Active (walk) Way

2009

Active (walk) Way was commissioned for the Burnely Hiddenplace projec : a festival of contemporary artists’ commissions for hidden, disused or overlooked spaces around Burnley Town Centre, Northwest England.

The ‘walkway’ was fashioned from 3 tons of natural wet clay. Bags of clay were arranged to resemble stone paving slabs lining the river bed. Using my feet, rhythmic textures were formed through the sculpture, emulating the eddies, ebb and flow of the river Calder as it cut its way through each of its culverts, overflowing prescribed channels. The sculpture was ‘performed’ over one week in April 2009.

I was interested in the way the river cuts a dramatic pathway through the centre of the urban environment and in the way that the water flow is constantly changing. I likened the momentum of the river to the constant movement of people through the town walkways directly above the river. The water and the people are inextricably linked.

The name of the sculpture is a playful pun on one of the major thoroughfares in Burnley Town Centre.

It was curated by Noah Rose and Ian Banks, commissioned by Burnley Borough Council and funded by Tesco & Northwest Development Agency.


www.hiddenplace.org.uk