Waterlog

30th Jan 2007 - 24th Jun 2007

Waterlog is an ambitious contemporary art project taking place across Norwich. Work created by Guy Moreton and Alec Finlay will be on display in the Sainsbury Centre Link.

The Ruins 2, Walberswick 2007 photo by Guy Moreton Read more »

Waterlog is inspired by the digressive literary journeys of writer W.G Sebald, who made Norfolk his home until his death in 2001. Sebald had strong associations with UEA where he was a member of faculty from 1970. The Rings of Saturn (1988), in which he describes a walk on the coast and in the countryside of Suffolk, sets the tone for Waterlog, in which the artists� real or imaginary journeys provide opportunities to unearth unexpected cultural connections embedded in the rich history and geography of the area.

The new collaborative work by Finlay and Moreton is inspired by the history, and myths, of Dunwich in Suffolk, a city now long lost to the North Sea, and in particular the resonant image of the bells of Dunwich�s eight churches, now sunk into soundless mud. The importance of bell ringing to the region led Finlay to �translate� a �method� � a sequence of numbers, each number referring to a particular bell � into a colour schema, producing a strict repeating visual pattern. Accompanying Finlay�s paintings are two typically quiet and assured large-format photographs by Moreton of the ruined church of St Andrew�s at Walberswick, a small village near to Dunwich. In the second bay of the link a large map of the Suffolk coast has been painted with a timeline to show the effects of coastal erosion over the last six hundred years.

�Waterlog� has been conceived and developed by Film and Video Umbrella in conjunction with our project partners: Norwich Castle Museum & Art Gallery; The Collection, Lincoln; and the Sainsbury Centre for the Visual Arts.

The works by Alec Finlay and Guy Moreton shown at the Sainsbury Centre are part of the bigger Waterlog exhibition which was previously on display at the Norwich Castle Museum and Art Gallery, alongside new commissions by Tacita Dean, Simon Pope, Marcus Coates, and Alexander and Susan Maris.

Waterlog has now closed at Norwich Castle but will open at The Collection, Lincoln, on 15 September 2007. The Waterlog website is at http://www.waterlog.fvu.co.uk or go to our Useful Links page and click on Waterlog.

Admission to this exhibition in the SCVA link is free.