Saltley Geyser : Canning Town (v)

A temporary installation of a geyser in a London's Royal Docks shooting water 30 metres in the sky

25 years after its original installation (in a small park in Birmingham), the geyser was witnessed again in East London's Royal Albert Docks. Located in the Royal Docks, it was viewable from the IFS Cloud Cable Car, the dockside near Canning Town and the streets and nearby buildings around the new City Hall. As one of the key commissions for the London-wide Thames Festival cultural program, this represented a dramatic return for one of Cotterrell's first public projects.

The geyser was originally imagined as an unexplained anomaly. It was intended to draw attention to a landscape that might warrent attention and reimagination. The Royal Docks was a more prominent, but equally transitional environment. This is one of London's poorest neighbourhoods, yet a focus for future development. Europe's largest man-made dock was fashioned by an industrial mandate, which has long-since lost its dominance and now subject to speculation as to its future utility and communities.

The geyser was re-engineered and, once more brought alive to create an enigmatic and transitory marker to this complex urban site.

Materials:

Grundfos SP60-5 borehole pump, steel, piping, 3 phase electricity inverter & 500L of water

Engineer: Toby Savage

Technical Advice: Charlie McClaren

Fabrication: Blackwater Marina

Installation: Livetts

Project Manager: Jonathan Bartlett

Curator: Adrian Evans