Memory of Water Govan
13/11/2020

Memory of Water: Govan Pivot

This atumn, a series of public art projects are happening across Govan, Glasgow, hosted by our partner Fablevision, in the frame of Memory of Water project. These six productions are designed by an artist in Scotland and five European artists remotely. The projects include a music production, mural painting, printed work, stencilling, performance, and filming.

All artists spent a full week in September 2019 immersing themselves in the culture, history and realities of Govan, including meeting with dozens of local people, community organisations, activists and local artists. The October-November 2020 production residency is now delivered remotely by the artists, with the physical production being carried out by a collaboration of particular project partners with the Fablevision staff, local stakeholders, and local community groups. The exception to this is the Fablevision lead artist, tsBeall, who resides in Scotland and can carry out her project herself.

The Memory of Water artists are developing their individual responses to the constraints brought on by Covid-19. A Memory of Waters Polish partner, The Baltic Sea Cultural Centre has invited Gdansk artist Iwona Zając to Scotland to take part in the residency.

Iwona Zajac ihas been working with heritage archives and former shipyard workers from Govan. She has  transferred the shipyard workers’ memorable sentences to the concrete walls at the historic Govan Dry Docks which will be visible to the public. As with Mary Conroy’s work (IE), there is cooperation with a local printing press, as the font used must be the most appropriate historically to that time and space. Iwona had worked with a Polish typography artist, Eugenia Tynna, to draw and cut stencils that were then sent to Govan, and painted by a local artist. This artistic intervention is related to Iwona’s earlier work entitled “Shipyard” from 2004 http://www.stoczniaweterze.com.

Others artists involved in the lab are: Mary Conroy (Ireland), Siegfried Vynck (Belgium), t s Beall (Scotland), Ira Brami (Netherlands), Jonas Mystrand (Sweden).

The findings of the project will be presented on upcoming Govan Urban Lab on 1 December. Each region taking part in the project will have their own lab. The dates will be as follows:

 

17 Nov The City Ostend, Belgium

24 Nov The City of Levadia , Greece

26 Nov Gdańsk – the Baltic Sea Cultural Centre, Poland

1 Dec Fablevision, Glasgow, Govan, Scotland

2 Dec Intercult, Stockholm, Sweden

3 Dec All partners

8 Dec Connecting Georgia Lab

10 Dec special event by Ormston House, Limerick, Ireland 

 

For details on Memory of Water, visit www.memoryofwater.online