WELCOME TO THE WORK OF ARTIST'S HILARY KNEALE AND ANN RAPSTOFF CONCERNING AN EXPLORATION OF WATER

Friday 5 October 2007

MERCURY THE MESSENGER AND TRICKSTER

Mercury is the god of travel; often seen as the trickster and carrier of messages, his task is to act as a go-between. Hermes is the Greek version of the Winged Messenger, he devises a plan to steal to steal the herd of cows from his brother, by turning their hooves around, so that as he leads them away, their trail appears to be heading in the opposite direction, thus his reputation as the trickster is born. In The Go-Between we have developed shoes for walking which have had the heels transferred to the front of the shoes. As we travel over land to Bonn our feet will move forward, our shoes will leave prints as though they are already returning, masking the beginning and end of the action and creating a continuum. The realtionahip between The Rhine and the Thames Since approximately 600,000 years ago six major Ice Ages have occurred, in which sea level dropped 120 m, & much of the continental margins became exposed. In the Early Pleistocene, the Rhine followed a course to the northwest, through the present North Sea. During the so-called Elsterien glaciation (~420,000 yr BP, marine oxygen isotope stage 12) the northern part of the present North Sea was blocked by the ice, & a large lake developed that overflowed through the English Channel. This caused the Rhine's course to be diverted through the English Channel. Since then, during glacial times, the river mouth was located near Brest (France), & rivers like the Thames & the Seine became tributaries to the Rhine. During interglacials, when sea level rose to approximately the present level, the Rhine built a delta in what is now the Netherlands. At the end of the Pleistocene, the lower Rhine flowed roughly west through the Netherlands & then to the southwest, through the English Channel, & finally to the Atlantic Ocean. The English & Irish Channels, the Baltic Sea & the North Sea were still dry land, mainly because sea level was approximately 120 m lower than today. At about 5000 BC, flooding & erosion began to open the English Channel.

No comments:

The Go-Betweens have begun their journey

Hilary Kneale and Ann Rapstoff are artists who have collaborated on a number of projects since 2001. There current work entitled The Go-Between charts their journey between the cities of Oxford and Bonn, in which they explore journeys, walking, ritual and the exchange of water between The Thames and The Rhein/Rhine. The Go-Between was a developing project and part of ‘Umfeld-Inwelt’ (En-vironment, In-vironment) at The Frauenmuseum Bonn

Witnesses/participants were invited to join silent walks for the Oxford part of the Go-Between from Magdalen Bridge, Oxford at 14.00 on Friday, 19th October, 2007 <> To witness an action and ritual of collecting water. This continued with an overland journey to Germany and the dispersal of this water into the Rhein/Rhine in silence from the Frauenmuseum in Bonn; 14.30 on Friday October 26, 2007, Frauenmuseum, on Thursday November 1st, the The Go-Betweens returned overland to The Thames in Oxford to deposit the water from the Rhine and complete their journey.

Walk in silence with The Go-Betweens at any part of their journey, contact them here at the blog at anytime.

The Go-Between (Der Vermittler)

Hilary Kneale und Ann Rapstoff

Begleiten Sie die Künstlerinnen bei einem Gang vom Frauenmuseum, Aufbruch um 14.30 Uhr am Freitag, dem 26. Oktober (etwa 1 Std.)

Als Teil der aktuellen Ausstellung Umfeld < - > Inwelt im Frauenmuseum werden Hilary Kneale und Ann Rapstoff in Oxford beginnen. Sie werden Wasser von der Themse abfüllen, und dieses Wasser als flüssigen Boten über Land nach Bonn transportieren. Nach der Ankunft in Bonn werden sie das Wasser der Themse in zeremonieller Stille gegen Wasser des Rheins austauschen. Dadurch werden die Städte und ihre Einwohner Teil eines gegenseitigen Austausches von leblebensspendendem Wasser, unterstützt durch die Vermittler.

Die Einwohner von Oxford und Bonn sind eingeladen dem Ritual beizuwohnen, aufgefordert zu einladender Kommunikation durch Aktion und Intention und machen damit das Erfordernis nach mündlicher Kommunikation überflüssig. Die Arbeit endet, wenn sie nach Oxford zurückkehren und das Wasser des Rheins in die Themse einfüllen.

Interesting links

The Politics of water, on the world service; the US/Mexico border, Israel, Sweden/Russia/Baltic sea and Namibia

Enterchange performance and the environment


Labels