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See an aerial view of the Stourport Basins by clicking here
To see photos of the current restoration work in the Stourport Basins, visit the Stourport Basins Photo Gallery.
Open Commission
This commission is providing Rob Colbourne, a local artist, with an opportunity to develop his own rationale and establish a set of pieces in response to Stourport Canal Basins. Rob will spend some time in Stourport to investigate, explore and identify with the site and develop his own ideas. It is anticipated that his work will take on an autonomous form and be directed by his findings.
The aim of this commission is to provide Rob with the Canal Basin as a blank canvas to establish their own viewpoint of the site and it is expected that the selected artist will establish ways of documenting their findings and suggest appropriate means of making their work accessible. It is recognised that this commission provides an opportunity to create a resource which can be drawn upon to document the present. This commission has the potential to link with other artists involved in the Arts Programme and perhaps create overall cohesion between their works.
Commission Aims:
- Create the opportunity for an artist to develop their own work
- Forge links with artists involved in other commissions relating to project
- Create work(s) which will document and record the present in the future
Rob’s Response: “I aim to select a series of journeys as dictated by the 18th century map of Stourport and Canal Basins. This may take the form of walking or travelling by boat and so on and may be undertaken several times. It is imperative that this project is undertaken as an open investigation and that outcomes arising are a direct result of this strategy. Each journey will involve documentation and writing in whatever form this may take relevant to the specific experience. Each journey will vary in distance perhaps from miles to a few steps but have equal importance. This hopes to investigate both the macro and microscopic, the whole as well as the minutiae that the Basins contain and the relationship with the SCADA system (British Waterways records data on site to manage the use and flow of water into the Canal Basins, recording water usage across the canal network). A series of four investigation events will produce temporary or additional works as well as a diary of organised written pieces that can feed into a denouement or culmination of a body of work. Additional works will be derived from and not located at the site of the walks or journeys. Each temporary/ additional work and diary written piece will feed into the website built by Jaime Murray Jackson and additionally can be displayed/ exhibited through other means if possible. It is an intention that these works will be image and text based, although again a flexible approach is necessary. It is also an intention to find a way to combine text and the other work arising from the journeys into the final piece; however this will only be dictated through the investigation and not a foregone conclusion with regard to discipline or medium. I aim to liaise heavily with the other artists to help create a family of work ensuring continuity of my investigation and the overall cohesion of this project with the other artist’s works. Any possible collaborations with the other artists will be explored.”
Rob Colbourne - I’ve always been interested in the canal. I spent a great deal of time as a child exploring bridges, sandstone steps and steel-ridged banks. This interest and passion in the ‘nature’ of man-made systems and artefacts, though becoming more complex and informed, still remains with the same intensity and forms the basis for much of my art practice. Although I work across a range of disciplines, I don’t want to approach Stourport and the canal basins with any presupposed way of arriving at a final result. I think it is fair to allow an investigation to see what Stourport demands of me and to interact with its environment personally and specifically. I feel quite privileged to be able to contribute to Stourport’s restoration in this way and through my enquiry hope to produce work which reveals the inner most workings of the place and the richness that Stourport seems to have soaked up into its foundations.
Open Commission Update:
April 07:
Rob will be starting work on the Open commission in May 2007.
May 2007:
Rob has been spending time at Stourport Canal Basins investigating and exploring the place and identifying the things about the site which fascinate him. He has also been liaising with the other artists since he started on the project and is working on potential ways to link his work to the other arts commissions.
Rob has been particularly interested in John Fennyhouse Green, the Under Clerk to the Staffordshire and Worcestershire Canal Company in 1768, and has carried out much research into his day books and the way he worked. This has prompted Rob to keep a day book of his own work mirroring that of John Fenneyhouse Green and potentially revealing the changes to the place.
June 2007:
Rob is fascinated by the historical maps and original site field lines and has been carefully documenting his findings when travelling from one place to another on and around the site. He is working on text pieces which describe the intimate journeys he has experienced and may develop the idea of mapping these through text.
Rob is very interested in investigating the data created by SCADA. SCADA is a water management system used by British Waterways to monitor the levels of water and the water flow through the basins. Rob will be meeting with British Waterways staff to assist in his understanding of SCADA and look to develop a way to interpret the information he finds.
July 2007:
Rob has continued to investigate and explore the canal basins by spending many days on site documenting the intricate details which fascinate him about the place. A part of the site which Rob somehow overlooked during his initial exploration was the perforated wall situated on the island area. This is something he discovered whilst doing a ’60 perch walk’ around the basins in early July. He had no recollection of hearing much about this particular wall and so carried out a little research and highlighted the potential to use the space for a temporary installation to exhibit the original day books. Rob met with British Waterways SCADA experts to find out about the data collection system and will be researching ways to interpret this information.
August 2007:
Rob has been keeping a detailed journal throughout his time investigating the micro and the macro elements of the site. In doing his research he has discovered Pratt’s Wharf, an area situated about half a mile further up the Staff and Worcester Canal. Rob has become particularly intrigued by this place and has been recording in detail the walk along the towpath between Pratt’s Wharf and the Canal Basin. He has an idea to make reference to his findings with possible text pieces on the two benches situated at Pratt’s Wharf. These text pieces may feed into the larger text pieces connected to his journal. Rob is doing further investigation and research into interpreting SCADA and the data it produces.