and Estelle Woolley.
King Charles Tower, on the city walls, hosts Chester’s first artwork that acknowledges the city’s emerging relationship with water. As a whirlpool appears and disappears in the Shropshire Union Canal, it rapidly turns to create the illusion of extreme depth and speed. David Cotterrell has taken his inspiration from the maelstrom, whirlpools and eddies that feature in literature from The Odyssey to Jules Verne, Herman Melville and Edgar Allan Poe, His new work seeks to represent the magnificence of these awe-inspiring natural phenomena, recreating them on this gentle stretch of Chester’s waterways.
How and why the whirlpool has appeared is intended to cause intrigue and provoke curiosity from the public visiting the canal with the intention that it draws attention to the waterway, its geography and environment. Working with David, pupils at local schools have imagined their own myths and stories of how the whirlpools came into being. Creating fantastical stories about a mysterious creature that ate a chunk earth from the bottom of the ocean, disrupting the flow of the water, causing a massive whirlpool; or a Superhero who blasted a villain during combat; or a massive serpent living beneath the water wagging its tail, causing destruction. A selection of artworks by Year 6 Pupils at Hoole C of E Primary School and Waverton Community Primary School will be exhibited at King Charles Tower for the launch event on Friday 27 October and during the October half term.
Public Launch
New digital artworks premiere in Chester
Meet the Artists, 5pm, Cinema at Storyhouse
David Cotterrell and Bedwyr Williams, hosted by Laura Robertson
Bedwyr Williams : Hypercaust
See the artwork tonight 5pm - 8pm
Special cocktails served 5.30pm, courtesy of Red Door Bar
Williams’ new video piece will bring back to life Chester’s Roman Fortress Bathhouse, recreated through historically accurate 3D renderings. This mesmeric work will interweave the stories of modern Chester: half remembered tales and shared anecdotes,
the ordinary epic of petty crimes and misunderstandings strung together.
Where: Storyhouse, Hunter Street
Find out more: storyhouse.com/hypercaust
David Cotterrell : Maelstrom
See the artwork tonight 5.45pm - 8pm
Cotterrell’s artwork acknowledges Chester’s relationship with water, as a whirlpool appears and disappears in the Shropshire Union Canal, rapidly turning to create an illusion of extreme depth and speed. This intriguing artwork encourages alternate viewpoints of the city that rewards curiosity and creates a sense of wonder and surprise.
Where: King Charles Tower, Chester City Walls
Find out more: westcheshiremuseums.co.uk/maelstrom/
Local postgraduate artists Kate Gater and Estelle Woolley will be showing sound and sculptural pieces in King Charles’ Tower and Gardens, and Chester Cathedral. Artists, David Cotterrell, Bedwyr Williams and Nayan Kulkarni have been offering their support and guidance to the ongoing development of Gater and Woolley’s individual practices as part of a mentoring programme.
Kate Gater : Fallen but not Forgotten
See the artwork tonight 5.45pm - 8pm
Gater is an artist working with sound and digital technologies, currently undergoing her PHD in Sound Art at the University of Chester. Her work involves researching rarely seen rural areas. For FLOAT, Gater has produced two surround sound pieces, Fallen But Not Forgotten’ made from field recordings of creaking trees which will be sited in King Charles Tower, and ‘Deep in the Sacred’ made from recordings of the Cathedral.
Where: Upper Room, King Charles Tower, Chester City Walls
Read more at: westcheshiremuseums.co.uk/maelstrom/
Estelle Woolley : Water Guardians, The Engine and Wishing Wells
See the artwork tonight 5.45pm - 8pm
Woolley is an interdisciplinary artist and MA Fine Art graduate from The University of Chester. Woolley has been developing her site specific works which include video and performance as well as her interest in the intersection of sound and sculpture. Her practice is concerned with the way in which we ‘see’ sound physically, exploring the embodiment of sound within the object, in relation to the site specificity of space. Work shown on the opening evening will comprise of a playful series of sound sculptures, including a purring lawnmower, taking the viewer on a multisensory discovery of the newly renovated King Charles’ Tower gardens.
Where: King Charles Tower Gardens, Chester City Walls
Read more at: westcheshiremuseums.co.uk/maelstrom/
Additional Information:
Chester is championing new technologies within artworks commissioned for the public realm, as can be seen with Maelstrom and Hypercaust, the forthcoming art commission by Bedwyr Williams at Storyhouse. Chester is a city rich in heritage and architectural interest and such artists’ interventions highlight its overlooked or hidden aspects.
Waterways Strategy
The artwork is part of the recent improvements at King Charles Tower Gardens, a refurbishment that transformed a once derelict part of Chester; and forms part of Chester’s Waterways Strategy which aims to reconnect Chester’s Waterways to the city.
Chester Heritage and Visual Arts Strategy.
The Chester Heritage and Visual Arts Strategy, recently adopted by Cheshire West and Chester, presents a city wide study that will deliver a clear and coherent direction for interpreting and presenting its heritage and visual arts to deliver a world class offer that inspires audiences and visitors. The strategy recognises the scope for the visual arts to renew our curiosity, highlight the charm of the city’s past and contribute to its future.
Funded by Arts Council England and Cheshire West and Chester Council.
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