rooftop actions

Interesting roof top actions. Pre gentrification landscape and water towers, the New York of the 60’s and 70’s- the city becomes the material.

An exhibition looking back at the work of Laurie Anderson, Gordon Matta Clark and Trisha Brown held at the Barbican Gallery – link bellow.

https://www.barbican.org.uk/artgallery/event-detail.asp?ID=11398

A restaurant and artwork – ‘Food’ by Gordon Matta Clark

During Adain Avion, Cultural Olympiad Wales and Dance Days at Taliesin Arts centre programmed Bodies in Urban Spaces to make a new work in response to Swansea’s architecture.  Here they are at Swansea Train Station.

Image from: http://www.laraward.co.uk/tag/bodies-in-urban-spaces/

More links :

Roof piece http://www.trishabrowncompany.org/?page=view&nr=483 & recreated http://art.thehighline.org/project/trishabrown/

a photo taken down Cambrian Place

A photo taken down Cambrian Place towards what would have been a dry dock and ship building yard as outlined in the 1879 Map.  Pier Street would have been even more impressive with the either the Ships prow or stern towering over the houses.  Somerset Place ended in a wharf so it may have been entirely possible for that Windjammer to lay up next to the old Town Hall?  Probably not but it would have made a spectacle.

We have been looking into redevelopment proposals for that area (currently a car park) which includes re-opening some of the dry dock elements.  There is an early sketch attached showing how we believed that the Cambrian Place vista could perhaps take a focal building.

If you ever take a stroll around the rear of Sainsbury’s you can still see the original walls of the lock control to the North Dock Half Tide Basin leading to what is now the Strand.

What a waterfront city we could have had? -Andrew Nixon

This was on its way to Swansea in 1895 (image 5) – wonder if you would have seen its sails from town if it had arrived there? – Anna Barratt

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/culturepicturegalleries/10397734/Shipwreck-photograph-collection-for-sale.html?frame=2711284

the first walk

Sipping Sanpellegrino
Like travel-tramps we saunter past a fairytale
Huge overpowering ships
Massive structures bearing down upon the highest windowsills
With solemn sounds but silent booming presence
What lies beneath the other ground
Below us like an out of body sound
We hover above our past selves

To crossings
To a point
A place to face
A decision but
These railings pen us in and force a certain nowhere roam like rats
It makes no sense
Just let us be diagonal
Freedom feet

Searching ankles slide up through
An alleyway
Cramped and squeezed and dark and
Spat out
Into the expanse
A clash of tree and tarmac
Breaking up the perfect black
Tectonic plates slowly shifting under pressure

Step-march-move into
A wide revolving wall of glass
Keep going
Shuffle-steps
And then
The jingle-jangle-keys
His name
Is Roy, or Ray or maybe not
Not even close
Escorts us to the 13th floor

The sparkled speckled marble
Shiny disco feet would die to slide across and out into
The open air

The roof

Flat rough ground check how firm
It’s real
It’s up
It’s down
It’s vast
It’s high it’s
WOW
The birds fly under us

Then down and down and down into
A tunnel down and round and out
We’re standing in a river
Our psychogeographic traipsing tread from here is
Heavy wet but only in
Our minds

Jason & Becky, 2013