'Wild Waters' was the title of a group exhibition on Art, Community and Water Environment at the CREATE Gallery, Bristol, 2009
A video installation was presented by Antony Lyons.
LINK.pdf to a related paper, produced jointly with Owain Jones
Jones O. and Lyons A. (2010) Traces of tide and time in Bristol. Paper presented at ‘A second city remembered: rethinking Bristol’s history, 1400-2000’ conference, organized by the Regional History Centre, University of the West of England, Bristol, in partnership with M-Shed, the Museum of Bristol, University of the West of England, Bristol.
(2012-2014)
BETWEEN THE TIDES
Working as researcher/consultant on an international interdisciplinary exchange project (Severn Estuary and the Wadden Sea).
“Between the Tides”: Comparative approaches to living with(in) intertidal landscapes in UK & the Netherlands.
The UK and the Netherlands contain some of the most important and tidally dynamic areas in the world. The Severn Estuary and the Wadden area, for example, are complex, dynamic and fragile landscapes which comprise a rich natural and cultural heritage and yet they are located in densely populated and highly developed societies, with communities living in low lying areas which are at risk through flooding at high tides and times of storm surges. Such risks, and questions of living with the tides, are now pressing, due to prospects of climate-change induced sea level rise. Conflicts arise as a result of different uses of, and values ascribed to, such landscapes. At this time, much knowledge about intertidal landscapes is focused on geomorphology and ecology which means that there is limited scope to fully address the perception and role of values that impact on how we live with these landscapes now and into the future. Even though the rich and dynamic ecosystem of the Wadden area, for example, is subject to significant emotional discussions, it is precisely the role of emotional attachment which remains underexplored.
This research exchange brings together UK and Dutch arts and humanities scholars, artists and other participants.
PROJECT BLOG
This page will be used as a repository and portal for on-going involvements with the waters of Bristol, the Severn Estuary and surrounds.
(2014-2017)
TOWARDS HYDRO-CITIZENSHIP
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+WATER CITY BRISTOL
antonylyons.blogspot.com/2017/03/revealing-hidden-waters.html
Lead artist on an academic project exploring social relationships to water in the urban area of Bristol.
This aims to address intersecting social and environmental challenges through a range of interconnected water issues. The environmental focus will include: flood and drought risk; water supplies and waste system security; access to water as amenity and social (health) benefits; and water-based biodiversity/landscape assets. Given recent extreme storm-surge flooding incidents in the UK, as well as other pressing water issues this research is very timely.
The case studies were in Bristol, Lee Valley (London), Borth and Tal-y-bont (Mid Wales) and Shipley (Bradford) and each was conducted by a local team which included members of the core academic team with artists, community activists and community partners, ranging from small community groups to larger organisations charged with aspects of regeneration and community resilience. There was also exchange and comparative research conducted between the case study sites.
(2013-2014)
SUBMERGED (DROWNED LANDS)
Environmental artist Antony Lyons is working with others, including Professor Steve Poole (UWE/The Regional History Centre, Bristol) on an Arts Council England funded initiative, involving creative fieldwork, community conversations/voices and research at a number of locations. The first phase of the project runs from Spring 2013 to end-2014.
The approach involves a creative and poetic response to a variety of landscape and cultural settings that are affected by changing water-levels. The unifying theme is that the waters come, the waters inexorably rise. And then everything is changed. (And the waters recede...)
Submerged (Drowned Lands) will be attentive to local stories and circumstances, but also engage with the panoramic 'big picture' themes of sea-level rise, vital/ecological processes, environmental justice and landscape heritage/history. It is about complex relationships to submerged/ protected places, involving both loss and opportunity.
The approach weaves together the research threads and stories to come up with a series of site-specific exhibitions that will present maps, sounds, multiple voices and film.
Initially, the Severn Estuary coast, plus connected landscapes/waterways, such as the Somerset & Avonmouth Levels and River Parrett, are the main field areas - situations of living on the edge. Over time, other sites will be part of the evolving creative exploration.
This eighteen-month project will result in immersive installation, centered around maps, sound and film works, created and curated by Lyons.
Severn Estuary/Somerset Levels: These are sites of significant threat and change (in terms of flooding, habitats, water quality, siltation, fish species and shipping.) A key issue is the controversial Severn Estuary Barrage which, in 2012, resurfaced as a major infrastructure development proposal. The Severn Barrage was first proposed as an engineering project in 1921. Looking further back, much of the low-lying lands bordering the Severn were seasonally flooded by the river/estuary. However, since Roman times they have been artificially drained and protected from sea and river flooding.
PROJECT CURRENTLY REPORTED VIA UPDATES ON MY MAIN BLOG SITE:
SABRINA DREAMING
This is a year-long artist-residency, hosted by the Countryside and Community Research Institute (CCRI) at the University of Gloucestershire and supported by a Leverhulme Fellowship grant.
The Severn Estuary coast has the second largest tidal-range in the world. In conjunction with CCRI researchers and others, the residency project will seek to expand and deepen the ways in which this water landscape is encountered and understood - scientifically, artistically and socially. New conversations and involvements will be initiated by developing film/sound/sculpture-based artworks, drawing on some of the hidden and intangible essences of this coast. The pressing need for anticipatory adaptation to climate-instability presents us with a variety of predicted and unpredictable scenarios. Activating the gap between knowledge and imagination will be key to resilience and environmental justice over the long term.
Sabrina Dreaming - Many rivers have sacred personifications - in the form of tutelary deities. For the River Severn, this is 'Sabrina' or 'Hafren' in Welsh
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