Faethm

Co-exhibitors:

Joanne Lee, Joanna Rucklidge, Melissa Lacey & Ruth Franklin, Rose Butler and Rob Gawthrop

An exhibition, considering how an entanglement with the more-than-human deepens as we iteratively explore co-curation with the River Dôn. In a partnership between Sheffield Hallam University and The River Dôn Project, artists presented a series of premieres including a data-driven public art installation in the river, a slow radio experience, experimental images, a visual essay, a live water quality lab and an interactive interface. Together, through exchanges in knowledge, research and innovation, fæthm created a context to explore the unquantifiable depths of the Dôn with the rights of nature as our praxis.

Artworks included:

David Cotterrell BIDE  : Witness the slow melodrama of a boat in distress at the Kelham Island weir. BIDE, based on the traditional Yorkshire Coble, is a public artwork presented as a boat -  a delicate indicator of abstracted vulnerability.

Joanne Lee Wherever the river may take us / wherever it wants us to go : A work developed through the repeated visual and temporal essaying of the River Dôn and its tributaries, which considers slow cyclical processes and sudden periods of transition.

Joanna Rucklidge Drink It In : A series of experimental images inspired by visiting a short stretch of the River Dôn. The prints and drawings represent the juxtaposition of indiscernible riverfly larvae within the water and the abundant littered plastic on the riverbank.

Rose Butler Ground Truths : A series of large-scale photographs alongside 16mm experimental film capture traces of silt, fig leaves, hemlock, and remnants of a NYE rave along the river’s edge, while phenols from the fig leaves create images of themselves.

The exhibition was accompanied by parallel commissioned projects:

Melissa Lacey & Ruth Franklin Water Quality Live Lab  : Citizen Science water quality research investigating the state of our rivers through the application of microbiology and chemistry.  

Sophie Toes and AliMakavelli x CiviCast Wild Medicine River Dôn special edition podcast : A slow radio production intended to connect with nature and improve wellbeing. A collaboration between CivicCast and The River Dôn Project featuring Sheffield Hallam artist-researchers and guests. 

Opus Independents River Dôn Project - Engagement Platform : A prototype Engagement Platform - an interactive, digital interface, designed to enable concurrent engagement with perceptual and impirical data sources. 

Curator and producer: Amy Carter Gordon Creative producer: Lauren McConnell Technical Advisor: Jeremy Lee