River-Film, to be restaged at Cromford Mills (Matlock, DE4 3RQ), 21st and 22nd August 2021

I am delighted to announce that my River-Film project gets another airing, this time in the Gothic Warehouse at Cromford Mills, Derbyshire, which is very much the original reference for the work. The work will be installed and ready for public viewing on Saturday 21st and Sunday 22nd August:

River-Film is an on-going work that explores the qualities of the River Derwent as both an object of nature and a human resource. Using the physical media of cine film, the Derwent has been filmed from its rising at Bleaklow, and a number of sites on its course through Derbyshire, culminating in its merging with the River Trent, south of the City of Derby.

The installation of River-Film uses between eight and ten 16mm film projectors and is a highly embodied experience. The viewer is required to negotiate the presence of machinery, the loops of film that traverse the space, and tolerate the noise produced. The footage repetitively cycles through each projector, creating combinations of imagery, with the film gradually wearing out through the duration of the installation. As such, the work not only represents the diverse topographical environments of the Derwent, but also suggests an uneasy relationship between nature and industrialisation; workers and production; history and heritage.

The opportunity to stage the work at Cromford Mills is particularly fitting. Not only does the River Derwent run nearby, but 2021 marks the 250th anniversary of the building of the first water-powered cotton spinning mill at Cromford Mills, heralding the start of the industrial revolution for which the Derwent Valley is recognised as a World Heritage Site.

Time-lapse of the set for the installation