Intertidal : In Conversation with David Cotterrell (v)

Supporting Organisation(s):
Plymouth Culture, Plymouth Sound National Marine Park
Chair/Other Speakers:
Stephanie Owens

At this evening event, artist David Cotterrell, was in conversation with Stephanie Owens, Dean of Arts, Design and Media at Arts University Plymouth, marking the opening of Intertidal, a major new commission created as part of Sea for Yourself.

An evening of art, tides, technology and the story behind an extraordinary Plymouth commission. What happens when an artist sets out to make the invisible movement of the tide visible across a city?

At first glance, Intertidal is wonderfully simple: familiar cars appear in unexpected places across Plymouth, their interiors filling and emptying with water in response to the changing tides.

Behind that image, however, is a much bigger story.

As it developed, David's original artistic idea brought together digital technology and live tidal data, engineering and fabrication, marine science, ecology, craftsmanship, and creative experimentation. People and organisations from across Plymouth and beyond have helped answer the same deceptively complicated question: how do you bring the tide into the city?

This evening was an opportunity to go behind the finished artwork and hear that story. David and Stephanie explored the ideas that first sparked Intertidal, the experiments and challenges that shaped it, the collaborations that made it possible, and what David discovered by creating a work that sits somewhere between public art, engineering, environmental observation, and living systems.

They will also consider the wider questions at the heart of the commission: our relationship with Plymouth Sound, the boundaries we imagine between city and sea, the role artists can play in making complex systems visible, and what can happen when cultural practice reaches beyond traditional cultural spaces.

For many in the audience, this was a story they helped create. An extraordinary network of collaborators, partners, specialists and supporters made Intertidal possible, and the evening is a chance to bring some of that community together. For others, it may have been their first encounter with the project. 

Intertidal is a commission by artist David Cotterrell, created as part of Sea for Yourself, Plymouth Culture's cultural programme connecting people with Plymouth Sound National Marine Park through creativity, imagination and new ways of experiencing the sea.